Need help from those in the know...

Hello Drum People-
I need some advice regarding the selling of a drum kit- My mother, who passed away, owned a Tama Rockstar Custom Blonde set, product # is RP5225EDFWS. She became ill shortly after purchasing the kit in 2002 so it was hardly used, eventually she was not able to play it at all, so all of the pieces were safely packed away in their original boxes and I know that they are still in excellent condition. All of the factory heads were replaced with Evans oil filled 2 ply heads, although we also have the ones that came with the set.
The family enjoyed her enthusaism for drum playing, but have not the slightest idea what these should be sold for - and that's where you come in. I searched the vast ocean of the internet thinking I'd find one of these sets on eBay or Craigslist set to base a price on as well as a picture of the assembled kit in the correct color, but was unable to find a photo of the blonde at all and couldn't find any complete sets for sale of the same model (that I was sure were the same thing). I was planning on showing pics of the condition of each actual drum and cymbal, but hoped to find a picture of an assembled set because I don't have the slightest idea how to put it together. Would pictures of separate components be an inadequate posting?
We had also considered contacting a local instrument store and asking if they would want to buy it, but didn't know if we would get considerably less for it that way.
Any advice you might have for me would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You!

You could sell the drums individually but that can be a pain. Stack them on top of one another with the bass drum on the bottom and give it the retail sales look. Just mention that you have the hardware in the ad. Could you post a picture here? It may help.

The Rockstar kits came in many configurations. As GRUNTERSDAD said, we would have to see pics of the drums, cymbals, and the other hardware that you have.
The Rockstar kits are very highly rated and desired entry/mid level drums. Please include pics of the cymbals that show the name or stampings that appear on them.

Yer gonna eventually regret this.

Talk to the store and compare to other offers you get, and dont forget to haggle

finally got some pics of the drums:
as i said, she changed out all the top heads with the evans 2 ply glass hydraulic. the bottoms on the toms say "200 hazy". one snare has the hydraulic on the top and the second says "genera g1 coated". both snares say "resonant snare 300" on the bottoms.
the bass front is the black tama one that came with the kit but it also has a hydraulic on the back. we saved the heads that came with the kit- they all say "250 hazy", except one which says "250 coated" ( i think that was from a snare?). i can provide pics of all that too, if necessary to gauge a price. i know that she had every piece of hardware needed to set it up and it was all kept together.
the 4 paiste cymbals came in a box together and the sabian was purchased separately.












so what do you experts think i can charge for this?
thanks so much for your help!

i accidentally lied- there's not a stand for the splash.

apologies for being a nag, but i'm trying to bump this thread back up to see if anyone can give me some pricing advice on this kit...

really sorry about your mom! jeez, that's sad!

anyway, i sold my 6 piece tama rockstar kit for $400 with all hardware and pedals, but no cymbals. but my kit was more used, much older, and not as nice as that kit. so i would say your kit is worth at least $600 and probably more, but probably not more than $1000 US dollars.

The problem with second hand drums is they don't fetch a huge amount of money even if they are in good condition.
If you can I'd try and say where you are and see if you can get a local drummer come round and give you a hand setting it up just so you can get some decent pictures of it assembled but also ask him to help you list exactly what's there and then put the whole thing on e-bay with a reserve of around £230 but hopefully you should get more for it than that.
Here's one on e-bay at the moment with a buy it now price which are normally optimistic of £260, as you can see it's just for the drums no cymbals which will help with the saleability a lot especially for someone starting out.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tama-rockstar...ents_Drums_Percussions_MJ?hash=item4a9f30a681

I take it you're in the US, so it's difficult for me to advise you from here. Pricing is totally different. If you can find a near equivilent spec price for new, then think in terms of half that price. Condition is lovely and a very attractive finish so you should be able to sell it without problems. Sorry I can't be of more help although I'm sure our US based members would have a clearer view. Good luck.

thanks to all of you- very much!
Taking Witterings advice- The drums are in Hickory NC, but i live in Charlotte and can take all the pieces there if I need to.

BabettesBaby said:

Hello Drum People

Click to expand...

Drum people. Makes me feel like I'm a different species =D

It's not a good time to be selling used stuff, drums or otherwise. Put an ad on Craigslist and mark the price up by about 20% from 50-60% of the original price. That way, you have some room for bargaining.

You'd even do really well to sell all the drums, cymbals, etc. seperately. You could mark up by up 25% and still find a buyer, but I don't recommend that.

Back when the economy was great, a set like that would often go for around $500. Right now, I think $400 is a good asking price, but you might even find going a little lower necessary to sell it, depending on the local market, etc. I went to the Charlotte, NC, Craig's List to look at used kits, and it looks like the market is pretty decent. Remember, if you aren't in a hurry, you can start high (maybe aim for $500) and roll with it...if no one is down with the price, relist it lower.