So is the Second Hand / Resale Market that bad?

[FredBGG]

The second hand market is great, but it is a buyers market.

Pump up kites have over bloated prices new.

The "industry" revolves around the year to year model bullshit marketing that makes last years model obsolete in marketing terms.

There are loads of people who buy kites and never really get into the sport and then sell them.

I have been buying my pump up kites used for some time now.

I just look for the best brands, typically buy around the end of the summer.

Last top brand 12m mint condition kite cost me $350 and it's perfect.

[eree]

i'm sure there is the relation between the number of the kiters, prices of the new kites, kites life span and the second hand price.
must be similar to the used car (or previously owned) prices.
come on, someone has to know...

[Laughingman]

If I was a new kiter and I had the choice of buying a Switch kite brand new for the same price as others were selling used... guess what I would do.
When you know little to nothing about kites your probably better off buying new...

[letsgoflyakite]

I think the used market it that bad. It's just flooded with options so it's a buyers market. I'm got a new model kite, used once, brand new bar, never used up and I'll probably not get any files. And I'd suggest it's 70 % off of new cost.

I have one kite that I'm replacing and it's well used and kinda beat. At this point I'd never be able to sell it for $50. I'm going to donate it to the group that makes the kite bags…. get them to make me one for free and they can have the rest of the kite.

if I was just getting into the sport, I'd LOVE the used market.

I can sell a 4 year old kite for a 1/3rd new price easily. I struggle to sell a one year kite for 1/2. It seems there is a huge secondhand market, but with a cut off price. Always found this with windsurfing kit, so nothing's changed. Why some one would buy a very used kite near the end of its life when a newer year is not much more is beyond me, but that's what I've found.

[letsgoflyakite]

i'm sure there is the relation between the number of the kiters, prices of the new kites, kites life span and the second hand price.
must be similar to the used car (or previously owned) prices.
come on, someone has to know...

Last years new kites are heavily discounted. That makes your previouse year, now secondhand, drop like a stone in value . So if you buy brand new, a year later it's worth 1/2 or thereabouts. The difference between this years and last years Kites, other than advertising bullcrap, is very little. The difference in clear out price is considerable. I don't think its the number of kiters, just that most have wised up to this. You can buy three kites (RPMS for example) that are 3-4 years old, for the price of one new. So if your new to the sport, what would you do ? More time on the water or less time but shiny new kite.

[sflinux]

I think the resale market has been getting worse for sellers and better for buyers. Over the years, the market has been flooded with gear, faster than it wears out imo. Ebay is indicative of the current street value. Definitely best to try before you buy. And when bought, plan on using it until it dies. Like cars, buying used will save you from depreciation value.

[William Munney]

I think a lot of sellers are unrealistic. I bought a new 2012 12 meter Rebel for $1039 in Oct 2012 IIRC and used ones were listed at $850 and up. Now it also seems that in the last few years manufacturers have gotten better at matching output to demand and are not heavily discounting the last model year's popular kites and boards- or if they do, they are selling very limited stock and all of the dealers are listing the manufacturer's inventory. I had a few deals fall through because as a dealer processed my order someone else already snagged the board.

[NHKitesurfer]

If I was a new kiter and I had the choice of buying a Switch kite brand new for the same price as others were selling used... guess what I would do.
When you know little to nothing about kites your probably better off buying new...

Good luck trying to sell that Switch kite - I more or less gave away my 2012 on ebay and it had only been used 4 times. Tried craigslist for months and not bites.

[ktflyer381]

I have pretty much stopped looking at Ebay because of the jokers wanting full retail price for new gear and almost full retail for last year's gear. The site has been made vurtually useless by the number of kites that never sell but just keep getting relisted, mostly by dealers. I'm not sure it is a good strategy for the dealers who do this, to me they are just advertising the fact that they are unreasonable and don't sell kites.


K

[edt]

I have pretty much stopped looking at Ebay because of the jokers wanting full retail price for new gear and almost full retail for last year's gear. The site has been made vurtually useless by the number of kites that never sell but just keep getting relisted, mostly by dealers. I'm not sure it is a good strategy for the dealers who do this, to me they are just advertising the fact that they are unreasonable and don't sell kites.


K

ebay do a search fro "kite" click "auction" on the right hand side sort by number of bids

that will sort it out for you