Black day on eBay for HanSolo!

[rburgess]

That was $71 in my box and with my packing. I went to Fedex first and it was $76.00 in my box. Interestingly, I asked Fedex how much to pack and ship and they responded they will not pack stringed instruments. In so many worrds, "You have to ship a guitar at your risk, not ours." You have to have a commercial account with a high discount to ship cheaply anymore.

 

Why do they offer insurance then? Let's be real, most of the cost in shipping an item is in the packing material,box, and insurance. I shipped a Mesa DR head to south Texas(from NJ) for $40. No insurance, no sig. required. It also depends on who you're dealing with obviously.

[DARKMETL/]

Damn, I always wanted your Kelly.

[TattooedCarrot]

I don't know where you ship, but I haven't seen $29 shipping in 10 years. Amazing that there's such a discrepancy. That PRS in the big case is HEAVY and I'm sure would cost me close $100 to ship and insure. Been shipping gear for years and have never found prices as low as your getting. I've gone through Staples UPS ship center, Kinkos FedEx, and Mailboxes Etc. I don't bother with the post office because of their limited hours. Its frustrating because if I could ship for $30 I would.

 

EDIT: I just checked the UPS estimator and it said $50 to Albuquerque. That's still higher than what you're paying and I know it will be much higher going through a contracted ship center like staples. honestly I don't know where I could ship direct, seems everywhere I look to ship, its a business owned by a third party.

[epi56ebony]

I don't know where you ship, but I haven't seen $29 shipping in 10 years. Amazing that there's such a discrepancy. That PRS in the big case is HEAVY and I'm sure would cost me close $100 to ship and insure. Been shipping gear for years and have never found prices as low as your getting. I've gone through Staples UPS ship center, Kinkos FedEx, and Mailboxes Etc. I don't bother with the post office because of their limited hours. Its frustrating because if I could ship for $30 I would. EDIT: I just checked the UPS estimator and it said $50 to Albuquerque. That's still higher than what you're paying and I know it will be much higher going through a contracted ship center like staples. honestly I don't know where I could ship direct, seems everywhere I look to ship, its a business owned by a third party.

 

Have you thought about signing up for your own UPS and Fed Ex account? I have both but needed them for a different situation.

 

You then just have to drop off at a UPS Store or FED Ex accepted place. I still worry about leaving it there so for UPS I drop it off directly at UPS and you get a confirmation slip from UPS proving you dropped the package off and what time. I go to the UPS office in Sylmar. IT is an actual UPS distribution center.

 

There's a UPS office on Santa Monica Blvd near the Mormon Temple. Not sure where you are.

 

YOu can also drop off the Fed Ex package at a Fed Ex Office location. I know there used to be one in Tulaca Lake/Burbank.

 

It doesn't cost anything to sign up for a personal acct except for a credit card so they can charge you the cost of shipping.

[twisty571]

I don't understand that. I just Fed Ex shipped a guitar in a hardshell case, insured for $1,700 and it was only $29. Pretty heavy box, too. My shipments rarely exceed $35, even across the country and insured. Bummer about you not shipping. I've been really interested in that PRS you are selling, but I'm in NM and I read the part where you said you won't ship.

 

I have used both and have paid up to $50 to ship with them,and if my box is over size they charge more. I am amazed you got $1700 of insurance for $29 let alone ship a guitar also. I did just ship a Squier 51' for $20 with USPS with DC but I spent $15.00 for packing

[epi56ebony]

Also, I'm not sure how that guy was shipping so cheap but UPS and Fed Ex offer Volume Discounts to big corporations and those companies allow you to ship from their mailroom (if you work for the company) if you pay back the cost.

[Ratbatblues]

I have had better luck these days trading. Not selling.

[Mazi Bee]

The trick with reducing shipping costs is making sure you use the smallest box possible. They figure the cost with not only the wieght but the overall dimensions of the box. I typically use the uline.com guitar boxs which are basically the size of a strat case. 18x6x45. Tall guitars like Explorers and Basses you need the 50" tall box and that makes the price go way up. Shipping to your closest side of the country too is obviously cheaper. I can ship stuff for reasonable prices to anywhere on the east coast, but California, Arizona, etc get expensive.

 

What I do, is I have a free account on FedEx.com. I print up my shipping labels there, and then drop the box off at Kinkos/FedEx. I get a slight discount for using an account. Also, insurance and getting signatures increases the price as well. I've shipped about 50 guitars in the last couple of years and by far FedEx is the cheapest. Shipping usually costs me anywhere between $25 and $40, not including the cost of the box, if I buy them form uline, which adds about 7 bucks to my cost.

 

Also, FedEx owns Kinkos now, so it's not like its a third party store. As long as all you do is drop off a pre-labelled box, there should not be any difference in price if you dropped it off at a FedEx distribution center.

[creep66]

The market is dead. I used to flip like crazy 4 years ago, thats how I got my gear. Nowadays I dont flip {censored} coz I dont wanna sit on a guitar for 6 months to avoid being raped on the price. Ebay sucks to sell now coz of the high fees and the low price you get for your auction. I used to start all my items at .99 I wouldnt dream of doin that now.

