DIY gets overpriced

In the last years I have confronted with a lot of trends: did not found stuff to do it myself, found poor quality products for hobbyists, found overpriced hobby products but at a good quality and at the moment watching how diy gets overpriced and at the worst quality.

I like to build things on my own, helps me to cope with stress and keeps my creativity sharp. This does not mean I do not purchase ready made things but from time to time do my own because I want to have a feature that you can't find on the ready made products or you can't modify the ready made product to fit my vision or other various reasons when a "do it yourself" attitude is more fit to the job.

Today I will talk guitars, electric guitars! I know that for some is a hobby, and hobbies should be expensive, for some is a way of life, for some is to collect as many rare models as possible, for some is a job and for some they do not mean anything.

Well, I started when I had a very beaten old second-third-fourth-tenth-hand guitar, but it was the first electric guitar I have bought in high-school with my own money. It was completely messed up, someone painted over the original color with a thick layer of nitro, was dented, chipped paint, the mechanics were with two decades over the end of life - missing teeth, the sound was not the best, the nut needed replacement, the bridge looked like a piece of metal from junkyard, fret wood was dry like a desert and dirty form the years of abuse, there was a big space in the neck-pocket and the fret wires were eaten.
At this point, normally, a guitar in this condition would have ended in the trash because to revive such a mess would have costed me like 1000 EUR without too much high end stuff on it. So, to make long story short (I will write a post about how I did and what - with pictures too) I managed to repair most of the issues, repainted it, and now it has a new life, where I like to play it and look at it.

After this I said ... "what the hell, I do my own guitars" and here is where the pain starts. Since I do not have the space, the situation (I am not a company so some products I can't purchase straight from the factory), and the money to go and buy CNC machines, special wood and so on and so forth I have to rely on DIY kits.
In Germany there is a cheap Chinese "brand" sold here as Rocktile, they have let's say honestly fair ready made products, cheap but somehow well made. The main distributor (maybe he is the one who came with the branding anyways) sells also DIY kits. While you are expecting that a kit costs maybe just a bit under the finished products here comes the surprise:
Single cut model - Kit 119 EUR - Finished product 92 EUR - Cheapest Epiphone LP 99 EUR
Strat style - Kit 79.99 EUR - Finished 82.99 EUR - Cheapest Fender Squier around 120 EUR 

So at least the ST style is fitting the bill, you would say, but hell no, I have seen the cheapest ST from Rocktile because I have one and looks 2 times better made than the kit. I would not blame the Chinese producer but I think that the nice German businessman looked around and said "why not!?!?" take the crappiest kits since well ... you have to work on them and sell them almost at the same price or even higher than the finished products.
Then there are some other companies that sell kits - like ML-Factory. The difference is that they also got some other wood options but at twice the price and looks like the producer is the same Chinese guy when you look at the models (some have some extra models) which you can buy ready made cheap Chinese and the bodies you can buy from the diy business.
ML goes even more pervert, I can buy a mahogany body kit at 359 EUR where at those money I can buy a good Epiphone with finished body, better electronics and same wood used for build, hell I can buy same wood even cheaper and ready to rock.

Still in guitar area: buy a ready made brand tube amp and purchase a diy tube amp kit with all the parts hanging in a bag ready for you to work next days .... guess which one is cheaper and sometimes better quality.

Buy wood to make your own furniture for garage or whatever?!?! Find better one and ready made at Ikea.


It looks like everything that you can do on your own gets expensive, I get it, the industry wants me to buy from them and if not pay the premium price. But let's face it, we turn into the iciocracy world anyways. People do not change their own lights switches anymore, power outlet!?!?! God forbid to mess up with the wires. My grandparents lived in a world where they rebuild the houses themselves, paint the fence, build their things on their own, my parents could do some of this stuff but not so much, the biggest thing was to do small repairs on the car on your own .... today you don't change a light bulb on your own. We are idiots so why the fear that 5 people will do stuff on their own?

Before, the hobby stuff was expensive because well, who had time for hobby had money too, but the materials were high quality, because he who pays has some standards and expectations.
Today is all expensive and of bad quality, or you have to pay for a bare wood the price I would usually give for a premium product.

Wonder where will go the policy of DIY pricing.

How to buy cheap from ebay - and actually pay more

You would say that this is not possible, everyone knows that you can't get cheaper stuff anywhere else, and the best prices are on ebay.
Actually not!!! Who invented ebay had a good understanding of human behavior so it was used to keep people coming and living their dream to find cheap things and the sellers are returning because they earn more than expected. Today you go on ebay for cheap and end with overpriced old stuff. Don't trust me? Here are some of my experiences with ebay auctions.

Case studies:

Photo cameras - cheap point & shoot included.

