I've never sold any music stuff on ebay (I've bought guitars from both reverb and eBay, and amps from ebay) but I've decided to sell an MIJ Tele. I tried selling it a few times on gumtree (kind of craigslist) where I've successfully sold a few guitars over the years, but no takers (other than some offers of trades that I didn't want)

Slightly anxious about putting it up on the Bay, mainly cos of tech room horror stories of unreasonable buyers and shipping catastrophes.

Any do's or don'ts? Any techniques for getting a decent price? Does setting a higher reserve price stifle interest?

It's all new to me, so don't hold back!

I haven't sold on eBay in a long time, but sold items on Reverb pretty regularly until a few years ago. It's annoying, honestly, and the bigger Reverb has become the more nonsense potential buyers you have to deal with (this also depends on what you're selling). That said, it does seem to be the most widely used marketplace outside of things like Craigslist and the like. So you're more likely to move your item a bit faster.

With the new tax law, Reverb (and any marketplace) will have to report your sales and issue you a 1099-K if you hit the $600 threshold. I honestly don't know what that is going to entail in terms of filing taxes each year (do we now need to keep receipts to show we didn't have make any income from the sale(s)?) The way Reverb has it set up is if you hit the threshold, they will hold your earnings until you give them your tax information. Just something to keep in mind.

Pricing: I usually spend a couple of minutes looking at the the prices of the item already on the site and price mine somewhere in the middle and accept offers. This is more of a personal thing, but don't price-gouge or engage in "hyped prices." Reverb has made the resell market for flipping gear worse than it was before. Just because you *can* get X amount for an item, doesn't necessarily mean that it's actually worth it or that you should. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Does setting a higher reserve price stifle interest?

Depends on whether or not you accept offers. If your price is really high, it might deter some people who may think your price is unreasonable.

Shipping: For the love of anything holy, insure the package for what it's worth. I made this mistake once and ended up being the only time I've had an issue with a delivery. It sucked. Reverb offers postage and "reverb protection" when you sell an item. It just means they'll handle any claims if something happens (I haven't experienced this, so I don't really now how well it works).

Try to be considerate with how long it takes you to reply to messages and offers. If you sell an item, you have to ship within 3 days after the payment clears. Do not ship until the payment clears. You'll occasionally get people wanting to do a down payment or something. Don't.

Reverb tracks the prices of everything. So be mindful of offers or "combo buys" - e.g. someone buys multiple items from you at a lower overall price, but places the offer on one of your listings - which will make it look like that one item sold for much higher than normal and can artificially inflate future prices.

There are some alternatives popping up here and there, albeit with not as much exposure as Reverb.

There's an instagram account called Music Gear Swap where you DM the account with a picture and short description of the item, they'll post it and send people to your account for more info. No fees.
https://www.instagram.com/musicgearswap/

There's also Byrd Finds out of Nashville. He has a website and lists items on consignment (10% fee). Most consignment gear ends up on his @byrdsells IG account, but he's slowly getting more and more over to his website.
https://www.byrdfinds.com/

DON'T price your listing based on other active listings.
Search sold/completed listings to determine the median price of items that actually sold, and hopefully land on a $ value that sits happily between reality and your "ideal reality".

Sorry if this is obvious, but it's my biggest peeve with these platforms.
Every seller seems to think their old shit is worth 30% more than the next hyper inflated listing, and things just spiral out of control into Soundgas lala-land.

ALSO, really consider how potential shipping costs factor in!
Shipping costs are especially whacky right now and you could commit to a sale that fucks you when you make it to the post.

Good luck!

ALSO, really consider how potential shipping costs factor in!
Shipping costs are especially whacky right now and you could commit to a sale that fucks you when you make it to the post.

Good luck!

This! Also ship your guitar in a case and get a card box (from a music store) that fits the case.
I’ve sold a lot of stuff recently over Reverb, without any bigger issues. Keep in mind that not only Reverb will charge you for your sold items, PayPal will take it’s share too, about 5%.

brownreasontolive wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 12:04 pm DON'T price your listing based on other active listings.
Search sold/completed listings to determine the median price of items that actually sold, and hopefully land on a $ value that sits happily between reality and your "ideal reality".

Yeah, this. Sorry. I should have specified sold listings in my reply.

brownreasontolive wrote: Search sold/completed listings to determine the median price of items that actually sold

I was trying to figure this out the other day... do these "completed listings" only go back 90 days?
Anybody know?

(And is it the same for my own buying selling/history?)

Teacher's Pet wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 1:58 pm

brownreasontolive wrote: Search sold/completed listings to determine the median price of items that actually sold

I was trying to figure this out the other day... do these "completed listings" only go back 90 days?
Anybody know?

(And is it the same for my own buying selling/history?)

Yeah, it's 90 days for ebay. Not sure about Reverb.

I'm fairly certain your purchase history on both should go back to your account creation.

brownreasontolive wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 7:08 pm

Teacher's Pet wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 1:58 pm I was trying to figure this out the other day... do these "completed listings" only go back 90 days?
Anybody know?

Yeah, it's 90s for ebay. Not sure about Reverb.

I'm fairly certain your purchase history on both should go back to your account creation.

Reverb goes back years in some cases—so completed listings might stay up unless the original seller deletes them. It's unclear, really, but maybe someone here knows for sure.

Reverb also will show you a chart of sale prices over time, which is helpful to get a feel for the real value of your Gorilla combo amp/et al.

jirbling rake wrote: Tue Mar 15, 2022 8:54 am

brownreasontolive wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 7:08 pm

Teacher's Pet wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 1:58 pm I was trying to figure this out the other day... do these "completed listings" only go back 90 days?
Anybody know?

Yeah, it's 90s for ebay. Not sure about Reverb.

I'm fairly certain your purchase history on both should go back to your account creation.

Reverb goes back years in some cases—so completed listings might stay up unless the original seller deletes them. It's unclear, really, but maybe someone here knows for sure.

Reverb also will show you a chart of sale prices over time, which is helpful to get a feel for the real value of your Gorilla combo amp/et al.

I'm not even sure how to actually delete listing on Reverb.
Every listing I have ever made is still there - SOLD/ENDED.

chrisyoumans wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 8:13 am With the new tax law, Reverb (and any marketplace) will have to report your sales and issue you a 1099-K if you hit the $600 threshold.

Welp. This is absolutely fucking terrible...and completely ruins any plans I had to get rid of some things.