Buy and sell used guitars, basses, keybaords, amps, drums, pro sound. other music gear, and even LP vinyl records
Top 5 ways to sell your music gear. How to sell your used gear(guitars, basses, drums, keyboards, pro audio, effects, recording gear) and and even LP vinyl records online. (#1 only has a 2% fee to sell on their site!!)
Like many of you I'm a musician. I've been playing guitar since 1991 (wow that was a long time ago). I love music, and I love music gear. In fact there are 9 guitars, a bass, 2 amps, recording equipment (usb, cassette, and reel to reel based), 8 harmonics, a trumpet, an alto sax, several yards of vinyl records, and hundreds of cd's within 20 feet of where I am sitting right now.
Perhaps I have a problem.... They said the first step is admitting it.... But I've found a solution.
I can sell some of my rarely used gear and used rare cd's and LP's online. The question is where to sell them where I can get the most eyeballs on them for a fair amount of fees.
I started fairmusictrade.com to help people sell used guitars, basses, drums, keyboards, vinyl records and more because I know that I am not the only one who has this much music gear in a 20 foot radius from them on a daily basis. I hope to list some items for sale here in the future and develop more helpful content for everyone but for now I want to start simply with a quick tutorial on selling used gear and a top 5 list of places to sell my guitars, amps, pro audio, LP's, cd's... etc.
Please check out the how-to and top 5 list below. Full disclosure: I've included some links in the blog post that cost you nothing but may give me a small amount of money when clicked on.
Create a selling account using the links below If you know all this skip to the bottom and sign up for a seller account at any of the top 5 sites to sell your gear at. Setup a paypal account for secure payments If you don't have a paypal account yet please sign up to accept payments. It's fast safe and secure there are fees when you sell but they are reasonable. Do not try to setup your own way to clear your own credit cards unless you are really comfortable with the process and like learning Restful API's. (If you don't know what that is then why add the liability?). Take great pictures This is absolutely critical. Please take good photos. There's no excuse anymore now that even phone cameras are so amazing. If you have an phone and are listing on ebay use the square photo setting as this looks good in their preview window. Be sure to show the front and back of each item. Always use natural light if possible, do not use a flash ever. Get closeups of any damage and be honest and upfront about it. Set a fair price By comparing your item to the market price of others and searching for the market price of your item on amazon and the 5 sites below for similar items and new items as well so you can ensure you will get a bid and will likely sell your item. Don't guess what your item is worth, research it and price it accordingly and get it sold. Be honest about the condition of your item. Your seller reputation is key. Please over describe everything you post online for sale. Please be authentic. Please include every detail and feature in the title if possible (year, make, model, for instruments) e.g. 1955 Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty non-reissue original triple humbucker with bigsby vibrato tremelo bar would be a good title. You can note the positives but also be sure to include every negative in the descripton. When someone is looking for vintage then a belt buckle scratch is not as important as tone (or the sustain....) so be honest, do the right thing and let the buyer know about every flaw or you risk getting a bad review, a complaint, or a return. Go with full disclosure and make the buyer happy. It's good karma. Offer FREE or near actual shipping. Charging a outrageous "shipping" amount just to get your "price" to look lower then other listing is dishonest. Just don't do it. It's bad karma.
5. Post it to Craigslist (sell cheap)
This can be a fast way to get your gear sold and to get the most money for your stuff but the down side is you will have to meet the person to exchange money for goods and that can be rewarding / pleasant / awkward / time consuming / or worse... You may also need to be wary of scams and never deal with out of state buyers. Given all that, posting on craigslist is FREE and as the saying goes you get what you pay for.
4. Bring it to Guitar Center (sell fast (not online)
I've had good luck and fair prices given the instant turn around from guitar center when selling pro gear (a large heavy Peavy speaker I had no desire to ship to a buyer). I've not had any issues with unfair prices because I understand that this is for selling gear fast and overhead of a physical store is a real cost for GC. The upside is they are located almost everywhere in the USA and if you need to sell gear fast they can often make a same day offer. I walked in with a speaker cabinet and out with cash. If you want the most money for your gear then this may not be for you.
3. List it on eBay (sell to many)
FEES: Fees are variable but it's around $7 in fees to sell a $200 guitar.
FEE Calculator here: www.fees.ebay.com/feeweb/feecalculator
Massive marketplace here. The fees can add up but if you want to get your gear in front of a large audience you can't go wrong on ebay. If you've never sold anything on ebay your ranking will be 0. To start to build your ranking be sure to buy some needed items first and get a good reputation before selling with a brand new account. Fearful buys will avoid bidding and sending payments to new accounts with a 0 ranking.
2. Post it on Reverb.com (sell for less fees)
FEES: Flat 3.5%
On reverb.com you can sell your stuff for only 3.5%. WOW. The selection is huge and I can always find what I am looking for here. If you click the link above you even get a $10 credit from reverb.com when you sign up (very cool)!
1. Sell it on Musicetrade.com (sell for the lowest fees)
FEES: Flat 2%
Sell your music gear, guitars, basses, amps, drums, pro sound all for only 2% (WAIT WHAT???). 2%? I'm not sure why you would pay more. This is a new and up and coming site. There are no listing fees. They do not have photo fees. You can even sell cd's and vinyl records here in addition to your giant heavy doubleneck Gibson that you used 7 times in 15 years (Play Stairway!!!!). If your item doesn't sell there's no fee at all. You can relist auctions as often as you like for no fee and they also have the option of selling as a store rather then a traditional auction. As my site is called fairmusictrade.com the site with the lowest fees and least hassle had to win the top spot on my how-to sell top 5 list.
Thanks for reading this far. I've ranked these by my seller experience and fee amounts. I hope this helps my fellow musicians optimize their gear / space ratio.
Now go sell that stuff so you can get better stuff!
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