Selling Your Guitar, Part 2: selling outside of eBay

Howdy!

Last time we went through writing up a description and taking photos of your guitar, and now we move on to the fun part of actually trying to sell it.

When I mention selling guitars, people automatically assume that I mean through eBay. But, before selling your guitar on eBay, give an honest effort at trying to sell it somewhere else first. eBay takes a huge cut in fees, and then double-dips and charges you more fees when you accept PayPal. Hit up your friends first, and maybe the electronic bulletin board at your work.

If you have no luck there, try to make a local deal with somebody through Craigslist. I’ve had a few successes with Craigslist, but unfortunately the flakiest people on the planet respond to their advertisements. If you do make a deal with a stranger that contacts you through Craigslist, be very careful when you meet them. Do not give them your address, and meet them in a public place that YOU are familiar with. There are a lot of crooks and crazy people out there.

If you fail to sell it locally, it might be time to toss your guitar onto the steaming pile of crap that many people call the “internet”. Keep in mind that there are many alternative to eBay on the internet too. For basses, you cannot go wrong with Talkbass, and I am astounded at the number of basses that sell through that site. You might also consider going to an internet forum that specializes in your specific guitar, as many of them have a classified ads. Examples of this would be TDPRI (Telecasters), Ernie Ball (MusicMan), Steinbergerworld, Tokai Registry, etc. In any of these cases, you can post a link to the photos you put on your Photobucket site.

In all of these cases, PayPal is your friend. They do provide buyer and seller protections. Just make sure that you carefully pack, ship and insure the guitar. We will cover this later on in the series.

If you decide the go the eBay route, do not feel like you have failed. There is a reason they are such a huge site, as it is easier to buy and sell items there than anywhere else on the internet. We will catch up with selling on eBay next time.

Mahalo!