The ESP Guitar Company

Hi everyone. This is my first post.

I’ve been watching from the sidelines for a while and find all the info and knowledge here very interesting. So with that in mind I wanted to get some opinions on the way Explorers such as the Grassroots GMX-48 and EXP-200 seem to be priced at the moment.

Ive owned the Grassroots one previously and a couple of years ago you could pick these up for £200-£300 in the UK. I’ve never owned the LTD EXP-200 but these seemed to be around the £400-£500 price range on eBay etc.

Recently the asking price on these guitars seems to have jumped to anything up to and over £1000 but it seems to be the same couple of sellers on eBay and the same couple of guitars being re-listed. I own an Ltd snakebite which can now be picked up used or b-stock for under £1000 no problem near me and it’s streets ahead of the Grassroots which was essentially a budget guitar with a desirable shape. 

What are people’s thoughts on this? Are people really paying these prices for a lawsuit explorer now or are the prices being kept inflated by people looking for big payouts on eBay etc and playing the long game? I’d love a lawsuit explorer again but why would I pay that money when I can go to my local dealer and get a b-stock LTD Hetfield sig for the same price or less?