Help Selling Guitars

[Caolan96]

Hi Guys,

 

 

Ive recently been trying to sell 2 guitars :

 

1. a '56 Goldtop in excellent condition, made in August '09, with an Epi Hardcase.

2. An Ebony Dot in excellent condition made in October '09 with a Gator hardcase.

 

 

The problem is, I just cant get them sold !

 

I've had the guitars in seperate ads, in papers, on websites, on social networking sites, and here on the trading post section, with absolutely NO interest.

 

Im selling the Goldtop for $400 including hardcase and shipping.

and the Dot for $360 including hardcase and shipping.

 

 

Are these fair prices?

 

If not, please post suggestions.

 

 

Regards,

 

Caolán.

[brianh]

Caolan, are those US Dollars? If so, you may need to lower your prices a little. Around here, there's a P90 Goldtop that's been for sale for a while for $375, and Dots usually go for around $300 used. I sold a pristine Ebony Dot last year for $200 (but it was a 2nd). I'd expect that if you lowered the Goldtop to $350, and the Dot to $300, they'd be gone in fairly short order.

[Caolan96]

Caolan' date=' are those US Dollars? If so, you may need to lower your prices a little. Around here, there's a P90 Goldtop that's been for sale for a while for $375, and a Dots usually go for around $300 used. I sold a pristine Ebony Dot last year for $200 (but it was a 2nd). I'd expect that if you lowered the Goldtop to $350, and the Dot to $300, they'd be gone in fairly short order.[/quote']

 

Yeah thats US Dollars,

 

 

Thanks for the advice Brian, much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

Caolán.

[rdsmith3]

It's hard to compare prices across the ocean, but as translated to US$, the prices do seem a bit high. The economy is still challenging; people are out of work; people are more careful about their purchases; etc.

[pizzaboy]

Caolan,

Going by your user info, I presume you are advertising in GBP.

 

You can get the Dot for £279 and the goldtop for £349 from GAK.

 

the only recent ebony dot on ebay went for £175. translates to about $210

The recent goldtops went for £156 to £210

[markerdown]

I recently sold my pristine epi 56Gt with HSC.. I was lucky to get $400 for it. You can buy them new on sale from most chain stores . I've seen them on ebay anywhere from $325 and up with case .

 

It's a tough market for resale these days. Most folks chop the original price in half then go from there. Lots of folks selling gear because times are tough. I was getting tons of comments when I had mine on ebay, most wanted to only pay $350 USD.

 

I didn't have to sell mine. I just didn't play it enough. After she was gone, I had a bit of sellers remorse... no P90's in any of my axes. so I pre-ordered a gibby studio 50s tribute worn gt Lp w/p90s....... now I gotta scrape up the cash to pay for it when it comes in. .....................markerdown

[bynapkinart]

it could also be the way you're selling it...i've been working in marketing for a while now, and i can tell you that people really care how the item is advertised. saying that you need to "get rid of" a guitar is going to make people think its not good enough for them either (i mean, if you're getting rid of it then why should i pay for a substandard guitar??)

 

you're already working against the various chinese guitar myths and Epiphone myths, so make sure your wording reflects that you loved the guitar, i.e. "i have to let it go." explain why you bought it in the first place, what you loved about it, what you're selling it for....

 

i sold a mexican fender strat for $550 this winter...only thing i did was add american pickups for $50 and added a callaham block for $60. the guy who bought it from me had 2 american strats already, and just simply expressing your love and knowledge of the guitar makes the buyer feel that what they're holding is much, much more than a piece of wood with strings.

 

knowledge is power...know your instrument.

[brad1]

it could also be the way you're selling it...i've been working in marketing for a while now' date=' and i can tell you that people really care how the item is advertised. saying that you need to "get rid of" a guitar is going to make people think its not good enough for them either (i mean, if you're getting rid of it then why should i pay for a substandard guitar??)

 

you're already working against the various chinese guitar myths and Epiphone myths, so make sure your wording reflects that you loved the guitar, i.e. "i have to let it go." explain why you bought it in the first place, what you loved about it, what you're selling it for....

 

i sold a mexican fender strat for $550 this winter...only thing i did was add american pickups for $50 and added a callaham block for $60. the guy who bought it from me had 2 american strats already, and just simply expressing your love and knowledge of the guitar makes the buyer feel that what they're holding is much, much more than a piece of wood with strings.

 

knowledge is power...know your instrument.[/quote']

 

I have a degree in Communications, and have worked in the newspaper/ advertising world briefly.

You have given some very good advice.