fronobulax
Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods
- Joined
- May 3, 2007
- Messages
- 24,756
- Reaction score
- 8,889
- Location
- Central Virginia, USA
- Guild Total
- 5
A forced ranked scale is not going to solve any problems unless the scale is objective.
LTG is full of educated, picky and lazy buyers. Their ideal seller has anticipated the questions and concerns and the desired information is easy for the potential buyer to obtain from the ad. Their ideal seller is also educated and accurate and intuitively agrees with the buyer about the implication of certain terms.
The world is full of lazy sellers who place a value on their own time and would rather have the time than the cash from selling the guitar. Educated, picky and lazy buyers can play by the seller's rules or buy elsewhere.
The world is also full of sellers who what to be seen as honest and accurate. That is harder than it seems. If you don't know about neck resets and don't know how certain measurements are made and think a yardstick is an acceptable measuring tool some buyers are going to see that as a sign of dishonesty and not ignorance. In that sense "used condition" is an honest but less detailed synonym for "not in new condition".
Let's not even go down the rabbit hole of a hypothetical instrument that has the cosmetic condition of an instrument that just left the factory - no blemishes, no finger prints and no irregularities regardless of lighting or viewing angle but needs a neck reset according to the straightedge test. Put that on your simple ranked scale without assigning a subjective importance to cosmetics relative to function.
Etc.
I accept that people can and do "vent" on LTG but at this point I probably would never try and sell an instrument on LTG (or CL or Reverb or eBay). I don't need the aggravation of educated buyers who know more than I do. I am blessed because at this moment selling any instruments is not going to improve my quality of life so I can afford to wait for a sale or share the proceeds with someone who is willing to do the work, i,e. sell outright to a dealer or on commission.
LTG is full of educated, picky and lazy buyers. Their ideal seller has anticipated the questions and concerns and the desired information is easy for the potential buyer to obtain from the ad. Their ideal seller is also educated and accurate and intuitively agrees with the buyer about the implication of certain terms.
The world is full of lazy sellers who place a value on their own time and would rather have the time than the cash from selling the guitar. Educated, picky and lazy buyers can play by the seller's rules or buy elsewhere.
The world is also full of sellers who what to be seen as honest and accurate. That is harder than it seems. If you don't know about neck resets and don't know how certain measurements are made and think a yardstick is an acceptable measuring tool some buyers are going to see that as a sign of dishonesty and not ignorance. In that sense "used condition" is an honest but less detailed synonym for "not in new condition".
Let's not even go down the rabbit hole of a hypothetical instrument that has the cosmetic condition of an instrument that just left the factory - no blemishes, no finger prints and no irregularities regardless of lighting or viewing angle but needs a neck reset according to the straightedge test. Put that on your simple ranked scale without assigning a subjective importance to cosmetics relative to function.
Etc.
I accept that people can and do "vent" on LTG but at this point I probably would never try and sell an instrument on LTG (or CL or Reverb or eBay). I don't need the aggravation of educated buyers who know more than I do. I am blessed because at this moment selling any instruments is not going to improve my quality of life so I can afford to wait for a sale or share the proceeds with someone who is willing to do the work, i,e. sell outright to a dealer or on commission.
For adoption, you need someone who cares, which is only an educated buyer. Not just selling it to 13 year old Jimmy Waxman’s brother down the street, who will be leaving it laying around in his dad’s non-climate controlled garage for the occasional jam with his buds.
