How is it these days for a private seller trying to sell a used guitar?

GreatDane

"up yours, baby."
i have some guitars i'm thinking of putting up in the classifieds here, as well as TGP and a few other sites. i don't need to sell, just want to make some room and sock some extra cash away for who-knows-what.

i've got some decent stuff to put up (new and vintage, Gibson/Fender/PRS-type stuff, some smaller builders), but i'm curious to hear your thoughts on what kind of market it is right now.

It seems like some stuff is moving on TGP, prices are pretty ridiculous on eBay, but stuff is selling more regularly than a year or two ago. what i don't want to do is put up an ad and keep bumping it for 100 years. i generally post up some stuff for about three weeks and then pull down whatever isn't sold by then.

what do you think? give it a shot, or wait a while longer?
 
Gear Page has rant threads on this all the time and the answers always vary.
One guy says the market sucks and the next guy says it's ok as long as you price it right.
I agree asking prices on eBay are crazy.

My own personal experience says if it says Fender, Gibson, Gretsch or PRS, you can sell it ok. If it has any other brand name on it, tough sell.
 
I think it has a lot to do with the area in which you're listing, and how realistic you are with the price you set.

I'm in the Nashville area, so music gear sells pretty well here, if the seller is reasonable.

The folks around here know there gear, and they know what things are worth, but their will always be scammers and rip-off artists that will prey on the unsuspecting. That means that buyers are cautious, and they do their homework. I peruse Craigslist often enough (it's like the old Sears & Roebuck Christmas Catalogue to me, for those old enough to remember) that I can spot gear that's over priced pretty quick. When the economy went south, people were shedding gear cheap, just to stay alive. Prices stabilized, but then gear started to be overpriced a lot more. I don't know if it was about people needing to recoup previous loses, or if it's the scammers/rip-off artists that are driving this bus.

GD, you seem like a straight shooter, so I think you'll do fine. Set your price so that you can knock something off for a deal, and expect low-ballers to call, so know how low you'll go.
 
I think it must be OK. I recently contacted a couple of sellers on CL and TGP expressing interest in buying their guitars, and they never responded to me. Either they sold very quickly to someone else or they decided not to sell.

That said, I see lots of items sit on the Chicago CL sitting forever. Seller never lowers the price and the guitar never sells.
 
I think it has a lot to do with the area in which you're listing, and how realistic you are with the price you set.

I'm in the Nashville area, so music gear sells pretty well here, if the seller is reasonable.

The folks around here know there gear, and they know what things are worth, but their will always be scammers and rip-off artists that will prey on the unsuspecting. That means that buyers are cautious, and they do their homework. I peruse Craigslist often enough (it's like the old Sears & Roebuck Christmas Catalogue to me, for those old enough to remember) that I can spot gear that's over priced pretty quick. When the economy went south, people were shedding gear cheap, just to stay alive. Prices stabilized, but then gear started to be overpriced a lot more. I don't know if it was about people needing to recoup previous loses, or if it's the scammers/rip-off artists that are driving this bus.

GD, you seem like a straight shooter, so I think you'll do fine. Set your price so that you can knock something off for a deal, and expect low-ballers to call, so know how low you'll go.

thank you for the kind words! i try to price my stuff reasonably, but i also don't need to give anything away. i do honestly describe my stuff, take good care of my stuff, take reasonably good pictures of my stuff and pack items to survive a nuclear attack when shipping. so far, that combination has served me well.
 
local its complete bollocks

TGP will buy all your shit though

the main thing youve got going for you is you, "dont have to sell". That will take care of all the lowballing assholes.

Patience and lots of pretty pictures. Try to avoid bullshit terms like "high-end sizzle"
and dont over sell it. If you say its "the most awesome guitar I ever played!" then you come off as are either a fool or a lier.
 
local its complete bollocks

TGP will buy all your shit though

the main thing youve got going for you is you, "dont have to sell". That will take care of all the lowballing assholes.

Patience and lots of pretty pictures. Try to avoid bullshit terms like "high-end sizzle"
and dont over sell it. If you say its "the most awesome guitar I ever played!" then you come off as are either a fool or a lier.

agree. i don't connect with sellers who say "this is THE one..." or stuff like that because it's ridiculous ("which guitars HAVE you played, for context?") and compromises their integrity as an individual, IMO.
 
I agree that there's a lot of threads about stuff not selling on TGP. IMO, it's about finding the right buyer, pricing a little high, and being willing to negotiate down to your reasonable selling price. People want to feel like they're getting a deal. They don't get that if you make your price firm. But they will also wait you out to see if you drop the price. Everyone else does when they get impatient. Stay the course and you'll be fine.
 
pricing on the high side is a good idea. For one it leaves room for wiggle,
people like to feel they got one over on you, so if your ad says $1000
but you realistically want $900 and they buy it for $950 they think
they won $50 when in reality they lost $50.

also, pricing too low sets off red flags. Too good to be true syndrome.
Especially on TGP where they are used to paying $300 for a TubeScreamer
like it is nothing.
Great example I had a few pedals for sale, one was a Malekko Ekko 616,
which retail for $150 street. Mine was spankin' new but priced at $60
I got no hits, so I started bumping the price up once a week,
finally when it got to $85 it sold.
 
as far as pricing goes, i have always priced my stuff somewhere around eBay sold prices or a decent amount below dealer used pricing if i can't find a comparable ebay price.

one of the nice things about not needing to sell (or needing the money is that i can offer a layaway option to prospective buyers. i've done this a bunch of times for folks on TGP - put as little as $100 and pay the balance off within 90 or 120 days and then i ship the item. i generally don't come down on my price if the person opts for layaway, but installments do make sense for some folks who can afford the item, but not in a one-time payment sort of way.
 
how is eBay these days for sellers? fees still a killer? i used to run .01 start no reserve auctions all the time, but the fees started to get a little greedy, and i think they changed their policies to be almost seller-adverse. am i right about that? i don't want to get scammed on a sale, but the global exposure would be really good for some of these items.
 
ironically, local is hard for me because i work so much and travel often. it's hard to meet up with folks at a mutually convenient time. i've gone a lot of great face-to-face deals, but they are not easy for me to pull off. most local deals have been the person coming to my office!
 
BTW - this is not intended to be spam. if Mark or any other mod views it that way, I will remove or ask that this be moved to the classifieds area.

Not at all. Actually this is interesting to me since I'm planning on putting both of my Suhrs and a couple of other strats up for sale next month and I have no idea how to price anything.
 
i hear you, Mark. it's not easy for me. i don't want to take anyone for a ride, but i also don't want to get fleeced. wish me luck, i guess... :)
 
i just put the following up on TGP. let me know what you think - reasonable prices and descriptions and pictures? is it cool that i offer a layaway option and a 7-day return policy?:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=1420519

BTW - this is not intended to be spam. if Mark or any other mod views it that way, I will remove or ask that this be moved to the classifieds area.
Oh man I wish I had the cash for your ES-175D.
 
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