Need some honest Pricing

[mantis]

Hi Guys,
I really want to sell my 2006 mint 2006 Jackson SL3 in Transparent Red with Factory Jackson case with paper work included. It's all original except the tone pot was replaced with a CTS which according to the Luthier was an upgrade.
It has no Chips or visible scratches but if you put it under a light you can see very light playing scratches. Can't see them from 2 feet away.
This guitar has been loved and totally cared for in my home. It doesn't leave my basement and it's climate controlled. After each play it gets wiped down and put inside it's case. I'm amazingly anal about all my gear and all of it looks brand new.
This guitar retailed for $1699 new back in 2006. Compared to anything today made it holds it's own against anything near it's price point.
I was asking $900 for it but I only got a few offers and I wasn't very cool with them. So I decided to keep it unless I got a good offer which I have not.
So my question is is my Price for this amazing guitar to high? I see others on eBay for $450-$600 but they are in poor condition and the older 2005 and back modes which have the Jackson Trem and Chrome hardware. Mine has the upgraded Floyd Rose Trem and black hardware. I owned a 2005 before my 2006 and the top on my 2006 is much better looking.
So if my price is to high what should I sell it for that both of us are getting a good deal here? I'm not willing to give it away for nothing but I'm also wanting it to go to a good home and be played as it should. I don't play it hardly at all anymore since 2014 when I got back into Charvel. I have 3 Charvels now and looking to buy more which is why I want to sell this to help fund my next Charvel Purchase so the wife doesn't kill me LOL.
Here is what she looks like I took it out of it's case to play it a few months ago along with a few others. All my guitars stay in the case unless I'm gonna play them.

[mantis]

And before anyone asks, the ESP George Lynch Tiger is not gonna go up for sale. I break that out maybe a few times a year to rock some Dokken stuff for fun. I met George at Sam Ash back in 2008 when he released a limited run of 100 guitars. That one is #36. He signed it and played it. I only changed the strings on it once just because they have been on there for years yet they where still sounding pretty new. I just wanted to clean the fret board and give her a proper tune up even though it probably has less then 40 hours of total playing time since new in 2008.

[Newc]

Sadly, the average buyer for used Jacksons is one of three things:
1. a skinflint tightwad bastard who wants to buy for as low as he can so he can come here and brag about how he fucked some guy on Ebay out of a fair price
2. a "Metalhead" who doesn't work a real job because nowhere he wants to work will let him wear Slayer t-shirts on the job
3. a poor perpetual college student who will never actually leave college to get a job for anything he went to college for, but will have more degrees than a thermometer by the time he's 60

so the chances of getting more than $600 for a dead-mint SL3 are slim and none, and Slim just left town.

As well, while the CTS pot is an upgrade, buyers will say that's subjective and does not add to the value in any way because the guitar has been modified from how it left the factory. They will also demand that the original parts be included in the sale "so they can put it back to stock, because I'm OCD that way lol", as if OCD is something to be proud of instead of the untreated mental illness that it really is.

Lastly, the MSRP of $1700 is ridiculously high for a Jackson Soloist with a rosewood board and no binding. The only dealer who sold them for MSRP was Musician's Friend. I believe most were bought for just over $1000, maybe $1350 tops. If anyone paid $1500 for one brand new, I'd have them checked by a psychiatrist.

You want an honest valuation? $850 with case, shipping is extra. You want a realistic price? $500 with case, you pay shipping to Norway, and throw in a new set of 20-150s so the guy can tune it down to -Ab, oh and knock $400 off the price for all the money he's going to have to pay in import fees and to have the guitar completely redone in all matte black with custom black frets and the brass Floyd block he's going to need and the new pickups he's going to have to pay for and to have the fretboard replaced to get rid of those plastic inlays, the German OFR he'll have to buy to replace the cheap Chinese OFR, and the CTS pots and Oak-Grigsby blade switch he'll have to upgrade to because the stock parts are shit.

Seriously, a Jackson guitar is a lifelong commitment, because trying to sell one is just too much hassle.

[Number Of The Priest]

"More degrees than a thermometer"

I belong to Newc category #1 except I usually pursue local sellers (instead of eBayers) who list with low prices or at least are open to some negotiation. No insulting lowballing on my part. I just pounce on undervalued listings like easy prey and that tactic alone makes up the majority of my successful purchases. I find tons of Jackson/Charvel bargains locally and across Canada, as you can see by the Canada-wide ads I share in the E-fraid of E-bay subforum. I myself live in a city with a population of about 1.2 million, so it's not huge.

It's a buyer's market right now for used Jacksons/Charvels, especially Japanese ones, at least that's the way it appears in Canada. Incredible bang for the buck guitars when I can get them cheap. They were inexpensive enough that, if I needed to sell, I can easily recoup my investment on each guitar and possibly make a profit. I've stopped buying anything I can't foresee easily selling, unless it's something I REALLY REALLY want AND it's difficult to find.

