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Post subject: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:36 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Location: Louisiana, USA
Have any of you sold a guitar on EBay? do you have any suggestions?
I have never sold anything on EBay and need any constructive tips.

Thanks
OL

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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:01 am
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I've actually bought more off of Ebay than I've sold. My Fender Montara was purchased there.

Anyway, the key to being a good seller is cover ALL your bases. Take a ton of photos, you don't necessarily need to put them all in the auction but have them in case someone wants more info on a specific thing about the guitar.

Describe ANY damage/scratch/nick/dent/abrasion or scab on the guitar. You don't want the buyer to $@!&* when he receives it because you missed something.

Calculate your shipping carefully. I made this mistake once, sold an acoustic bass and included in the item description, shipping to US only. Well, guess what? Alaska is the US so I took a beating on shipping the thing to "North Pole Alaska" Sucked, but the guy was stationed up there, active duty service member so even though he offered to compensate me more I declined, I should pay for my mistake. He loved it and all was good but just an example of how you can miss something. If you don't want to pay the really high shipping you probably want to add "shipping to lower 48/continental US only" or something like that.

Paypal will take some fees out but it's another level of protection in getting paid, never had an issue with it.

Good luck, be thorough and communicate well with the buyers on any questions they have and you should be fine.


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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:20 am
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IMHO selling on reverb.com is the way to sell a guitar. All they sell is music related so you're more targeted on your market. Plus they charge 3.5% fee compared to eBay's 10% fee. Ebay ads run for only a specific length Reverb.com ads run until they sell or you end it. Both let you use paypal same fee3.5%. So total 7%vs13.5%. I have sold 2 guitars on Reverb and would never use ebay again for selling instruments.


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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 2:19 pm
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oneal lane wrote:
Have any of you sold a guitar on EBay? do you have any suggestions?
I have never sold anything on EBay and need any constructive tips.

Thanks
OL


Three words that come to mind: Craig's List Killer or perhaps Bound-Tortured-Gagged-Mutilated Ebay Killer! Catch my drift. :|


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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 3:03 pm
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If you have a FB acct there are several groups you can join and buy and sell musical gear...no commissions...you choose the payment method.
Good luck!

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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 5:03 pm
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My tips for selling a guitar on e-bay:

1: Have an awesome guitar
2: Be brutally honest about flaws and why you sell it
3: Accept getting far less than it's worth
4: Pay the eBay fees


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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 5:18 pm
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Start you auction at the minimum that you would take for the guitar. Also be realistic. Also put it on reverb.com. Only put it on Craigslist if you just want it gone and don't care what you get for it.


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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:32 pm
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Location: Brisbane, Australia.
IMO, just like a few others mentioned, no matter how or who you decide to sell it to the most important thing is to be 100% honest in your description and make the potential buyer totally aware upfront of any flaws, dings, scratches, or repairs needed. Take plenty of photos and do a bit of research around those sites as to how much a similar item to yours is being sold for so that you know what's a realistic price to ask.
:D

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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 2:40 am
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Ignore the suggestions about putting your guitar on Craig's List. There are nothing but lowballers and scammers on there who are ready to rip you off. E-Bay is probably your best bet if you want to pay that 10% fee ,but have you considered putting a ad in your local newspaper ? Sure you'll have to pay for the ad but it's a lot better considering Craig's List and E-bay. Plus I'm sure you could find some papers that would list your ad for free as well. My local TV new station has a classified section on their website where you can post stuff for sale at no cost. Maybe you should see if your local news station does that .


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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 7:02 am
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Minnesotastrats wrote:
IMHO selling on reverb.com is the way to sell a guitar. All they sell is music related so you're more targeted on your market. Plus they charge 3.5% fee compared to eBay's 10% fee. Ebay ads run for only a specific length Reverb.com ads run until they sell or you end it. Both let you use paypal same fee3.5%. So total 7%vs13.5%. I have sold 2 guitars on Reverb and would never use ebay again for selling instruments.


I agree on Reverb. I've done a few transactions on there.

I also think you can get a little more money on there, because Reverb stuff just feels like it's authentic, whereas the fakes being sold on eBay decrease what you can get for an item.


