This seems like 3 completely different issues to me. So one at a time:

I'm not sure what you mean by "the decline in value of the vintage market". Care to elaborate?

I wouldn't expect the price of a Ludwig hammered bronze 6.5 from this century to keep up with inflation. Keeping up with inflation is my preferred measure of dollar value. They lack the rareness and vintage vibe. Just nice workhorse snare drums. On the other hand, there seems to be a certain fondness for "vintage" snares. The bronze snares were produced in the 1980s and then went out of production for some time. Those might be keeping up with inflation, but I lack sufficient data to say for sure. But I doubt it. But they are certainly doing better than my share portfolio over the last decade. :(

If by "new" you mean "brand new" rather than "not the 80s produced ones" I haven't seen a brand new one going for less than $500 but I'm not looking very carefully either. What's the lowest price you have seen?

Sorry, just dealing with a lowballer in regard to my Ludwig I have for sale. I have one guy meeting me to pick it up after work on Sunday night and another who is wanting to trade a ton of stuff for it. Someone replied earlier to me in a private message saying that he could buy them new for $400 so why would he pay $420 for mine. I haven`t seen a new one for under $600 and the last one on ebay sold for $385 or so with a broken strainer.

You have the right to tell me if it`s overpriced or unreasonable but back it up with numbers/facts before you offer me $200 as if you`re doing me a favor.

I`m not desperate for cash. Sorry to vent on this dude/dudette but geez man, I never expected such lowballers on a forum. I`ve seen a ton of items on here listed for way more than I`d ever pay but so what; if the market permits it, so be it.

As far as my comment about the value of vintage drums, the recession has hit everyone it seems and drums just aren`t selling for as much money as they were even a few years ago.

Ah. I feel your pain. I'm sitting tight on a number of things I'm going to sell (including a 5x14 2002 Black Beauty) because of the recession. I don't need the cash so I figure I will wait it out. That's what I recommend others do unless you are desperate for the cash to pay off credit card debt or something similarly noble.

Good luck.

This mook is on THIS forum???

Lowballers abound everywhere... just part of dealing with people.

Most are trying to get a flip out of it, but some are just uninformed.

If I am the uninformed, there are several members I rely on to educate me, and they usually share a pretty consistent opinion. Then I know I'm on track.

Love this Forum !!

He/she is on the DFO site but I have to assume he/she is on both like many of us.

I think in the simplest terms an item will depreciate because they keep making more of them, use has a connotation of wear or minimally "less care for an item than I may have given it," and there are a lot of competing substitutes available from an economics standpoint.

I wouldn't let the LB offers bother you one bit; we all have a "value" point in mind when buying/selling. That there is a large delta in the value point between different people shouldn't be a surprise. It's trival to try and understand the motivation behind asking/selling prices and offer/buying prices. Everybody is working from the "self-interest" angle.

Price what you think is the fair market value -- if it takes an average period to sell you have priced correctly, if it sells instantly you may be low, and if you're holding the item longer than you expected you may be priced too high or have simply miss the serendipity of finding your perfect buyer.

flower

if the buyer knows one is desperate than they have you ,i say set the price and wait someone will get the itch and they will scratch it as in digging out the scratch to pay for what they want, here is a perfect example i listed a maple snare (new drum ) i bought it off cl for 250 with some new hardware i listed it on ebay with a reserve of 300 and it never made it past 275 after the 3rd try i got po'd and set the buy it now at 375 and reserve at 350 and only 3 day auction it sold for 450 + shipping it made it past the reserve and the buy it now was gone, so sooner or later it will sell hold out you'll get your money there is a flip side ,when i needed to sell a drum to buy another and i took a loss just to dump it fast soooo it really depends on your need's good luck

Thanks for the example Jaghog. It`s sold, pending pickup. I was just PO`d that someone on the DFO site had the gall to say I was taking advantage of people by listing it for $420. Then that person claimed they could go to any GC or SamAsh and get it new for that price. Whatever. I`ll have some cash soon and keep my Coliseum. No way in Hades was I gonna sell it for $200 to her/him/it (whatever you call a transgendered person).