Though, for the life of me, I struggle to locally find quality-equivalent Japanese Ibanez and Japanese ESP guitars in the price ballpark of my Japanese Jacksons/Charvel scores. Never mind Japanese ESP for CAD$300... I can't even get the high end Korean LTD 1000 Series for under CAD$500. Meanwhile, cheap Japanese Jacksons/Charvels in abundance and I'm not complaining. This might be local factors at play here though. I belong to an Ibanez and ESP Facebook group and there are guys in different cities scooping up cheap Ibanez/ESP all day long in their areas like I do with J/Cs here.

For a reasonably common production model like an SL3, I would have waited until one was listed locally for under CAD$400 maybe, and then made my move. If this sounds insultingly low, it might be. The market might be different in America or even your area, so I don't know. And I have enough guitars that I'm not desperate and I can afford to be patient for the really good deals. It's an upward cycle: Get more hot deal guitars, become even more patient for the next hot deal, rinse and repeat.

Good luck with your sale. Your SL3 does look well kept.

[mantis]

Sadly, the average buyer for used Jacksons is one of three things:
1. a skinflint tightwad bastard who wants to buy for as low as he can so he can come here and brag about how he fucked some guy on Ebay out of a fair price
2. a "Metalhead" who doesn't work a real job because nowhere he wants to work will let him wear Slayer t-shirts on the job
3. a poor perpetual college student who will never actually leave college to get a job for anything he went to college for, but will have more degrees than a thermometer by the time he's 60

so the chances of getting more than $600 for a dead-mint SL3 are slim and none, and Slim just left town.

As well, while the CTS pot is an upgrade, buyers will say that's subjective and does not add to the value in any way because the guitar has been modified from how it left the factory. They will also demand that the original parts be included in the sale "so they can put it back to stock, because I'm OCD that way lol", as if OCD is something to be proud of instead of the untreated mental illness that it really is.

Lastly, the MSRP of $1700 is ridiculously high for a Jackson Soloist with a rosewood board and no binding. The only dealer who sold them for MSRP was Musician's Friend. I believe most were bought for just over $1000, maybe $1350 tops. If anyone paid $1500 for one brand new, I'd have them checked by a psychiatrist.

You want an honest valuation? $850 with case, shipping is extra. You want a realistic price? $500 with case, you pay shipping to Norway, and throw in a new set of 20-150s so the guy can tune it down to -Ab, oh and knock $400 off the price for all the money he's going to have to pay in import fees and to have the guitar completely redone in all matte black with custom black frets and the brass Floyd block he's going to need and the new pickups he's going to have to pay for and to have the fretboard replaced to get rid of those plastic inlays, the German OFR he'll have to buy to replace the cheap Chinese OFR, and the CTS pots and Oak-Grigsby blade switch he'll have to upgrade to because the stock parts are shit.

Seriously, a Jackson guitar is a lifelong commitment, because trying to sell one is just too much hassle.

Thank you very much for your honestly. I would never ever let it go for $500 with case and shipping. No one is getting that deal from me. I spend to much time caring and making sure my instruments are top notch. If there is no real value in selling it then I would rather keep it.
I would absolutely sell it for $850 with case and I would split the difference with someone. I'd like to see anyone get a better guitar then this for that kind of money anywhere especially with a factory case. Guitars today don't even come with Cases unless your paying over $1000.00. My 3 Charvels I purchased over the last few years none of them came with cases. My newest one is a So Cal which I paid $899 and it didn't come with anything not even a gig bag. Factory cases are around $140-$160 so with that being said your over $1000 with tax

[mantis]

"More degrees than a thermometer"

I belong to Newc category #1 except I usually pursue local sellers (instead of eBayers) who list with low prices or at least are open to some negotiation. No insulting lowballing on my part. I just pounce on undervalued listings like easy prey and that tactic alone makes up the majority of my successful purchases. I find tons of Jackson/Charvel bargains locally and across Canada, as you can see by the Canada-wide ads I share in the E-fraid of E-bay subforum. I myself live in a city with a population of about 1.2 million, so it's not huge.

It's a buyer's market right now for used Jacksons/Charvels, especially Japanese ones, at least that's the way it appears in Canada. Incredible bang for the buck guitars when I can get them cheap. They were inexpensive enough that, if I needed to sell, I can easily recoup my investment on each guitar and possibly make a profit. I've stopped buying anything I can't foresee easily selling, unless it's something I REALLY REALLY want AND it's difficult to find.

Though, for the life of me, I struggle to locally find quality-equivalent Japanese Ibanez and Japanese ESP guitars in the price ballpark of my Japanese Jacksons/Charvel scores. Never mind Japanese ESP for CAD$300... I can't even get the high end Korean LTD 1000 Series for under CAD$500. Meanwhile, cheap Japanese Jacksons/Charvels in abundance and I'm not complaining. This might be local factors at play here though. I belong to an Ibanez and ESP Facebook group and there are guys in different cities scooping up cheap Ibanez/ESP all day long in their areas like I do with J/Cs here.

