Best Places To Sell Gear

Where do you go to sell your gear when you're ready to part with it? eBay? Craigslist? Your local music store? The Harmony Central Gear Classifieds? Somewhere else?

Please share your experience and the pros & cons of your choices.

Best,

Geoff

I`ve had success with craigslist and forums. Get paypal if you don`t have it already.

I try Craigslist first because I don't have to mail it. If that's not an issue, then the forums. Failing that, eBay. I save eBay for last because it takes a while to take photos and place the ad and mail it.

eBay/PayPal have changed terms to the point that I won't use them again. When you need some money, selling Buy It Now with immediate payment required would give you access to the funds immediately. Now you can wait up to three weeks to get the funds, have to ship before receiving funds and so on....eBay doesn't make it easy for sellers.

The only things I have that are worth selling are microphones, and I don't see any reason to ever sell them. Everything else I have is worth so little (particularly when compared to its original acquisition cost) that it's simply not worth selling as long as I have space to keep it. Never know when I might need an extra small mixer some day, or a slightly crunchy mic preamp. I'll let the executor of my will worry about how to get rid of that stuff (which, given the mentality of most lawyers, will probably be via eBay if it still exists when I die).

Anyone contemplating selling studio gear should think hard about what it's worth in cash now and what it might be worth in the occasional wish-I-still-had-that usefulness in the future. Of course if you're completely getting out of the business and don't expect to return at all, or sufficiently in the future that everything you have will be obsolete, that's a different story.

Are you sure about that?

I wheel and deal on eBay, all the time, and have not had any problems with getting debited or credited immediately.

Same here.

I should mention that while Craigslist is often good for selling things, people tend to be looking for bargains.

I still begrudgingly use ebay and paypal. Gearslutz classifieds get a huge amount of traffic though so may use that more and more.

I've had good luck selling things just within the large electronics company where I work, there are a lot of musicians in house and there is an intranet news group where things can be listed.

When that doesn't work for me I go straight to eBay where things are almost guaranteed to move.

I usually move things fast because I take good care of my equipment, hold on to the things that come with it (often even the box) and when I'm ready to part with the gear I price it to go fast.

I use craigslist exclusively to sell gear. I know I could usually get more money on ebay, but selling locally is just way easier. Plus, I haven't set up a PayPal account yet, so ebay needs to wait until I get off my butt and do it.

I've done very well with Craigs List over the years, probably because there is such a large music community here. I've bought and sold a ton of gear there. There's also a local music store (Zone Music) that has a music swap meet twice a year where they allow you to sell your gear in the area behind the store. The fact that they let you do that is cool, and the fact that they don't even charge you for a space is amazing. I made about $350 out there recently, and have also gotten some great deals on hard to find items.

I'm always moving/buying something. Had some good and less good experiences but never an outright ripoff.

Craigslist is great for bypassing all fees. I usually choose a "neutral meeting place," though I have invited people into my home when it felt right and they really need some hands on with what I was selling.

The cost of eBay/Paypal is a perpetual downer, but it is always there...in fact I'll be taking a Delta 1010 to eBay in a few days unless one of you...

As D. Charles noted, the Gearslutz classified is just about the most active classified for our kind of stuff out there. From 40 dollar widgets to a contant stream of 1k and more per channel pres and compressors. Some decent guitar stuff gets on there too. You must register to even see the classifieds there, which is a gateway, albeit a very low one.

HC is weird--depends entirely on the what. The effects classified page is piping hot--better bump your distortion box after 12 hours because it is already on page 3! Studio gear classified seems almost untrafficked.

Tape-op classifieds is OK too.

Are you sure about that? I wheel and deal on eBay, all the time, and have not had any problems with getting debited or credited immediately.

Same with me, I don't understand all the hate towards eBay, I think it is BY FAR the best way to sell gear

I've been inactive on eBay as a seller for over a year but have a 100% feedback rating with over 60 transactions (most over $1000). My last sale was for over 2k. Don't know why terms were different but by the time I got my money I didn't need it so badly and wish I never made the sale.

I've only used eBay for both buying and selling used stuff.

No probs so far, but a couple transactions were nerve-wracking. One guy sent the wrong thing, another guy tried to bail on the deal at the last moment - but both worked out fine. Took patience and diplomacy, AND A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF EBAY POLICIES AND PROCEDURES (if I may shout an underscore on that point). Impatient, sloppy, and uninformed buyers and sellers do create all sorts of miseries for themselves.

Yeah the fees are a bit of a stick - you just have to work the fees into the calculation, and be patient until the right deal comes along.

Paypal, too, for me has worked just fine everytime.

But I know there's a risk - so far I've come out ok.

nat whilk ii

Maybe so, if you've been doing it for a while. But if you're not a member of the club, it's not even a very good place to buy gear. I've never sold anything on eBay, and have only bought two things, last one about 5 years ago. I tried to bid on something a few months back and the seller turned me down because I hadn't had an eBay feedback report in the last year. I didn't know they could do that.

I figure that if eBay is the only way to buy something, I can do without it. That's worked so far.

True, it's full of lowballers. But as the seller you control the conditions of sale. Always get at least a general agreement on the selling price before the buyer visits. If people email you their offer, all the better, since if they lowball you, you have the option of just deleting it and not wasting anyone's time.

As I buyer, I don't try to lowball anyone. If the price doesn't seem reasonable enough for me to make the purchase, I won't even bother contacting the seller.

In most cases, in time, I'll see the same product sell for super cheap with the seller's asking price, and if it's a great price, I'll just pay them for it. Back in May I bought an American-made late '90s Strat with a Fender Princeton 112 amp - both for $750. He'd gotten a couple offers but preferred to sell to me since he figured that unlike the others, I would actually play the thing rather than re-sell it for a higher price.

It depends, if you live in the countryside or in a small town, then eBay is the way to go. But if you live in a major metropolitan area, Craigslist is better. No shipping hassles, no waiting for your product to arrive. Sometimes you get to make new friends through transactions!

Craigslist is better for selling if you prefer shady unreliable people coming to your house.

Yeah, thats why you should ask questions. Make sure the person actually knows something about the gear they`re inquiring about. I sold my Mackie d8b through Craigslist.

eBay for me too. I've done well as both a buyer and seller. I really do up my descriptions though when I list something. I only sell things I know inside and out, mostly in ham radio, computer and pro sound equipment categories. I

I'm finding that Craig's List is a "GREAT" place to sell things locally. I like the "VISUAL" aspect of seeing what you are buying and taking it with you when you go. I used to trade some on eBay, but after a few bad experiences there, I decided to stick with local trading.

With Craig's List, I find that it's easy to list something and then if it doesn't sell, you bump the item up to current dates by relisting it; I've only had to bump one item. It's free for individual sellers and buyers; unlike some of the other sites. I recommend placing "cash only" in your listings unless you have a PayPal site that you can refer buyers of your items to so that they can make payment prior to the pick-up or delivery of the goods.

It's a great way to get "excess" anything out of your way fast without the hassle of having a garage sale. They also have a BARTER section to where you can place requests for the items you would consider trading for. Right now I'd like to have a 4 x 8 metal tilt trailer, so I'm trying to think what might be a good offer to put up for trade.

I keep threatening to start tearing down my studio and begin selling things off, but my daughter begs me not to. If I do decide to go that route; Craig's List will be the avenue I take.... at least, that's where I'll start out.