Considering resale when buying. Is it a factor?

[Jules]

This is potentially less of factor when you are buying stock drums, perhaps, but when you are buying new drums, how much thought do you give the potential resale value? I may poll the jury depending on the variety of answers.

[Jack]

I don't... because I basically never get rid of gear. It just has to pass the justification of use test for me. I think resale potential (or lack of ...) is more of a consideration for custom orders/gear.

[drummermark]

I've never really taken resale value into consideration with any of my drum purchases. In the moment, it's something that I really want and plan to keep for a very long time. It had been almost 20 years between my last kit and current kit purchases so I tend to hold on to gear until I get to a point where I haven't regularly used it in a few years.

[DaveInNZ]

I do, but perhaps not in the most obvious way you may think. For a long time I worked in retail selling photographic gear, basically while I was a struggling photographer myself. The amount of people I saw buy the cheaper option of something, then sell it again a year later and buy the mid range option, then sell that and eventually buy the proper option, scared me. Along that journey they'd inevitably lose thousands over saving and buying the proper more expensive thing in the first place.

When I got back into drums a while back, I saw the same thing happening everywhere instantly, and vowed not to do the same thing.

So every bit of drum gear I buy has to pass three checks:
1) Is it cheap enough you don't really care?
2) Is it going to hold its value or preferably appreciate?
3) If it's going to be a big financial hit (like ordering a new SQ2 and selling it later) are you keeping it for decades/forever?

Very little gets past that checklist.

[Scott_M]

For me, when buying new the potential resale doesn't really factor into it. I spend time doing my research before I buy (sometimes perhaps too much time...?) - read reviews, check things out in person (whenever possible), etc, and I tend to only buy things new that I intend to keep for an extended period and and use regularly. ex: I ordered a Designer kit in 2005. Sold it in 2022. 17 years on the same amazing kit. Only reason I sold it was because I wanted a larger and more versatile setup and getting/finding Designer "add on's" for it weren't an option due to the unique finish.

Used gear on the other hand, potential resale does factor in - mostly from the standpoint of "can I get at most(all?) of my money back if I decide I don't like it...?", as many of my used gear purchases tend to be a bit more "impulse buy" level...