For a reasonably common production model like an SL3, I would have waited until one was listed locally for under CAD$400 maybe, and then made my move. If this sounds insultingly low, it might be. The market might be different in America or even your area, so I don't know. And I have enough guitars that I'm not desperate and I can afford to be patient for the really good deals. It's an upward cycle: Get more hot deal guitars, become even more patient for the next hot deal, rinse and repeat.

Good luck with your sale. Your SL3 does look well kept.

Thanks man for your honestly. It seems like I'm gonna keep it. I'll play it 6 times a year and enjoy it then let it go for nothing. It's worth way more to me then a few hundred bucks. It plays incredible, sounds incredible and it's like brand new. It's dead sexy on top of that. I'll just have to add to my collection instead of selling anything.

[Guitarkid8]

It's a buyers market for sure. I'm happy about it now because I was able to pick up a couple nice MIJ guitars to get back into playing, but I wish I would have never sold my Jacksons back in 08/09. You'll never notice $500, but you sure will remember that guitar when it's gone.

[Newc]

Finding deals that are already there is not the issue. The issue is the people who see something for more than they're willing to pay, or something they can flip for a profit right away, and try to talk the seller down. If it's already being sold cheap because the seller either doesn't know what he has or doesn't care, that's fine. I see a lot of those. I've jumped on a lot of those. Bought 2 Concert V basses from the same guy several years ago for $500 total. Sold one of them for $300, which means I got the other one, which I still have, for $200. If there's no room for you to make a profit, that's not the current seller's problem.

[mantis]

It's a buyers market for sure. I'm happy about it now because I was able to pick up a couple nice MIJ guitars to get back into playing, but I wish I would have never sold my Jacksons back in 08/09. You'll never notice $500, but you sure will remember that guitar when it's gone.

Exactly right man. If I let this one go for $500 , I would regret doing so.

[DonP]

I'd have to agree with the $500 price. I've bought a fairly new USA SL1 black ghost flames with case for $850 shipped. I love MIJ axes - probably have more C/Js MIJ than any other guitar. But the lack of binding on these and the RR5 kills it for me. I'd rather get an M6 or a 650XL for that price range.

[Mudlark]

With USA's hovering in the $1000 ballpark, occasionally much less, it's definitely a great time to buy.

The numbers I've seen online over the last 4-5 years have remained constant. MIJ bolt ons can be had from $3-400 w/case quite regularly in many used markets. Neck thrus, $5-700 w/case.

You can always ask for more...and you may catch a big spender.

[wrldeatr7]

The things is that at $900 people can get a brand new Pro Soloist. No case of course and made in Indonesia, but still. Despite that cost of case, it doesn't add much to the value of a 10 year old guitar.

Depending on where you are selling it, a well-treated Japanese neck-through Jackson should get a good price. I'm thinking 700 or so. With a well-worded description, good pics of a clean guitar and just wait for someone who'll appreciate what he's getting.

[eakinj]

Not to mention you can get other guitars that are equal or in at least one case (PRS SE) higher quality brand new for $700 with a really nice soft case. Really makes no difference how well you've treated the guitar or what you paid for the import guitar, there's nothing at all special about the guitar. If you're that seriously about selling it, you're not going to get big money for it, it's just an import guitar, it's not a high value instrument. It's not a sellers market, and it likely will never again be a sellers market for guitar, it's just not an important instrument in the over all music machine anymore (samplers, and guys with kindergarten level rhyming abilities who say f*ck a lot are what sells now, not talent or instruments.) If someone wants *that* specific guitar bad enough to spend more then 500 then they'll also have likely been looking around for them to see what's out there.

If you think it's worth more, put it up on ebay, you'll find out really quick and you might get lucky and get 900 for it, but I honestly doubt it.

[x_zac10]

With USA's hovering in the $1000 ballpark, occasionally much less, it's definitely a great time to buy.

This is the whole problem to me, and the reason you'll never get $900 for it. It's not that it isn't worth $900, it's that you can buy a USA for $900. I think that's really the key to pricing gear to sell. You can't only look at what you think something is worth - you have to consider what else you can get for that price, because that's what buyers are doing. If buyers have $900 to spend, despite the quality of some MIJ stuff, unless it's something really unique/rare (like an 750XL or something), they're going to spend it on a USA.

[Nimitz]

You want an honest valuation? $850 with case, shipping is extra. You want a realistic price? $500 with case, you pay shipping to Norway, and throw in a new set of 20-150s so the guy can tune it down to -Ab, oh and knock $400 off the price for all the money he's going to have to pay in import fees and to have the guitar completely redone in all matte black with custom black frets and the brass Floyd block he's going to need and the new pickups he's going to have to pay for and to have the fretboard replaced to get rid of those plastic inlays, the German OFR he'll have to buy to replace the cheap Chinese OFR, and the CTS pots and Oak-Grigsby blade switch he'll have to upgrade to because the stock parts are shit.

Seriously, a Jackson guitar is a lifelong commitment, because trying to sell one is just too much hassle.