Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Did the currency have a big shift this year or something? Most of it is overpriced still, but I'm seeing a lot more stuff coming from Japan in my search results these days. And I wonder if a lot of it is "exporter" entities just taking japanese businesses' sale items and trying to sell for a markup... case in point:

Two listings for the same guitar. We can discuss the disgusting clownglo paint job later!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rickenbacker-01 ... SwhOVXeww0

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USED-Rickenback ... SwtJZXU2Yo

It is quite amazing how identical those two guitars are, given they are being offered by different sellers.

Noticed that also Jason.
When I saw the the BG330 for the first time I nearly wet the bed...then I realised it was a big headstock.
Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/272295253800

The yen has actually shifted the wrong way - it is much stronger now vs the USD, even with Japan having negative interest rates. For most of 2015 there were 120 yen to the buck, whereas it is back to 105ish now.

There has traditionally been a Japan v World arbitrage in vanilla second-hand (non-vintage) instruments as the domestic Japanese bid on used items is low. With the strong yen this has closed up for the time being. The flood of listings from Japan may just signal a change in policy from a few sellers - many Japanese traders have been reluctant to ship offshore, but I have seen a few change their tune in the last 12 - 18 months.

Not sure what's up with the different prices. I've seen stuff double-listed - foreign and US (e.g. Music123 and Musician's Friend), but they've been the same price.

The $20 difference between the two examples doesn't seem like nearly enough margin to make 'brokering' the sale worthwhile.

Odd.

There seem to be a pile of Japanese eBay resellers that have a deal with several retail music outlets to list their inventory of guitars.

That is why we seem to be seeing the same instrument listed multiple times by different eBay sellers (often at different "buy it nows" as well).

A few of the listings contain wording such as this... for a 620


" Description

condition : New 100% mint
Don't miss it!!

【Specs】
Body...SolidMaple w/Binding
Neck...Maple ThrouBody
Fingerboard...Rosewood, 10"R w/Bind
Fret Marker...Triangle
No Frets...21
Scale Length...24 3/4"
Pickups...2 Hi-gain Pickup
Machine Heads...Schaller Machine Head
Case...Standard Hard case

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