I've sold on reverb once and the guy said the amp wasn't working properly when it arrived. I packed it in the shipping materials it came from the builder with. I don't plan to sell a guitar there.
Most guitars listed on marketplace are also on kijiji and local-specific buy/sell groups, so there's that...
Guy can do the same thing on eBay, or even start calling/messaging you if you gave him your contact number, picked it up at your home via CL deal etc
Buyers remorse, free “rental” mentality etc isn’t unique to Reverb by any means
I had a guy once claim a pedal didn’t work and wanted half off, Reverb had my back, said I was protected as the seller and he didn’t get anything.
Not always the case, but it’s not as black and white as a buyer complains and they automatically get their money back and your lucky to get your item back.
For what it’s worth as well, a lot of legit transaction services like Venmo, Zelle, PayPal etc are all supposed to report to the IRS so it’s not like you can sell it here in the FAS, get a PayPal transfer and avoid the 1099. Reverb is just following the same rules as everyone else.
Cash is of course king, but not always viable to expect someone to send you an envelope of cash if it’s not a local deal
By first option is lost local, price it fair and home to get a cash deal, no fees, no reporting, no shipping, hopefully never see or hear from them again.
Other times, dude comes by, pays for pedal etc, their price of crap truck drips oil on my driveway and I spend more on cleaning products and pressure washing than I made off the cheap sale lol….
Point is, I don’t really get the hate for reverb, they provide a large market and a targeted audience and ease of listing, transaction, and even shipping.
Why the hate ?
I’m sure we probably all look on Reverb, EBay etc as buyers for pedals, guitars etc sometimes no ?
Not horrible platforms to help sell, but they are a business and not a public service after all, so why can’t they make some money for the platform.
I mean, before eBay, Reverb etc, how did we even buy and sell used gear
Swap meet, ad in the newspaper or stick a note on the wall at the music shop with your number ?
Reverb, EBay etc made it super easy to search for and buy darn near any music gear you could want.
Name a pedal, search, and I bet you’ll find a few. You can see pics, sellers feedback, know the total price, compare other sellers prices and all this is basically with a few mouse clicks….
I don’t know, I think those sites provide a pretty awesome service…..
Though like 150 some pedals later, my bank account (and wife) probably feels differently and thinks “do you know how much would be in the retirement account if you didn’t have drawers of those pedals you keep buying all the time?
Then again, my 401k lost like 14% last year and most of my pedals are probably worth well more than I originally paid for them years ago LOL