[monto]

in soviet russia guitar buys you

 

[nd1377]

As others have said, the buyers time to win big time.

[wagdog]

It is a buyers market... but, as someone noted above, sellers are hanging onto their stuff as well, so it does appear to be more of a SLOW market.

[funkywrench]

Some of you guys should consider shipping internationally. It might be more hassle but it certainly opens up your options.

 

I can't speak for other countries but the Aussie dollar hasn't been this strong for years. When you factor in the price of gear in Australia still being significantly higher than US pricing despite the strong dollar, there is definite potential for both sides to come out happy.

[HanSolo]

I've recently shipped a couple of guitars in gig bags and skinned the boxeds down to 44"x16"x6". This seems to be the best deal to ship. It fits a guitar with a gig bag pretty well. It seems like a diminishing point of return. If I opt to not buy a cheap $20 gig bag and bubble wrap the guitar like crazy, it takes a bigger box and bounces me up to an oversize. I am better off with the smaller box and throwing in the gig bag I guess.

[epi56ebony]

Just sold my Classic 60s Shell Pink Strat in a package deal with a Fender Champion 600 amp, offbrand Hard Shell Case, Guitar Stand, Fender gigbag all for $800.

 

First put the ad up in February and sold it this afternoon. 7 Months. Week after week reposting the ad.

 

Many people sending me emails saying "good luck selling it, you're way over priced" but I knew there would be one person out there who would really want Shell Pink.

 

I knew, cause I'm like that. I just have waaay to many Shell Pink guitars so decided to let this one go.

 

Patience is the key.

[ashtray]

It took me 4 months to FIND a Fender DRRI to buy for a reasonable price, in excellent condition. (paid $700, including cover and footswitch), used. That was over a year ago. Trying to sell it now, and where $650 should be a nice deal for someone, I listed it for $575 and still only got one bite, and that person ended up backing out.

 

I've gotten a couple decent deals in the past year, but whenever I've gone to sell something it's crickets. Heck, I haven't even been getting scam offers! Nigeria must be running out of fake money too.

 

And +1,000,000 on shipping. Was able to ship a guitar in a gigbag, small box, for $35. Last hardcase I shipped was $65! Oh, I shipped a set of suspension springs off my car - in a small box. Cost? $45! What??? I was giving them away for free and only charged the guy $15 to cover shipping. Would have been $30 richer had I just thrown them in the trash.

[honeyiscool]

I bought an MIJ Strat w/ upgraded pups for $320. I think you should be happy with what you got.

 

Plus, that's what you get for having an opening bid that's close to what people will pay for it. By having it open at $0.99, you would have more bids.

[honeyiscool]

Some of you guys should consider shipping internationally. It might be more hassle but it certainly opens up your options. I can't speak for other countries but the Aussie dollar hasn't been this strong for years. When you factor in the price of gear in Australia still being significantly higher than US pricing despite the strong dollar, there is definite potential for both sides to come out happy.

+1000. You have to realize that a lot of gear is worth a lot of money overseas and that what counts as a bargain for them might be a great sell for you. Shipping overseas isn't all that expensive. Besides, you can charge for it.

 

I sold an MIJ Jaguar for over $1,000 to a buyer in Russia. IMO, that thing was worth at most $700, which is what I paid for it. Think of it this way. Let's say you have a guitar that was $800 new. You might get $400 for it here. Now, that same guitar might be over $1200 in, say, Russia. So when they offer $600 as a good price, you still get a great sell.

 

I sold some nice Seymour Duncan pickups to some folks in France and Australia and they paid pretty much what was full US retail price for used pickups. Well worth it.

[funkywrench]

+1000. You have to realize that a lot of gear is worth a lot of money overseas and that what counts as a bargain for them might be a great sell for you. Shipping overseas isn't all that expensive. Besides, you can charge for it. I sold an MIJ Jaguar for over $1,000 to a buyer in Russia. IMO, that thing was worth at most $700, which is what I paid for it. Think of it this way. Let's say you have a guitar that was $800 new. You might get $400 for it here. Now, that same guitar might be over $1200 in, say, Russia. So when they offer $600 as a good price, you still get a great sell. I sold some nice Seymour Duncan pickups to some folks in France and Australia and they paid pretty much what was full US retail price for used pickups. Well worth it.

 

Spot on, exactly what I meant.

 

I buy most all my gear internationally, and I almost always make a profit when I sell it locally. I wouldn't have anywhere near the amount or quality of gear that I have now had I bought everything locally.

 

As an example, I recently sold my Eden WTX-260 head for $AU600. I paid around the $400-450 mark shipped to my door from the US about 2 years ago. So after owning it and using it regularly for two years, I then turned around and made a profit on it, that's my type of rental scheme right there! It gave me the funds to buy my Eden WT-400 (which incidentally I also bought from the US for about half the price that they go for used here in Oz).

 

Like honey says, a fair price for you Americans may be a steal for us foreigners!