My first electric guitar was 2nd hand. It had a few issues, but it got me started. My next was new. I knew what I wanted and it might have taken a long time to find a 2nd hand one. With things like a guitar you can fairly easily tell if there is something wrong with it, but you are limited by what is available. You can take the risk of buying without seeing the item first if the seller is not in your area. You need to be really lucky to get something that's worth a lot more than the selling price. I think people are more likely to check what they have these days. That said, you seem to have done well.