Selling Guitars Online - Best Place Nowdays?

spagthorpe said:
In general, I don't have people over to my house. The exception was selling a studio desk. I don't want random people coming over and seeing my gear. The last year and a half, this is especially true in general because of covid.

So most sales, I've had people just happy to get the gear at that price, and they can tell I take care of my stuff. For an amp I sold, the guy obviously wanted to hear it, so I lugged it to this Starbucks I know of that has an outdoor area with plugs. He brought his guitar, and rocked out for 10 minutes. It was awesome. People were coming off the main street for the show. For a couple of guitars, where people wanted to hear them, I brought along my little battery powered Yamaha 10X. One guy brought some of those Boss wireless headphones.
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I've met a few guys at the local Guitar Center parking lot. But that was for drug deals.

I kid! ;)

One guy bought a mint '65 Reissue Super Reverb from me and didn't trust me that it
worked, so he went in and asked one of the reps in GC if he could borrow their power
for a few minutes. They obliged. Oh man, the manager was pissed when he found out.

I felt so bad about being part of the fiasco that I gave the rep who got his ass chewed
$20 from the sale of the amp. I don't think it was enough to cover the cost of what he
lost from his backside, though. ;)
 
TSJMajesty said:
I don't do any selling personally (yet, so I clicked on this thread), but a buddy of mine whose always buying and selling all sorts of stuff swears by Facebook Marketplace.
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I think it depends on your risk tolerance.

You can sell on Reverb / eBay, as long as you document your packaging, buy insurance, take photos, weigh your guitar, weigh your packaged guitar, follow the UPS truck to the buyers house, watch them open it, plug the guitar in for the buyer to prove it works. And then you still have a 5% chance of being scammed...

In reality, I agree with FB Marketplace... I hate FB for everything else, except Marketplace. Far fewer scammers than Craigslist (but still some scammers in FB Marketplace). I also have used The Gear Page, but haven't been destroyed by tire-kickers nearly as bad as some other guys on here. :)

There are no right answers - you can be scammed in any deal one way or another. Just have to know the risks and how to mitigate them.
 
la noise said:
No offense, but I'd rather get kicked in the nuts repeatedly by a bunch of tire-kickers
then entertain the thought of visiting that place. ;)
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Hey, up to you, but we're just talking about trying to sell stuff here. I've bought and sold hundreds of guitars, amps and pedals there. Never had a bad transaction. Big audience of people interested in gear. No fees (other than pp fees if you use it). No tax. I go to Reverb as a last resort.
 
bjjp2 said:
Hey, up to you, but we're just talking about trying to sell stuff here. I've bought and sold hundreds of guitars, amps and pedals there. Never had a bad transaction. Big audience of people interested in gear. No fees (other than pp fees if you use it). No tax. I go to Reverb as a last resort.
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It's cool. I hear ya. It's not you. It's me. Well, mostly TGP and a little bit of me. ;)
 
I’ve sold 2 online recently - a 73 strat and a newer Les Paul - both on Reverb. No issues at all. Reverbs fees have gone up a bit in the last year or two, but I feel far more protected on there Vs EBay.
 
jefferski said:
Same for me. It's one thing if I'm selling something like a barbecue or chair, but I don't want people coming over to buy an amp or guitar and thinking that I have more gear.
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I’ve had people over to buy gear. I move my stuff to another room so they don’t see what else I have. What they do see are my outside cameras and switches on my doors and the alarm panel on the wall. Those plus the gear. I make sure there’s enough communication to at least get an idea of what I’m dealing with. I keep my dogs outside and make sure to mention I have them out back. So far so good. I’ve sold on Reverb too. Fees are a little high. They boycotted Fulltone new products but will still sell used pedals. Woke lameness right there. I always try CL first. Better price that way but still some risk.
 
skolacki said:
I’ve had people over to buy gear. I move my stuff to another room so they don’t see what else I have. What they do see are my outside cameras and switches on my doors and the alarm panel on the wall. Those plus the gear. I make sure there’s enough communication to at least get an idea of what I’m dealing with. I keep my dogs outside and make sure to mention I have them out back. So far so good. I’ve sold on Reverb too. Fees are a little high. They boycotted Fulltone new products but will still sell used pedals. Woke lameness right there. I always try CL first. Better price that way but still some risk.
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I'd never heard of that boycott. Just read up on it and makes me want to buy one of their pedals, except I have no reason so own one!
 
skolacki said:
I’ve had people over to buy gear. I move my stuff to another room so they don’t see what else I have. What they do see are my outside cameras and switches on my doors and the alarm panel on the wall. Those plus the gear. I make sure there’s enough communication to at least get an idea of what I’m dealing with. I keep my dogs outside and make sure to mention I have them out back. So far so good. I’ve sold on Reverb too. Fees are a little high. They boycotted Fulltone new products but will still sell used pedals. Woke lameness right there. I always try CL first. Better price that way but still some risk.
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Aside from the dogs, I've already decided that's what I'm gonna do before I start selling my gear (due to the Axe Fx III making it all obsolete for me.) I live too out-in-the sticks to take the risk. And I still may just meet people somewhere else.
 
fcs101 said:
I'd never heard of that boycott. Just read up on it and makes me want to buy one of their pedals, except I have no reason so own one!
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Shortly after I bought the FM3 Fractal gave us the OCD. Love that. Use it quite a bit.

Yeah that was BS cause he was just speaking the truth in a blunt way.
 
skolacki said:
I’ve had people over to buy gear. I move my stuff to another room so they don’t see what else I have. What they do see are my outside cameras and switches on my doors and the alarm panel on the wall. Those plus the gear. I make sure there’s enough communication to at least get an idea of what I’m dealing with. I keep my dogs outside and make sure to mention I have them out back. So far so good. I’ve sold on Reverb too. Fees are a little high. They boycotted Fulltone new products but will still sell used pedals. Woke lameness right there. I always try CL first. Better price that way but still some risk.
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Yea, I wouldn't have someone into my studio, just set up in the living room and act like "it was my kid's guitar but he quit when he went away to college..."

Our dog is an extremely cute mini-golden doodle. She'd probably bark, but doubt she'd scare anyone ;-)
 
spagthorpe said:
For a couple of guitars, where people wanted to hear them, I brought along my little battery powered Yamaha 10X. One guy brought some of those Boss wireless headphones.
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The Waza Airs. Those are great. If I'm at a GC trying guitars I bring those with me. I run through the FM3 sometimes with the dongle on the output. Not accurate but they are great for practice.
 
Check with your local Police Department. Some of them have an area where local citizens can safely meet for things like online sales exchanges. Definitely worth the piece of mind, especially if it's for something valuable. Someone would have to be pretty brazen to try and rob you while under surveillance in the lobby of the police station.

http://www.safetradestations.com/
 
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This summer has been a sale-a-bration around here. I’ve sold two guitars, two amps, a few pedals, and some other odds and ends either on The Gear Page or Reverb—all without incident (knock-on-wood!). I also sold a gig bag via Craigslist, but CL sales are few and far between for me.
 
skolacki said:
The Waza Airs. Those are great. If I'm at a GC trying guitars I bring those with me. I run through the FM3 sometimes with the dongle on the output. Not accurate but they are great for practice.
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It never occurred to me that I could plug mine into anything other than a guitar.
 
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