advice on pricing uncommon gear

Obviously I struck a nerve Tobb. I'm sorry, I have no affiliation with Coda outside of owning one of their amps. Obviously you have some sort of stake in Coda gear.

Jm and will they give you 50% of your original purchase price for a credit no matter the age of the unit towards a new purchase. NO!

Jm and will they give you 50% of your original purchase price for a credit no matter the age of the unit towards a new purchase. NO!

06-14-13: Tobb
Yeah, Coda's resale value is great......for the buyer! LOL!
More importantly how many do you see for sale?

Very few, mainly because they don't sell as many as the other big name brands that advertise, like Classe and Krell. When you don't market your brand, you don't sell many units, hence there are fewer pieces on the used market.

Pretty simple math, Klyne and Clayton Audio are also small manufacturers that do not advertise. You won't find many of their units on the used market either. :)

A lot of the gear I have is uncommon so I'm ready to take it on the chin upon re-sale. Normally what I like to do is a search on the net for completed transactions with the piece of equipment I have up for grabs and take an average of the prices. I'll list the item for sale around that price. With uncommon gear Pryso's formula makes a lot of sense. Just be ready though to take a loss.

My years in this hobby meant buying and selling lots of equipment. The basic rule I use when selling is to begin at 50% of retail, then adjust up or down based on some basic factors. If the component is current, in near-new condition, has brand reputation, or collectible, then I adjust the price upward by whatever I consider a reasonable amount. If the component is no longer current, has any cosmetic or functional issues, is little known, or, most importantly, if the manufacturer is no longer in existence, then I adjust my price downward.

Also, as I've commented previously, I consider the Orion or Bluebook values to be under market. I suspect they may be oriented to give dealers a rationale for more modest trade-in values.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Yeah, Coda's resale value is great......for the buyer! LOL!
More importantly how many do you see for sale?

Unless you want to give them away: Figure out your bottom Dollar and start an eBay auction at that price.

06-12-13: Tobb
I agree with Jmcgrogan2 thee isn't better value any where than Coda when it comes to high end SS.
Their resale is good too!

Yeah, Coda's resale value is great......for the buyer! LOL!

I agree with Jmcgrogan2 thee isn't better value any where than Coda when it comes to high end SS.
Their resale is good too!
That and they will always take an old Coda on a tradeup.

Post a listing on ebay. Specifically a no reserve auction, starting at $1

Unfortunately, the re-sale price on uncommon gear is pretty low in general. People want to buy the brands that get lots of advertising/reviews. Those brands hold their re-sale values well. Little known brands tend to suffer on re-sale value, which is unfortunate for the seller, but good for the buyer.

I bought a used CODA amp on the used market for about 80% off of the list price. It works and looks great. CODA is as good as a lot of the Krell, Threshold, Levinson, Classe and Rowland amps that I've heard and owned, but they do not advertise or pay for reviews. So their re-sale value suffers. I'm afraid that is what you are up against.