How much is a complete rig worth - is it the sum of all its parts?

[GrumpyPaul]

Lately I have been eye-ing of a rig for sale online.

It is essentially a complete gravity fed 3V system with a range of extra bits and pieces. I havent jumped on it yet because the asking price is a bit much for my budget - not because it is overpriced. (and mrsGrumpy doesnt like me spending big chunks of money on beer related purchases)

But I have been thinking about what represents a good price and it got me to thinking about how to come up with a price for a complete rig.

Do you expect to get to better(cheaper) price for buying something in a "bulk lot" than what the sum value of all the original parts are?

or

Do you think it is reasonalbe to pay a premium price in recognition that someone has put it all together for you?

Does brew gear hold its value - or should second hand gear be significantly cheaper than the cost of buying it new?

If you calculated the new cost of all the parts of a system as say $1250 - whats a fair price you would pay for it secondhand?

 

[djar007]

What something is worth is what the person can sell it for. Rarely what they paid to make it and time and knowledge to create it. I have seen some great pickups on here . Brewers getting out of brewing and giving back to the community. That's pretty rare in this world of chasing a profit. Present owner of the forum excluded. There is some very charitable and kind people here. But if it's a business selling the system then the sale needs to make them money. Plain and simple.

 

[Spiesy]

1. Do you expect to get to better(cheaper) price for buying something in a "bulk lot" than what the sum value of all the original parts are?

or

1a. Do you think it is reasonalbe to pay a premium price in recognition that someone has put it all together for you?

2. Does brew gear hold its value - or should second hand gear be significantly cheaper than the cost of buying it new?

3. If you calculated the new cost of all the parts of a system as say $1250 - whats a fair price you would pay for it secondhand?

1. & 1a. Buying in bulk generally does mean savings, yes. if you buy a bulk amount, or a "pack" from a seller, you usually expect to see savings. However you also need to factor in the hours of labour gone into constructing (and perhaps designing) the rig itself.
2. Depends on the gear and the condition it is in, but of course it's never going to retain it's full value.
3. As above.

Or in summary, tell me how long this is:

 

[JDW81]

Do you expect to get to better(cheaper) price for buying something in a "bulk lot" than what the sum value of all the original parts are?

or

Do you think it is reasonalbe to pay a premium price in recognition that someone has put it all together for you?

Does brew gear hold its value - or should second hand gear be significantly cheaper than the cost of buying it new?

If you calculated the new cost of all the parts of a system as say $1250 - whats a fair price you would pay for it secondhand?

If you're buying something that is second hand then I would expect what you'd pay would be somewhat less than the parts and labour that went into it. If I sold my 3V setup (50L keg HLT, gatorade MT and SS kettle) I would be lucky to get $500 for it, however I would have spent far more than that on parts etc over the years.

I think it is reasonable to pay a premium price for stuff that is commercially made (blichmann, beer belly etc), but then those guys have a business to run, and also offer warranty etc ) plus you pay a premium for the bling factor.

As far as value goes, brewing gear is like anything. Brand new is always going to be more than used. Values depreciate. If it is well looked after then it may hold its value more so than something that has been knocked about, but it isn't going to make much difference to the beer you brew.

Fair price? It depends on a lot of factors. What is the make-up of the system and is it built with quality parts? How old is it and what kind of condition is it in? It also depends on what you think is fair, and what you're willing to spend. I wouldn't pay 1000 clams for a brewery cause I'd rather build my own, but others a quite happy to spend thousands on a braumeister. Horses for courses really.

What is the make-up of the brewery you are looking at? Are you willing to link to it so others can comment on whether or not they think its a good deal?

Sorry, more questions than answers there, but hopefully helpful in some way.

JD

 

[mxd]

that's a tough question I look at mine and I have spent over $400 for someone to do the welding for me (and part of that is on a MLT I no longer use)


my 50 ltr keg mlt was $60 (with a falsie), I then had 2 stainless barbs welded in (cheap taps) so it probably owes me $200
my 50 ltr keg hlt was $60
my 80 ltr mlt was $60, (i then bought a bigger falsie, stainless barbs welded in taps etc..) again probably $200
my 80 ltr keg kettle was $60, then welded barb in and tap $150

my frame was $150 in material and step bro did the welding, with heat resistant paint, drawers, hose rack etc. it was probably $250

Silicon hose $15 / metre, cam locks ($30 a pair), taps etc.. $450

March pump $150

NASA burner $99

Herms coil $75
Kettle $15

Immersion element $110

PID setup $150

very quickly I get to a price that IF I EVER HAD TO SELL would be a lot less than what it owes me (and that ignores the fact I aklos have another MLT, HLT, HX, pump in the garage )

 

[pilgrimspiss]

Spiesy - Twice the length from the middle to the end.

 

[sp0rk]

Mine all up when finished will probably have costed me around $800
add in all my time/labour plus any stuff I had laying around that I repurposed for the rig, it'll probably be "worth" around $1200-$1300

 

[DU99]

people also have to remember depreciation of the equipment and so the cost will be less,and don't expect to get a "new" price for old equipment

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Aim for what you want , take what you can get.

 

[QldKev]

I'd never pay the parts value for a rig. To me I could just go and put it together myself and have all brand new parts. The unknown area is where custom work has been done. The price I would pay would come down to how well it fit my criteria and in what condition the parts are in, hence any parts I would replace for a customization or because of condition would have a zero value. Then how do you really put a price on custom design stuff. The hours spent messing around with my false bottom and the keg it was cut from, or the hours spend on my mash tun to recess the heating element into the pot's sandwiched base. But I do also enjoy the build phase of the project too.

 

[Yob]

the other thing about building your own rig over time, is you know how it all works, when something goes wrong with it, you know how to fix it when something malfunctions... invaluable for saving a brewday :icon_cheers:

 

[hsb]

If you calculated the new cost of all the parts of a system as say $1250 - whats a fair price you would pay for it secondhand?

$800.
But that ignores condition and how complete it is and it also assumes that $1250 is probably a big underestimate on the true cost - GST and shipping and peripheral stuff like plumbing connections and elements and piping and so on.

As said - what someone pays is what its worth. I wouldn't expect anyone to recoup original cost, or assume as new pricing, or even have a premium for something being complete, I'd kick a third off - something like that - if it's still in good nick, or more like half if it's been around the block a bit. Will you take a third? Ok, $300 firm, you're killing me here!

 

[lael]

It's market forces - Supply - How many are there like that? and Demand - Do you really want that exact rig? Others that do too? Then you will pay for it. Quality, completeness and convenience all play a factor. I wouldn't sell my brau clones for less than what they cost me - their value is greater than that in having them and what they allow.

 

[gava]

As a person recently selling their 3v system. It's hard to get what you pay for (depending on rig an person selling) I added my rig up "as new" and it was mid 2k with all those SS little parts adding up very quickly and if your electronic those parts also add up. Once I got my "as new" price since it's obviously used I would feel bad trying to sell at that price so I just looked around to see what the market was asking and prices around that.

Anyone asking above market prices for 2nd hand has just allowed for a price drop so they can get what they want and the buyer is "happy" they got a deal. Saying that you don't see that in the home brew scene often. I hope I never do, I've given more of my home brew kit away than selling.

So I think I wouldn't pay sum of parts for a 2nd hand rig, if it was brand new that's another story. New items come with warranty , support etc 3nd hand is pretty much.. Good luck mate.

-gav