How I bought 1000+ synths, guitars, amps and effects pedals to review on Gearfacts
Yep, it really has been 1000 synths, pedals, amps, guitars and other things reviewed on Gearfacts - a total of over 1600 videos! Buying all these machines to review has cost me NOTHING.
The secret is to look beyond the obvious and convenient sources of gear. With a bit of effort you can find amazing deals. No tricks, no hustles, no pressuring or awkward situations. There are 8 points discussed in the video, but if you have more ideas it would be great if you added them to the comments!
To add to the video, here are the notes from the paper I was holding in my hand:
[Ebay, blah blah blah, this is all old news...]
1. Be polite, friendly and casual.
No simple numeric offers. It's Social Media, not Ebay. Make your first approach to the seller an act of friendliness. You will ALWAYS get what you give in these situations, it's human nature.
2. Know a bargain when you see it.
If it's a bargain, just get it. Don't jerk the seller around in any way, shape or form, just send one friendly message with everything a seller wants to hear.
"Hey there [use their name] This looks like a great deal. I'm happy to
pay your asking price and I can collect it this afternoon or any time
that's convenient for you. I'm happy to send a deposit to secure it as
I'm really interested."
Make it all clear, cheerful and convenient for the seller right from the get-go. Some prices are just plain Excellent, and if you're smart you'll recognize it, respect it, and act on it.
3. Don't lowball or act like you're doing the seller a kind favor by making your offer.
I know some people do that as a starting point for negotiations but it's very rare that you'll get a usable response, and the fact is it's just plain unethical (I'll talk more about the actual CASH value of ethics in a moment). Lowballing is NOTHING BUT TROUBLE, don't do it.
4. Don't be a wise-guy or act superior.
Mocking the price or belittling the seller rarely gets a handshake. Using mind games to trick or frighten the seller into dropping their price might work sometimes, but in the long term you'll lose 5 good deals for every 1 that survives this test.
Nobody. Likes. A . Wise-guy.
5. If you want a discount, have a reason.
Ok so let's say you're at the front of the queue (although never assume that). You know what your max price is, they know their minimum. If you want a discount, but be ready to justify it. So - without being a jerk - inspect the item and mentally take SMALL amounts off the asking price as you notice imperfections. Again, the lesson is that more deals will be lost than made if you don't negotiate logically.
6. Stay friendly even if you can't reach agreement with the seller.
They might get back to you at a later time if they can't find a buyer.
7. Be the solution to transport problems.
Offer to arrange and pay for everything if a seller is not offering postage. Even add extra money to make your offer more attractive. Some people might have a mental or physical barrier to posting things but still be able to accommodate courier pickups. In other cases, people simply might not have considered postage as an option. In any case, BE the solution to getting the item from A to B.
8. Getting ripped off is just a business expense for regular buyers.
I've found that about 1% of transactions are deceptive or just straight-up fraud. If you get cheated out of a large amount of money, remember that there are civil dispute courts and other government agencies who can assist you. Don't be afraid to use them, it's not hard, it's just time consuming. The other party will get a summons, and sometimes that's enough to put things right. But if there is no way to fix it and you've been comprehensively duped (it's happened to me about 5 times) then don't ruminate over it, just write it off as a natural business expense and remind yourself about all the great deals you've got by using the other points in this video. Trust me, one guy grifting you for a couple of hundred bucks is nothing compared to the savings.
So that's buying, and this will be followed by a video about selling. My cross-over tip as we move into selling is: Be ethical in business. Even if you only care about the money, trading ethically is simply more profitable in the long run. Devious trading gets bargains sometimes but it also attracts bad feedback, returns, lost deals, wasted time and less business. You reap what you sow when trading at the community level.
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