My First Ever Flip: Danelectro Back Talk Reverse Delay

So, back in the day when my only electric guitar looked like this:

And my amp looked like this:

And my pedalboard literally did not exist, I went to Leonard's Pawn Shop in search of inexpensive pedals, knowing absolutely nothing about what I should get. One pedal in particular looked sort of interesting, and its shape, heft, and everything else screamed "YOU SHOULD BUY ME." It was a Danelectro pedal of all things. Now, before you laugh, let me mention here that it is a discontinued and increasingly collectible pedal, the Back Talk Reverse Delay pedal.

I knew nothing about reverse delay, or even forward delay, or anything else, but it was on the shelf for $50, I made an offer for $40, and away I went. Note that this was before smartphones became hugely popular. I had no way to do research beforehand. This was a knee-jerk purchase.

I jumped on ebay and -- surprise! -- found out that the pedal was a big collector's item. One on there had recently sold for $150. Whoa!

Being the kind of person I am (which is the kind of person that would sell my favorite pedal if the price was right), I immediately put it up on ebay. "Who cares," I said to myself, "it's not like I really needed that pedal." Lo and behold, mine sold for $130 within 2 days. Just like that.

And I became a flipper for life. I think having such a favorable first flip is what really set it off for me. It's amazing what you can get at a good price and sell for an even better one with just a little bit of information. I also like the fact that this type of business dealing is a win-win-win -- the pawn shop sells their item, presumably for a profit of some sort (some pawn owners have told me that they will never sell an item for less than they paid, so I'm always buying things for some profit, to keep them open and doing their thing), I make some money with not too much effort, and the eventual buyer owns the pedal they want at a price they were willing to pay. See? Win-win-win. I like winning.

~C