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selling a guitar on ebay, any tips?

Jealousblues

By Jealousblues
in Electric Guitars

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Bro Blue Newbie

Bro Blue

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Yeah, start the bidding at your lowest price you're willing to take. Be sure to mention anything wrong functionally and cosmetically. Be sure to note whether you will or will not accept returns.

 

I do not allow bidders that do not have a verified PayPal address. I do not deal with overseas bidders.

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stormin1155 Newbie

stormin1155

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I personally don't like reserves, so I put the starting bid at the very minimum I would accept for it... I'm not sure if that works better than Smorgdonkey's approach or not. Take lots of good pictures and give a complete and honest description of it. Use as many descriptive words in your title as you can so people doing searches are more likely to find it (ie. Fender Stratocaster (strat) Eric Johnson electric guitar.... instead of just Fender Stratocaster). Don't waste your title space with words people are unlikely to search on, such as very nice. If you post shipping costs, be sure to qualify them (ie. $35 lower 48 states U.S., others will be higher).

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smorgdonkey Newbie

smorgdonkey

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Don't use a reserve as many people such as myself won't even look at reserve auction. Just start your bidding at the lowest you're willing to take.


Lots and lots of really good pictures.

 

 

Ok...don't use a reserve but make the starting bid something that you are comfortable selling it for. Recently I've seen auctions end at prices that would make you cry.

 

*EDIT* as stormin said above...

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twofoolsaminute Newbie

twofoolsaminute

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I do 7 day auctions. Ending Sunday night. No reserve. $.99 starting bid. Lots of description, lots of pictures. The more details you give, the better.

 

Every time I've done the auction this way it has sold for more than I expected.

 

Every time I have started the bidding at the price I wanted or had a reserve, the guitar did not sell.

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GCDEF Newbie

GCDEF

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I do 7 day auctions. Ending Sunday night. No reserve. $.99 starting bid. Lots of description, lots of pictures. The more details you give, the better.


Every time I've done the auction this way it has sold for more than I expected.


Every time I have started the bidding at the price I wanted or had a reserve, the guitar did not sell.

 

 

That's a risk I wouldn't be willing to take. You can add a buy it now as an incentive to get early bids.

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Vintage55 Newbie

Vintage55

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I do 7 day auctions. Ending Sunday night. No reserve. $.99 starting bid. Lots of description, lots of pictures. The more details you give, the better.


Every time I've done the auction this way it has sold for more than I expected.


Every time I have started the bidding at the price I wanted or had a reserve, the guitar did not sell.

 

 

I do the same thing, except I run 3 day auctions rather than 7, to minimize alternatives showing up during my auction. Really good pictures are a huge plus, since a buyer can't try the guitar out before bidding, they at least need to drool over how nice it looks.

 

An enthusiastic description is important as well. I also like to include a reason for selling it...remember you don't want it anymore, so why should someone else want it, if you don't?

 

You'll get alot more bidders involved if you start at $.99 rather than your minimum price. If it's worth what you want for it, others will agree. If not, you're wasting your time anyway. I've sold a few guitars for more than I paid for them by using a $.99 starting bid. Lots of bidders, some of whom will convince themselves they're not going to let it get away.

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GCDEF Newbie

GCDEF

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I do the same thing, except I run 3 day auctions rather than 7, to minimize alternatives showing up during my auction.


 

 

Statistically I'm not sure that makes sense. You'd also reduce the size of your buyer pool, and there could be days in a longer auction where you have less competition.

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Vintage55 Newbie

Vintage55

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Statistically I'm not sure that makes sense. You'd also reduce the size of your buyer pool, and there could be days in a longer auction where you have less competition.

 

 

The way I look at it, a buyer who is looking for a particular type or model of guitar is probably checking eBay every day to see what shows up. Sellers sell when they want or need to. The fewer days that a potential buyer can look for alternatives during my auctions, the fewer alternatives there will be.

 

You win some, you lose some...

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Mr_GoodBomb Newbie

Mr_GoodBomb

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Your first 3 items sold per month are free listings (basic listings, no reserve, no BIN), and if they don't sell, they continue to be free. So, list em for the lowest price you're willing to take and see if they sell.

 

Aim to end on Sunday either between 6-9pm or 9pm-12am. So, if it's Thursday, do a 3-day auction, Tuesday do a 5-day, Sunday do a 7-day, etc. I'm on the East coast, so I list closer to midnight... it's the 2nd most active bid time in my area (9pm-12am), but the most active bid time on the West coast (6-9pm).

 

During those 3 free listings, the Final Value Fee is higher than usual, generally making the overall auction cost me (closer to 9% than the usual 7ish%). Tasteless on Ebay's part? Yes, but there's a $20 cap on fees for those free listings, too, and since you're selling a guitar, if it goes for over about $250 bucks, your fees stay the same, $20.

 

Also, you need to specify if you'll take international bids. Not specifying means, by default, that you WILL, and don't expect them to pay any extra shipping beyond what's specified, not that you WON'T. Learned this the hard way.

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Mike Fiasco Newbie

Mike Fiasco

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I do 7 day auctions. Ending Sunday night. No reserve. $.99 starting bid. Lots of description, lots of pictures. The more details you give, the better.


Every time I've done the auction this way it has sold for more than I expected.


Every time I have started the bidding at the price I wanted or had a reserve, the guitar did not sell.

 

 

That's how I do it too. The unrealistically low initial bid gets peoples' attention and I'm sure it draws more people to the auction. And since most people wait until the last minute, that low price stays low until the last hours of the auction.

 

Before I do this, though, I look at plenty of completed auctions just for myself to be comfortable with the "market price of the guitar". I'm taking a risk with the $1 opening bid, so I have to set my own expectations about what the ending bid should be.

 

I know I come out better with a low initial bid than the guy who sets his initial bid or reserve at market price.

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smorgdonkey Newbie

smorgdonkey

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Hey...I got a nice $999 US microphone that had been used for a voiceover for a commercial. I won the auction for $400 or something ridiculously low. The guy called me up and said "hey, you're the big winner today. It's my own fault-I didn't put a reserve on it".

 

I agreed but I'm glad I got that mic so cheap.

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ZombieCat Newbie

ZombieCat

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Offer them on HC first.

 

 

I third this. I have much more luck selling items on websites like HC that is geared towards the items I have to sell. You do not have to pay any fees (more money in your pocket) to list the item.

 

With eBay you do have the chance to make more for an item since it is an auction but I always know how much I want for an item so that is what I list the price for when posting to a website. Another thing, is I do like the community aspect of places like HC and offering items here helps build that community.

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SDshirtman Newbie

SDshirtman

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I do 7 day auctions. Ending Sunday night. No reserve. $.99 starting bid. Lots of description, lots of pictures. The more details you give, the better.


Every time I've done the auction this way it has sold for more than I expected.


Every time I have started the bidding at the price I wanted or had a reserve, the guitar did not sell.

 

 

This is by far the best method of getting the highest price possible for your guitar. It sounds risky but you just have to stick to your guns. My only suggestion would to be to use a 10 day auction and not a 7. Also, ending the auction at around 4-7 pm on a sunday is a must.

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