Electric Guitars

[Bucksstudent]

Originally Posted by tele0507

better than a pawn shop

Or is it?

Some pawn shops give you a serious discount if one of the guitar string breaks, and some charge original or higher prices for used instruments. I've seen low-end Peavey and Dean go for around four hundred, while in the same shop they had a blackface Fender Bassman for seven hundred.

[Meowy]

Originally Posted by StevenJM

I've used eBay to advertise before.

Put the buy it now price at something you'd comfortable with, with fees in mind... There's an eBay fee calculator on their site. If you want $400-$500 for your guitar, set the BIN at $540+shipping. That way if it sells you'll have your $500 after fees... If somebody offers you $400, send them a message saying that you'll do $400, but only if you complete the sale off of eBay. If they agree, end your auction, if they're sketched out or not interested, keep your auction up.

They still get a buyers protection through PayPal as long as they mark that they're paying for goods. I've sold and bought guitars on ebay this way. You miss out on feedback but I don't really care about that.

Using eBay for "free advertising" is why they now charge a final value fee even if you end it early. People bitch about eBay fees but it's the dishonest types who are scamming eBay and using them in direct violation of the terms and conditions that make the rest of us pay FVFs even when there is a legitimate reason for ending an auction (for example when you make a local sale or forum sale without involving eBay at all)

Thanks for that

[IRG]

I don't care much for ebay, and seldom use it. I never sell there, forums seem to work pretty good lately.

But if I could create a new ebay, I would make it a true auction, where every item has to be a real auction and if someone bids in the last minute, the auction is automatically lengthened another 5 minutes or something. Like a real auction. Fees would be reasonable, maybe 5%. Lots of things could make ebay better, finding people to do it is another matter...

[harold heckuba]

Around 08 or 09 there was a constant rumor that Google was going to open
a competing auction site against ebay.

I guess the economy tanked in the meantime, and I havent heard of it in
several years.

[tlbonehead]

Originally Posted by Meowy

Using eBay for "free advertising" is why they now charge a final value fee even if you end it early. People bitch about eBay fees but it's the dishonest types who are scamming eBay and using them in direct violation of the terms and conditions that make the rest of us pay FVFs even when there is a legitimate reason for ending an auction (for example when you make a local sale or forum sale without involving eBay at all)

Thanks for that

Yep, that is very sleazy.

[StevenJM]

I dont think its sleazy. They don't charge a final value fee if you end it early. At least I've never been charged one. Whatever saves me $40. It's not like I'm constantly flipping guitars on eBay. I've done 2 or 3 times selling. Their fees are pretty ridiculous and they can keep raising them if they want because there's NO competition for them.

[StevenJM]

Plus I sell home made pedals year round that they take 12% of, so saving $20-40 here and there doesn't keep me up at night.

[mistersully]

ebay fees have definitely increased an unreasonable amount imo... but i'd still sell through them if the need arose

[billybilly]

Yes, their fees are extraordinary but I'm glad such a service exists. I've literally saved/made thousands of dollars being able to access gear through it.

Before globalization, I was flipping strats and making $400 on them on a bad day. One year I made $12,000 flipping gear and had a ball doing it. Wouldn't have been possible without ebay.

[Meowy]

Originally Posted by StevenJM

I dont think its sleazy. They don't charge a final value fee if you end it early. At least I've never been charged one. Whatever saves me $40. It's not like I'm constantly flipping guitars on eBay. I've done 2 or 3 times selling. Their fees are pretty ridiculous and they can keep raising them if they want because there's NO competition for them.

Here you go. You have a bid on the item a FVF gets charged

http://announcements.ebay.com/2012/1...-all-listings/

Why? To protect themselves of the sleazy practice of taking the transaction offline. Can't say I blame them. again honest people getting fucked by the sleazeballs.

Originally Posted by StevenJM

Plus I sell home made pedals year round that they take 12% of, so saving $20-40 here and there doesn't keep me up at night.

Yeah it's called cost of doing business. That's how the economy works. Go put them on CL or on the classifieds here if you want legitimately free advertising.

Even worse that you are operating a business and scum bagging eBay and those of us who abide by the terms, and proud of it.

