Used fly rods.

[roberth]

I have been looking at the classified sections on a few different forums and have been surprised at the prices being asked for used top brand rods. An example would be a Loop Opti fly rod I have had my eye on for a while. I can buy the rod new with original user lifetime warranty for £330 but have seen adverts asking for between £225 and £260 for used models with no warranty. I always believed that the lifetime warranty was factored into the high cost of Sage, Orvis, Hardy, Loop etc and provided reassurance for the buyer paying big money but the price these used rods fetch seems to contradict this.

[burnie]

Not sure you could transfer the warranty either, I registered my Hardy kit online.

[roberth]

I think most warranties only cover the original owner.

[Otter Spotter]

I have amassed a pretty decent Sage collection exclusively 2nd hand....
Things I have found -
1. When Buying I always stipulate that the blank warranty card is required - If not I either dont buy or offer @ 50% of asking price. You wont get the rod but you will highlight the daylight robbery.
2. Whilst the 'original owner' is stated it is not in the interests of these companies to knock you back if you need a fix done (bearing in mind the 'Fix' will cost between £20 and £50 for carriage and checking etc).
3. If (and this is my upper estimate), each brand new rod costs £50 to produce (In China) and is punted at £500 (UK) then they basically owe 10 rods per unit sold. Whilst they are under no obligation to fix for a non 'original owner' it would be bad for the brand for them not too especially if it is a manufacture flaw, so they do, but I have found you need to contact them in person. A little drama around this is my rod the best ever, Im devastated sort of thing usually helps.
4. The expectation of the manufacturer is that as these are 'High End' and that they will be looked after by the owner, they dont expect to have to do that many fixes.
5. Just because you get a blank warranty card doesnt mean that the rod has not been previously registered (this is how I found out that they will pretty much fix em irrespective).
6. If you buy a Sage and it turns out it was originally bought in the US it costs Twice as much to get the fix done i.e. £40 instead of £20
7. Hardy take a lot longer to sort fixes out in the UK than Sage do in the US
8. You cannae beat the Orvis guarantee which is lifetime on the top of the range 25 years on the rest. I bought a helios and wrapped it round the propeller of a leven boat, on presenting my, now,  7 piece rod to Orvis I was told to return in 24 hours to collect my new rod, was really that simple.

On a personal note I wouldnt pay more than £250 for ANY rod. As a rule of thumb Max of 50% of original RRP for mint with warranty card. Good luck with the hunt

[roberth]

As a rule of thumb Max of 50% of original RRP for mint with warranty card. Good luck with the hunt

I agree with this, I made the point to a seller that £260 was a very high price for a rod I can get new for £330 with lifetime warranty. I'm actually now considering a daiwa lexa, lifetime warranty and the factory is 10 mins from my house.

[Wildfisher]

On a personal note I wouldnt pay more than £250 for ANY rod. As a rule of thumb Max of 50% of original RRP for mint with warranty card. Good luck with the hunt

Agreed. I have 2 Sage rods and one Scott. All  bought 2nd hand, all three with warranty cards. Did not pay more than £250 for any of them.

I have since found out that the warranty card, blank or otherwise,  is just a piece of cardboard  without the original purchase receipt made out in the name of the person making the claim.

[shad]

Yeah I wonder how many companies actually keep a record of original owners , Ive had 2nd hand rods repaired by a few of the big companies over the years and no issues.I had heard some were getting tighter about it but have not broke a rod in a while.

[corsican dave]

I I always believed that the lifetime warranty was factored into the high cost of Sage, Orvis, Hardy, Loop etc and provided reassurance for the buyer paying big money but the price these used rods fetch seems to contradict this.

I would suggest it's simply unreasonable expectations on behalf of the seller. a lot of folks seem to regard high-end tackle as an "investment" to be used only until the next new toy comes out. then they expect to be able to sell it on for not much less than they paid for it.

to give you an indication from the other side, a £500 rod is costing the retailer something in the region of £250. sounds like  massive mark-up, eh? maybe, but consider this; £250 + VAT is £300.
if you buy the rod from the retailer at full whack (£500) he will get £500, less 20%: £400 . his "take" is therefore £100

let's say he does you a bit of a deal maybe 10%. you pay £450, he gets £360. a grand total of £60. yip dee doo  :roll: you gotta sell an awful lot of rods to run your shop.

now, let's get back to your private seller;  £330 rrp, he pays £300, maybe even less? tax man takes £60, retailer "makes" a princely sum of £42  (300-60-198; £198 being the cost to him of the rod @ 165 +VAT)
but private seller then sells on rod at £260; no VAT to pay, laughing all the way to the bank as his "loan" of a top rod has cost him £40. plus he doesn't have any overheads & doesn't have to provide any after care or deal with the warranty. plus he doesn't actually need to know shit about the product because the buyer comes to him wanting to buy it

so which one's ripping you off?  :?

personally at that level I would be very wary indeed of buying second-hand and would adopt the same approach as Otter Spotter and Admin. or buy from someone you know & trust

[roberth]

Going for the Daiwa rod is sounding more appealing! I wouldn't be comfortable paying £260 for a used rod, I would rather pay the full £330 to the retailer.

[Wildfisher]

The auctions are also  nuts. I was after a Sage Z Axis #4 weight last year. I bid for one on Ebay, set the max bid to £250. It went for well over £300. A few days later I got an alert email  from Ebay of the  same rod "buy it now" It cost me £250 or thereabouts.