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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 7:33 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 1:29 pm
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Location: Louisiana, USA
Thanks everyone for the tips you have given. After taking it all in, I have decided to try and sell them locally and skip hall the hassle with shipping and percentages taken etc. As with many things, its worth "X "amount but getting that is sometimes difficult.




To the person who wrote the following:

JimRussellMills30! wrote:
Three words that come to mind: Craig's List Killer or perhaps Bound-Tortured-Gagged-Mutilated Ebay Killer! Catch my drift.
.


No, not sure what your getting at, but if your implying that I am some kind of stalker and monster your out of line. I have been posting here for years on many guitar and music related topics.

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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 8:11 am
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I've had good luck on craigslist. I sold a little under what people were asking for on Ebay. On ebay I sold a Fender lead II body, being new to ebay, I couldn't find to put it on reserve? well it got listed as no reserve. Most people were asking around $200.00 for one. I got a whole $65.00. Plus paid shipping paypal and ebay fees. Whatta ripoff, never again.....
If you live by a major city, wait for a guitar show to come by?


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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 10:41 pm
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wow, some really bad advice here in this thread. :roll:

When it comes to ebay- be careful- the new rules there make it easy for crooked buyers to scam you, and you have almost zero recourse. Ebay now has the attitude that sellers are a dime a dozen, and buyers are what counts.

If a buyer complains, ebay will side with them almost no matter what. They will threaten you with opening a case unless you give them a partial refund, or they will say the item was not as described, and either send you back your guitar with junk pickups & hardware they switched out yours with and they'll even make you pay for the return shipping. Or, they will send back a box of rocks and ebay will refund their money because the tracking number says they returned something.

Depending on where you live, Craigslist can be OK. Only people with no balls are worried about getting killed on there. :roll: Wow, it must be awful to be that paranoid & scared all the time. I've bought & sold dozens of items on there and never had a problem. Sure, there are lowballers, but you can weed them out before meeting with them. If you're worried at all, meet in a public place, and bring a friend, or a gun, or , a friend with a gun. Or 2. :lol: I've done CL in L.A & Vegas MANY times and I've never had a problem because I weeded out the morons BEFORE meeting with them. Insist on a phone number and talk to them before meeting.

Also, try other outlets other posters mentioned. If you want to try eBay, do yourself a favor and check the feedback of, and left by the people bidding on your item BEFORE the auction ends, and cancel the bids of bidders that look fishy.

Oh, I forgot to mention- the ebay & paypal fees come out to about 15% all told- you have to pay 10% ebay commissions on the item final price & shipping- plus the pay pal fees of 2.9% + 30cents per transaction on the final item price & shipping. DON'T FORGET THEY CHARGE FEES ON SHIPPING!!!!!


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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 7:38 am
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Southpaw summed it up pretty well. I started selling heavily on eBay in 1998 and for a few years, it was an awesome place to list and sell. Like SP says, eBay is now a buyer's mecca and a so-so place to be a seller. In the last few years I have only bought on eBay, haven't sold, though I'm going to get active again this winter and see how it goes.

I have bought guitars on eBay with good luck and sold two there and consider myself lucky that those transactions went through okay. Fees have become exorbitant of late, so I can't really afford to sell any of my big ticket items there anymore.

My experience with CL has been less than thrilling. I've gone back and forth with more than a few potential buyers who wanted to lowball me and in the end I usually just told them to piss off. I've found the way to sell things on CL is to price what you are selling at twice what Guitar Center would give you or about half what you have in it. Chalk it up to life.

I don't think selling guitars or amps on the "local market" works all that well due to the limited exposure you can get, but give it your best shot.

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Post subject: Re: I need tips on selling guitar on ebay
Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 8:52 am
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Ya
You do get some goofballs on craigslist. I was selling a Marshall 1980 JCM 800 50 watt amp. Saw they were asking $1100. bucks for them on ebay. Figure I'd put mine on craigslist for $900. I got an email from a guy who said, You'll never get $900. for that amp. This is a dpressessed area for that kind of money? It's only woth about $400?????
Well I sold it a week later......
$900. Richer.


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