Unfortunately I have lost a cheap point and shoot camera rented from my university, kind of old. I didn't need something better and I took the 100 Euro "soap" camera. I manage to forget the camera in tram, and no good people came after me so it was not at the lost and found.
The camera was old enough not to be found in shops, or Amazon not even as used so I proposed to buy the newer model that was around 135 Euro in store, brand new. From the rental service they said is too much paper work so I better go on ebay and buy the same model, they even showed me some auctions that were at that moment around 20 Euro. Said and done, went home, opened an ebay account, found 6 offers and waited for the end of auction so I can bid.
The starting price was around 10 - 20 Euro for each of the six cameras. I had a feeling that will go up but I wasn't expected what was to come. After all was a 4 years old cheap point and shoot camera, who wants to pay more than for a new one?!?!? Are you all nuts?
First camera was sold a little more than 200 Euro, I stopped at 100 because a better camera and new was 135 in shop, from the same manufacturer.
Second camera again 200, third one was around 180 and for the fourth one I was the lucky winner with no more or less than 150. WTF!?!?! How can you say you get cheap when you buy used and more expensive than a new and better one? In my case I was forced somehow but I really don't think that all the other bidders were forced to find a replacement camera in one week .... the same make and model.
Out of curiosity I checked the remaining two, were sold a bit higher than mine. I concluded that I was lucky because my auction ended around 4AM in the middle of the week so I had a small competition .... but still ...
WHICH PERSON IN THE RIGHT MIND WILL BUY USED MORE EXPENSIVE THAN NEW???? And still looks like are a lot of idiots on this planet, including me! If I would ask on the street how much will they pay for it ... would have been less than 50 Euros.

Bikes

As a poor student I made a "mistake" when moving to another country to study, I gave away for free my old bike, Was the fair thing, this is how I see it, I don't need it, is old, someone can use it and be happy.
Here I needed a bike like hot water. So I looked in the shops, no way to get closer to one of those, so I was "smart" enough to buy a cheap supermarket bike. BIG mistake! But still quarter price. After 2 years started to fall apart, couldn't find parts so now it goes into the trash.
Still student, still poor, I am searching for a used bike that can stand a trail in the forest, mainly a MTB. Now the new bikes are "no touchy", the cheapest one starting at 400. Shops don't get busy selling used ones because looks like they sell well and they sell bikes over one thousand so why bother with "garbage and peanuts".
At least in Europe is this French sports supermarket that offers good price - quality products, and they have their own brand of bikes called B'TWIN with a price range from 120 Eur to 4000 Eur. The basic model is 120 no suspension. A hardtail is 150 with a decent front suspension from SR Suntour XCT with 80mm travel, not so bad, lifetime warranty for the frame, again not bad at all. I don't see Cube or Merida offering this for an entry level. But being "fried" with another 250 Eur bike I don't want to spend again too much and I can't afford this luxury.
You need cheap? Go on ebay ... right! Now I look and wonder if the people on this planet have brain or not. I see some "good to go into the trash bin" bikes sold with 80 - 100 Euros, even a junk like mine is now in auction and is around 70. Old bikes with old suspension at the price of a new Merida or Cube, and no, were not some carbon frame or something special just good old MTBs from 2000. Are you all crazy or I am the only crazy person on this earth?  Dude, keep that money and add some extra in the next few months and buy a brand new one!!!
Bikes that in a flea market don't value more than 10 Euros are sold on ebay with 100 .... where is the cheap price in this? And don't get me wrong ... the starting price is 1 Euro.
Then you can see another kind of bidders which I wonder if they are real or not but the price is 1 Euro and instead of bidding 1.5 or 2, he or she or it or whatever it is, throws a bid of 50, then comes another one and puts 80. Are you willing to buy cheap or not? I am not sure, but then the crowd follows and you see a bike with a shelf price of 1400 (but 6 years ago) selling with 1200 .... and I repeat my question ... are you all idiots? Even the producer will sell it for peanuts since is a 6 years old model and used for 6 years as bonus. You could easily buy a new one at this price with disc brakes and all new technology or if you have already 1200 than means money are no problem for you and in two months of putting aside you could buy a brand new UFO compared with the old rusty you just bought.
Conclusion? Ebay is not for buying cheap and good used products. The only thing that you can get cheap is the garbage that otherwise you will get for free, this means that even garbage is expensive on ebay.

Camera lenses

Another hobby of mine and another "don't have" thousands of Euros to buy new lenses, which are overpriced anyways if you ask me. Because of all those DSLR hipsters the prices went crazy also on the second hand market. Used Canon lenses are very close with a new one, at least that's what I have seen on ebay. Why should I buy a used one just with few Euros less? Where is the thing that makes it worth ... ah ... right ... not spending those extra 20 bucks. But extra 20 bucks means new, means a warranty, means no scratch and all the things that come with a new product.
I have also a very old film camera so I said maybe old lenses can do and with a small adapter they fit on my DSLR but this comes with the hassle of all manual settings plus learning how the lens works on the body since all is manual and even the light metering is not reliable. But what doesn't do a poor student for a hard workaround to have two extra lenses. But then again are coming all those DSLR hipsters who are full of money and just want to be retro and you find a crap lens from the 60's at 70 Euros and you can go over 300. And really they are scratched, old, mainly 28, 35, 50, 52, 54 and 135mm lenses, they have some chromatic aberration on DSLR and other things, so they are not bought by professionals and yet they are sometimes very expensive.
The same lenses I found on ebay at more than 50 Euros I purchased at a photo flea market with 5 Euros each but even there it is a rising price from event to event because ... well ... on ebay are more expensive. One colleague of mine saw some old lenses at a photo dealer they were for free or to be thrown away, and then you see the same lenses selling at over 50 bucks. Where is the offer and which is the real price? Because in a store you will not buy a 40 years old 50mm f2 lens with 50+ bucks when you have the new Canon 50mm f1.8 at 98 Euros, with working focus, light metering and all things you need.

Did someone really purchased something cheap and good on ebay? I have the feeling that this auction thing is taking out the competitive trait and you want it and you will have it even if is more expensive than new but you won that fight! Way to go!
All products have a fair price but when comes over that fair ... how can you buy it? It is really a must have or it is a contest you need to win?