Smurfbird Posted October 25, 2013 Posted October 25, 2013 I've caught a few guitars in recent years and now I"m thinking of releasing the ones I don't personally bond with. Great guitars but I want to try some other models. Lots of folks here do the same. But eBay/PayPal takes a decent chunk and my local guitar shop is worse. Gibsons don't show up much on the local Craigslist. Mostly low-end stuff with college kids looking to trade Yamaha guitars for video game systems. I suppose the Trading Post here is a good place to start, but I wondering if there were any other options, especially of people mostly trading and just a little cash to make up the value diff?
jedzep Posted October 25, 2013 Posted October 25, 2013 OK, this will come off as cheesy, but around half of my Ebay trades have been done after auction close. Whether I'm looking to buy or sell I find a way to get personal contact info exchanged so that I can continue a relationship going after a failed listing. It gets dicey as Ebay cuts you off from trading personal info in their listings so you have to be a little creative. Then you see if there's a player on the other end and take your chances. As a buyer, you're at risk, sending payment and hoping for the best. I've been able to avoid flim flams through luck, I guess, but you can get a pretty good feel for traders after emails and phone conversations. Here's how I got my email out in my current listing. A direct deal would mean a $2200 final cost, as Ebay and Ppal would eat up $250. Ebay is still a good deal, you have to figure, given the exposure. I've done alright with C'list as well, posting to larger cities near my very rural area. http://www.ebay.com/...984.m1558.l2649 I know I'm an A'hole. No need to scold. I've also sold a few the old fashioned way; hanging flyers with pics around town.
jdd707 Posted October 25, 2013 Posted October 25, 2013 And don't discount Craigslist. I've easily sold a Blues King and a J45 natural there.
MorrisrownSal Posted October 25, 2013 Posted October 25, 2013 I am a recovering trader. I have sold about a dozen guitars that I bought out of curiosity, boredom, and silliness. I have sold three on eBay, one on UMGF. And the rest on AGF. Go to that AGF. Pay the small amount and become a chart er member so you can sell in Buy and Sell. Well worth it. eBAY and PayPal Kill you on fees. Between shipping and those fees figure 20%. Insane. AGF is the way to go.
duluthdan Posted October 26, 2013 Posted October 26, 2013 In 40 years I've sold 4 guitars. 2 in the local paper want ads, 1 on consignment, and 1 by word of mouth. Newspaper worked best for me, I could never imagine figuring out ebay, or even shipping.
BluesKing777 Posted October 26, 2013 Posted October 26, 2013 You ought to live here in Australia.... every purchase of a US item is a 'one-way street' with taxes/transport/fees, unless we can find a local sucker....hmm,,,,I mean buyer! BluesKing777.
modoc_333 Posted October 27, 2013 Posted October 27, 2013 if you don't see many on CL then that is good for you! your local market isn't flooded with used Gibsons. you should get lots of attention and a good price if you list yours.
ksdaddy Posted October 28, 2013 Posted October 28, 2013 I've flipped literally hundreds of guitars, 99.9% on ebay. Yes, they take their pound of flesh and my tolerance for them is getting strained. No "news" here, but consider the fact they take ebay fees from your shipping charges. I know why they do that; it's because of sellers listing iPhone covers for $.01 'buy it now' and $14.99 shipping. So the rest of us end up paying for that. Saturday I sold a $205 accordion to someone in Korea. The (calculated) shipping was $145. So I will pay ebay fees on $350. Buggers. Side note, it likely won't be $145 and I will refund the difference, but it's a lot easier to do it that way than to ask for more money. Another ebay horror story: I bought 7 saxophones a month or so ago and they've been very good to me. On one auction I had accidentally excluded international bidders. I've sold a few to a horn guy in Brazil. The bidding was at $135 and for whatever reason I couldn't seem to change the international shipping status. Might have been a glitch, I don't know. So I ended up cancelling the auction so I could relist it, knowing he wanted to bid. Ebay immediately charged me the final value fee on the cancelled amount. I'm sure people were killing auctions when the money got right just to avoid fees. And again, we end up bending over for ebay. I'm getting to the point where if I plan to sell something over $500 or so I'm going to weave my email address in like jedzep. If ebay wants to put the screws to us, I say we just screw them first. Done close to 8000 transactions since '99 and have plenty of stories. One of the top ones is the sale I made last week. A 1970 Chrysler Newport 2 door hardtop with 60,000 original miles. Sold it on ebay for $2200 and it's going to Germany. Direct wire transfer to my bank using a bogus account number so I didn't have to reveal my real account number. Money came through in 2 days, and I've been contacted by the shipping company who will be picking it up. I paid $600 for it a couple months ago.
zombywoof Posted October 29, 2013 Posted October 29, 2013 More often as not I only part with a guitar as part of a trade deal. But if I just want to sell, I usually have a couple of folks waiting to snag anything I should decide to let go of but then again they expect the fairly deep "friend's discount." My experience is that things seem to go smoothly on eBay or a forum when it involves an el cheapo guitar. Putting up a high dollar guitar on a forum though can bring the nutcases out. Wait to you get one of those guys who wants fifty pictures of the bridge or complains the photos you sent do not convey the "essence" of the guitar (whatever the heck that means). I actually pulled out of a deal because I could not handle the guy who wanted to buy the guitar any longer.
billdraper Posted October 29, 2013 Posted October 29, 2013 I have never braved E-Bay, and I don't want to ship much either. I've tried craigslist, but find it variably time-consuming with lots of looky-loos and low offers. Tried 4 music shops on consignment, and found one of the four to my liking....the others just couldn't sell it, or it took a long time. The music shop consigner I like....takes 20%....but prices the guitar a little higher and is able to turn it over. I like it because I don't have to do anything. Bill
GotTheSilver Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 I'm good at the catch part. Never really understood or tried that release thing!
BluesKing777 Posted October 31, 2013 Posted October 31, 2013 I'm good at the catch part. Never really understood or tried that release thing! You and me, GTS! BluesKing777.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.