Selling McCormack Upgraded Gear

'Anyone have insight on why it's so difficult to sell these pieces? As a follow-up, are you losing money when you sell modded equipment across the board, or do some mods "hold their value" in resale, so to speak?'

It's nothing personal against the McCormack gear, in fact McCormack's upgrades hold their value better than most. In my experiences modified gear does not recoup good re-sale value. I'm not saying any mod is not worth the price paid, but the original person who has the mods done will be lucky if they can recover more than 25% of their modification investment. I love modified equipment, especially from certain modifiers, but I'd wait and look to buy a used one already modified rather than take that hit myself.
I have a unit modded by a certain famous mod company. I basically paid what the average used price of a stock unit was, plus 25% of the initial modification price. So the guy that had the unit modified lost 75% of his mod 'investment'.

Bottom line, mods may well sound great, and hopefully they make you want to keep the unit for a long time, but they won't get you the return on your investment that you'd want them too. So it's either be happy with them, or take a bath selling them. I've been on both sides of the fence, I know.

Regards,
John

I'm not really sure WHY the lack of return on the amount invested in mods. Maybe it has to do with some "untrust" in that the mods were ALL done by a reputable "modder" (like Steve McCormack) or an uncertainty that other things might have also been tried by the owner themselves. Maybe people feel that labor depreciates at a higher rate than the sometimes les significant cost of the parts used, I don't know.

My opinion is that one shouldn't go into a decision to mod with the specific idea of reselling but, rather, the idea of making the piece sound its best for their own pleasure. Otherwise, if your main concern is protecting some investment, maybe it is better to keep searching and replacing unmodded pieces until you find the one with which you’re happy - which, of course, could cost one even more in the long run.

With respect to my modded DNA-225, I went into it with the hope that it would sound SO good that I'd be keeping it for the VERY, VERY long-haul, but knowing that if it fell short, I'd not get back what I paid. Fortunately, but not surprisingly, I'll not be worrying about recouping my investment while I enjoy this very fine piece! :-)

4yanx, I'm sure your McCormack sounds great. Aggielaw wasn't talking about the quality of the sound of the McCormack upgrade though. He was questioning re-sale value.

FWIW, the seller of the RLD-1 is trying to recoup over 100% of his investment, that ain't gonna happen. That's why it's been sitting for over 2 months. He'd be very lucky to get $2K with the phono board, just under 50% of list. An unmodified RLD-1 sells for $980 average, just under 50% of list. He's got $1900 in upgrades and is asking for $3090. I could buy a used RLD-1 and have the latest upgrades done for less than $3090. Why pay more for his used mods?

$3600 for a pair of DNA-1 Rev A's is a bit steep too, considering I could get a pair for under $1500 w/o upgrade. So he's looking for more than twice the price of the unmodified amps. I think McCormack modified gear pulls better re-sale than any single other mod company. Still figure you'll get back about 50% of your mod money on top of the standard 50% +/- used price, if you're very lucky. So add up the list price and the mod price and cut the total in half, if you can sell it for that, count your blessings. Don't over-estimate your mod.

If priced reasonably, items will sell. The market dictates used values.

I agree with 4yanx, that anyone considering getting an upgrade, enjoy it for what it's worth. If your worried about re-sale value, then don't upgrade.

I won't pay for upgrades myself anymore, because I know myself. I know that eventually I will sell it. I get bored, and want to try something new. After losing big money on items that I had upgraded, I've decided not to be the original upgrader anymore. I still buy items that were upgraded, I just don't take the original hit. It's for this same reason that I buy used on AudiogoN. So I don't take the hit the original owner does for buying new.

It's nothing personal, just dollars and sense.:-)

Jmc, I fully understood that the poster was not talking about the quality of the Mc upgrades, though even while Aggie has Mc products, one might get the impression that the quality was in some question given the title of this thread. Or, at least Aggie perceives that others may have questions based on his/her perceived difficulty in selling the upgraded pieces. I was merely citing the quality of mine as an example of why I don't care if I'd get my money back for them, or not, as I have no desire to do so, and is what I think should be the situation you seek when upgrading anyway. If not, of course you won't get your dough back. If you go out and buy an amp new (even below retail), you won't get your money back if you don't like it, either. With an upgrade some will never ttrust that an "altered" piece will be trustworthy, regarldess of who does the mods - whether hat notion is toally off-base, or not.

You have, perhaps unintentionally, hit one yet another strong reason why upgrades may not realize a good return, though...

I still buy items that were upgraded, I just don't take the original hit.

It's the same with MANY folks who buy only used gear, used cars, used whatever - let the other guy take the depreciation. Of course, if EVERYONE were that way, there'd BE no used gear. Ha!

4yanx, I don't think it's the perception of the mods not being 'trustworthy' I think it has to do with the confusion over what exactly the mod entailed and what it cost to have the mod done. As you know there are many variations of mods. They change over the years, as does the price. Somone who gets a Rev A mod 4 years ago and tries to use todays Rev A+ price quote as for what they paid, mislead the buyer. The cost of a Rev A upgrade, and what is actually done in a Rev A upgrade probably changes over the years. Not to keep picking on McCormack, they are but one mod company, but seem to be the topic of this thread. No, not all mod sellers are like this, some can present the original receipt for the work done/cost, but it is a huge grey area for the buyer as to what was actually done and how much it really cost.
There is no such mystery around a stock unit. Remember, the stock unit still depreciates on the used market also. I think the real problem is not that the McCormack modded units don't hold their value, it's that the McCormack modded sellers have unrealistic expectations. I see many selling modded McCormack expecting 75%-110% of their mod money returned. This is unrealistic on the used market.

While I do agree that someone has to be the first to buy the mod, it doesn't have to be me anymore. I've been there done that. I paid full price for Steve's mods when he was with The Mod Squad, and I paid full price for EAD mods before they started building their own components. I'm going back 15 years or so. It's someone else's turn now. I also don't go out looking for a modded unit to buy. If I see something with a $1200 mod, and the seller is only looking for $200-300 more than a used stock unit, I'm certainly interested.

The main point I think is: If you're looking to modify your equipment, look at it as a LONG term investment. If you're worried about re-sale value of your mod, don't have the mod done.

Cheers,
John