[StevenJM]

Originally Posted by Meowy

Even worse that you are operating a business and scum bagging eBay and those of us who abide by the terms, and proud of it.

I don't run auctions. The ONLY way they charge a fee is if you have a bid and you end it. I only run BINs.

And you keep feeling 'proud' paying your fees... And I'll keep saving money where I can. For the $2-300 a year I spend on fees, I don't really care about saving $40

[Meowy]

Originally Posted by StevenJM

I don't run auctions. The ONLY way they charge a fee is if you have a bid and you end it. I only run BINs.

And you keep feeling 'proud' paying your fees... And I'll keep saving money where I can. For the $2-300 a year I spend on fees, I don't really care about saving $40

Yes and you said if someone is interested you take the deal offline and end the listing. That is just as sleazy and against the terms. eBay is virtually free for you and the restof us pay for your practices. But soon enough we will all be paying FVF or higher listing fees on BINs.. Because of Fucking scamming freeloaders who live above the rules. Reap what you sow

[StevenJM]

Originally Posted by Meowy

Yes and you said if someone is interested you take the deal offline and end the listing. That is just as sleazy and against the terms. eBay is virtually free for you and the restof us pay for your practices. But soon enough we will all be paying FVF or higher listing fees on BINs.. Because of Fucking scamming freeloaders who live above the rules. Reap what you sow

You seem to read what you want. Again, I've done this 2 or 3 times, only on guitars. Most of the time I can sell it for enough where the fees arent an issue. I spend about $2-300 a year on fees. ($150 just in the last month)... So I'm not exactly sure how in your mind I use eBay for free. Even the times I've ended it early, they still get a listing fee.

But if it makes you feel better about yourself, keep up with the selective reading, and then come back here and argue your points where you try to belittle me, as if I'm affected by your opinion of me. If my use of eBay angers you so much, PM me and we can continue our conversation privately.

[Weiner_Bomb]

What about Yahoo auctions? I used to browse there from time to time.. Thinking about looking into this in a selling perspective.

[bjcarl]

Here's an illustration of what sucks about Ebay for buyers(IMO)...

I just searched "Fender Telecaster" in the Electric Guitar listings...out of 2490 results, only 202 are listed as auctions!

Just 5 years ago, that would've been reversed...whatever Ebay has done to reduce the actual auction listings , it truly sucks now. I hate BIN ebay listings...personally, if I want to buy it now and can't find it on craigslist, I'm going to my mom & pop retailer or, if necessary, a major online retailer.

[Jonathan40]

I haven't used Ebay very much for years. I've found the best thing to do is put items on alternative sites like Harmony Central, Craigslist, etc. However, they can take months to sell, and if I get a little antsy, I'll consider Ebay, but only for things in the $200-500 range, as things get pretty pricey quick once you get above that.

[strtdv]

Ebay is expensive to sell through, sure. I sold a couple of e-readers recently and ebay took about 12% of what I ended up with after shipping costs, but in the end even after fees I got £160 for what I would have struggled to get £140 for if I sold locally.

Paying final value fees on shipping costs just means you bump up your P&P costs by about 10% and let the buyer cover it. No big deal.

Ebay has a lot of plus points though. It has a big audience, and if you take PayPal and then print postage labels through ebay it tracks through ebay and you automatically get your money once the item gets delivered. Safe for both the buyer and the seller IMO.

I've listed on Gumtree (UK Craigslist equivalent), but only ever got tire kickers and lowballers. Bought a little on it too, but I like the security ebay offers.

I've had pretty good luck buying and selling on these forums in the past, but lately they're dead, everyone selling thinks their stuff is worth 90% of the new price, and everyone buying thinks it's worth 40% of the new price. Haven't bought or sold anything on here in over a year.

[straycat113]

That is because Ebay is now swamped with dealers and large stores and everyone gauges their listings off of them. As bjcarl stated a few years back you had mainly auctions where you got the best deals compared to all the BIN' auctions they have now. It would take a Bill Gates or Google type company to pump some fear into Ebay as they are simply too huge and no one in a garage is going to knock them on their ass. To be honest it really does not bother me the least as I have had more than my fair share of great scores off of and was never a seller. Kind of mind boggling how some are so vehemently sticking up for them as if they own stock shares lmfao.