Perhaps there's a lot of competition for drums in the $800 to $1k range in your area. The Ludwig kit you're selling may be competing with vintage drums and modern drums.

The economy is good where I'm at.

It's that time of year Rob...The sun will pop out soon and people will start spending again...

It ain't the economy, it's been picking up all over the country. I believe it's because there are too many darn kits on cl, but the cool ones are over priced, at least here in the San Antonio area. I just sold my MIJ kit, actually made a small profit. Bought it a month ago for $300 and sold it for $380 yesterday. I only had it listed for a few days.

Well, i guess i'm impatient then ?!?LoLoLoLoLoLoLoLo. But seriously, a local used shop near my place had a new Sonor AQ1 for 1699.99, and is now dropped to 999.99. That's a pretty significant difference. This place is pretty notorious for sometimes overpricing used gear, however, because it's a small business , i understand that people need to make a profit.

Whatever the case, what i am noticing is gear that has been posted for well over 3 months at good prices, and not budging. I guess people are waiting for their tax returns. ;)

This is my take, and I could be way off. To me it seems there are three ditinct buying groups. Those who have and want to spend top dollar and buy new from DW,Ludwig,Craviatto, etc... In the same vein you have the vintage guys who want the kit from 1969 looking like it's still 1969. Then you have what I call the mid guys ( such as myself ) who can't or don't want to spend vast sums ( mainly because we don't have it ) and are also patient to wait for the deal to come up as they so often do. Then you have the lower guys. people who can't afford a kit over the $400 mark. Want a good kit, but name, color, etc... doesn't matter as long as it's a good kit. Being in the mid range is absolutely hard as a seller. I have a friend who has a 1990's Tama Starclassic kit in 10 out of 10 shape. he is asking $1,200 and he'll never sell the kit. Two main reasons. One, if I am going to spend that much on a Starclassic, I can buy a new one. Second, I can literally find the same kit for half or more than half the cost. They are so abundant it's actually sad. Also factor that today there are probably more outlets to buy gear than ever, and more drums on the market than ever because of that and the influx of new companies. This is just my best guess from what I've seen. Could be way off, could be a little on, who knows.

I agree with you, there are all kinds of newer Tama, Gretsch, Pearl and Yamaha kits on cl. There's a few decent vintage kits here, but imho they are priced too high for most buyers. There are so many kits that it's become a buyer's market to sit back and wait the seller's out until they lower their price. Just because one may be able to afford to pay anything, doesn't mean one will. I know when I'm in the market and I have extra $ to spend, I will wait for the best deal possible.

ARCHxANGEL-- Both you and johnnyringo make excellent points, and i'd have to agree 100%, because i too am like that, and have noticed what you brought up. Many great kits up for sale on my local classifieds for great deals that haven't budged, but whose sellers keep steadily lowering their price. I saw a Sonor Ascent kit that started at 2K ,(which i thought was ridiculous) and is now at $1250, which is more reasonable. But i'm sure he'll lower the price a few more times. I personally think i've lowered the price on my Ludwig big beat black cortex kit more than enough, and currently have it at $950 CAN. That is just under $740 USD, a fantastic deal in my opinion, and i refuse to budge anymore on the price. Even some of the local used drum shops are having some great deals. There is a massive DW Performance series drum kit in black sparkle finish which is actually two kits in one. Sizes are 10-12-14-16-18-22 consisting of 2 bass drums of 18 and the 22 for $2700. Usually, if split in two, these kits would end up being nearly 2K each, so whoever buys this kit as a whole, will in fact be getting 2 kits for a great deal. Yet, it's still available. Mind you, i know that not everyone needs 2 kits, and i can't understand why the shop doesn't split the kit and sell it as 2 separate kits. They'd probably make more of a profit and would sell faster. Whatever the case, i think it's a slow time for selling not just drums, but all types of music gear, at least up here in Canada. Could this be a time where everyone has everything they need for now, and are not in a buying mood ? Who knows ?

Cheers,

Rob

A couple decades ago 'they' started to cook the books here in the US. "They" changed the way they did unemployment, inflation and other statistics. For example the cost of fuel and food were taken out of inflation. Part time jobs count as a job. Yeah, not kidding. There is a gentleman who has been making a living by putting stats together the way it used to be done and selling a newsletter to people who need that info. If you care to see some of his work for free look under the "alternate data" tab on his website for charts. For interviews you can look on youtube. His name is John Williams. Link:

http://www.shadowstats.com/