Taperssection.com

Gear / Technical Help => Microphones & Setup => Topic started by: Dutchman1101 on February 04, 2008, 03:39:08 PM

Title: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: Dutchman1101 on February 04, 2008, 03:39:08 PM
With what is transpiring in this thread: http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,97569.0.html is it OK to apply the current 20% price increase when selling Schoeps used items?

I have read everyone say that owning Schoeps mics is an investment so I assume it is ???

Harrison
Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: DSatz on February 04, 2008, 04:23:51 PM
Mr. Man from Holland, yes, the selling price for used Schoeps (and Neumann, and AKG, and Sennheiser, and DPA) equipment will probably rise to some extent. But the effect is due to varying human perceptions and circumstances, so it's hardly automatic. The extent and the timing of it can't be predicted exactly.

The thing is, prices for good European microphones are mostly so high already that many people who want them would need to go earn (or find, or print) more money before they can buy them. So your equipment can be worth more on paper than it was last month, but there may not be many buyers waiting all sweaty with their demand pent up and with dollars in their hands. When that happens, you don't get bid prices as high as when there's overt competition among bidders, and you may have to dangle stuff for a while longer than previously, as people adjust gradually (and despairingly) to current market conditions.

--best regards
Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: rastasean on February 04, 2008, 04:31:30 PM
What he said^^.

You can try and sell it for 20% more but if no one wants to buy it, you would probably end up lowering your price anyway.
Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: muj on February 04, 2008, 04:43:25 PM
freedom to choose ....you decide >:D
Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: Craig T on February 04, 2008, 05:04:41 PM
they are worth what someone will pay.
Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: jerryfreak on February 04, 2008, 05:53:06 PM
you got any 10-year-old gold lying around you dont need anymore?

If a taper gave you a deal as a taper, you should pass that deal on.

If you bought them dirt cheap by current prices but paid market at the time..  Maybe you'll give someone a break while still coming out ahead.

If you bought new, the market is the market unless you're feeling kind. 

IMHO.

Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: boojum on February 04, 2008, 07:56:40 PM
If a taper gave you a deal as a taper, you should pass that deal on.

If you bought them dirt cheap by current prices but paid market at the time..  Maybe you'll give someone a break while still coming out ahead.

If you bought new, the market is the market unless you're feeling kind. 

IMHO.


I doubt that a two tier market of "old" Schoeps and "new" Schoeps will be possible.  Overnight all the mics would become "new." 8)  Someone could just buy the "old" ones and turn around and sell them as "new" and who would be the wiser?  Granted it is a nice thought. 
Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: Kevin Straker on February 05, 2008, 08:40:42 AM
Personally, I'll wait for the dollar to recover somewhat against the Euro. I suppose you can make a case either way for an increase in the used market.
Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: Brian Skalinder on February 05, 2008, 09:59:27 AM
Overnight all the mics would become "new." 8)  Someone could just buy the "old" ones and turn around and sell them as "new" and who would be the wiser?

A simple email to Schoeps with the serial #s and they'll quickly turn around a response providing manufacture date.  FWIW.
Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: it-goes-to-eleven on February 05, 2008, 10:05:47 AM
I doubt that a two tier market of "old" Schoeps and "new" Schoeps will be possible.  Overnight all the mics would become "new." 8)  Someone could just buy the "old" ones and turn around and sell them as "new" and who would be the wiser?  Granted it is a nice thought. 

Fortunately not everyone is out to make every buck possible.. Case in point:



FS: Schoeps MK4's (Matched Pair) $1000

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,98267.msg1309469.html#msg1309469

These were first purchased in 3/2003. I am the third owner. These are a matched pair but I do not have the certificate.

One thing I should mention is the matte grey finish is darker then I have seen before. I do not know why but they work just fine.

$1000 plus shipping and paypal.

PM me if interested.

Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: DSatz on February 05, 2008, 10:29:25 AM
Kevin, I'm no seer of the future but I do have a rather long memory. The last time this country was in a large, protracted, unplanned, unpopular foreign war that was financed by deficit spending, the value of the dollar just kept on falling.

It's garish to talk about currency values as if they were the thing that mattered most about a war, but I don't want to politicize the discussion any more than necessary to state this point: As long as our country's current fiscal policies continue (acting as if "borrow and spend" was better for our economy than "tax and spend," when in fact it is much worse), I believe that the dollar will keep losing ground. I would be very glad to be wrong about this, but I fear that I'm not wrong.

The European manufacturers hate this situation because it makes their goods hyper-expensive in one of their most important markets right in the middle of an economic downturn. AKG is now selling an entire line of Chinese-made condenser microphones, and Neumann recently discontinued an (apparently) insufficiently profitable microphone only five years after it was introduced. Both are behaviors that would have been unthinkable in an earlier time. These conditions are forcing the better manufacturers to steer a narrow course.

--best regards
Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: it-goes-to-eleven on February 05, 2008, 10:35:42 AM
I believe that the dollar will keep losing ground. I would be very glad to be wrong about this, but I fear that I'm not wrong.

Agree.   I believe there are many looming events that could Rapidly plunge the dollar much, much further.
And I see few things that could reverse the decline.
Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: Kevin Straker on February 05, 2008, 02:10:48 PM
Kevin, I'm no seer of the future but I do have a rather long memory. The last time this country was in a large, protracted, unplanned, unpopular foreign war that was financed by deficit spending, the value of the dollar just kept on falling.

It's garish to talk about currency values as if they were the thing that mattered most about a war, but I don't want to politicize the discussion any more than necessary to state this point: As long as our country's current fiscal policies continue (acting as if "borrow and spend" was better for our economy than "tax and spend," when in fact it is much worse), I believe that the dollar will keep losing ground. I would be very glad to be wrong about this, but I fear that I'm not wrong.

The European manufacturers hate this situation because it makes their goods hyper-expensive in one of their most important markets right in the middle of an economic downturn. AKG is now selling an entire line of Chinese-made condenser microphones, and Neumann recently discontinued an (apparently) insufficiently profitable microphone only five years after it was introduced. Both are behaviors that would have been unthinkable in an earlier time. These conditions are forcing the better manufacturers to steer a narrow course.

--best regards
good points. +T
I should have files my taxes earlier. I'd like an mk8 ,sometime. I'll keep an eye out for one in the yardsale in the future.
Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: jerryfreak on February 06, 2008, 03:33:07 AM
Personally, I'll wait for the dollar to recover somewhat against the Euro.

i dont want to be the bearer of bad news, but with our current currency policies, this is almost impossible for the forseeable future.
Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: Kevin Straker on February 06, 2008, 08:19:50 AM
Personally, I'll wait for the dollar to recover somewhat against the Euro.

i dont want to be the bearer of bad news, but with our current currency policies, this is almost impossible for the forseeable future.
I guess I'll vacation in Mexico then.  ;D
Title: Re: Schoeps Price Increase Question
Post by: wklitz on February 06, 2008, 09:12:18 AM
With what is transpiring in this thread: http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,97569.0.html is it OK to apply the current 20% price increase when selling Schoeps used items?

I have read everyone say that owning Schoeps mics is an investment so I assume it is ???

Harrison



Let's put it this way, 8 years ago I bought my MK4V's new for $700 per capsule out of Germany. Now they are $1278 each.  Not that I'd ever sell them, but if I did, I wouldn't be selling them for less than I paid for them, that's just reality.


Now if  I could just go back in time, I never would have sold my Neumann TLM-170's which I sold for $1400 each.  They'd be 10 years old now and worth at least $2000 each on the used gear market.