Posted by David on January 03, 2002 at 11:04:09:
In Reply to: Advice for selling horn... posted by Hrmmm on January 03, 2002 at 10:14:04:
Yes, there are companies that will buy your horn outright. Some words of caution, be prepared to take a huge hit on your asking price (just as an example: if you are looking at an instrument with a $10,000 MSRP, you probably paid around $7000 to $7500 for the horn and the company paid from $5000 to $6000 for it. Now, you want to sell back to them - brand new they can get a horn for $5000 and that's how much you want to get. Surprise, the company is not going to insult you, although it feels that way. They might offer you $3000 tops but more likely half that. Is the company greedy? not likely, but this is business. The company has just purchased an instrument that they may sit on for several months. What else could they have purchased that would have moved quickly and produced immediate profit?). You have to remember that if a company buys from you that the company is looking to make a profit - that's how the bills get paid.
Have you explored all avenues to sell the horn? There is the International Musician (must be a member to get a free ad), ITEA member list to send notices to college teachers primarily, posting on TubeNet, eBay (that's kinda final), other tuba sites? friends? enemies? Be persistent and explore everything before you give in to selling to a company.
Having run a music company for over 15 years (Houston Band), this happens on a regular basis. Whether it's a clarinet or a tuba, the scenario is the same. The customer paid a huge amount of money, wants to sell without losing anything, and is insulted when told what the going price is.