Originally posted by J. Larry:
I agree with the observation about protecting your keyboard for future owners. I've "rotated"/sold a bunch of boards over the years. All were in mint condition, original boxes, no tears in plastic package with manuals---right down to the twisty-ties on cords, etc. All this helped them move fast. Just sold a 2100 like a breeze.
Boy do I agree with this! I have always done the same. I keep all original packaging, manuals, cords, etc. In the past year I have been selling a lot of my equipment on eBay. Alesis SR-16, Ketron XD3, Line6 POD 2.0, Fender Strat, etc. ON two of the auctions I actually received more for my used instruments than they could be purchased for new. I never really understood this; either the buyer didn't research the product very well, couldn't use a credit card for online purchases, etc. But I actually sold all of the equipment for only around $100 less than I paid for it all cumulatively.
It's a little different for me, though, than a lot of you. I use everything in my home studio and it stays in mint condition. When I gig it's usually just my acoustic accordion and even when I used the midi accordion and XD3 there was very little wear and tear (I buy the travel case for everything).
It's different when you use something every day onsite and have to transport it often.
But in my experience keeping things mint and keeping all packaging really makes the difference. I usually take about 6 VERY detailed digital pictures and my equipment sells much faster and for much more than the same item with the stock manufacturer picture and the word "mint".
Next up for sale will be a mint Yamaha AW16G DAW. Looks like I'll be going Motif ES8 and using it's sampling capability to record my accordion.
Tommy