The Joys of Selling Gear

[Mykk]

I never do understand people that go back and forth on a deal. It's not difficult, you find something you want/need. You agree on a price, you enjoy.

I much prefer to sell on EBay, set the starting price and watch it go. I do occasionally sell on craigslist but I don't believe in haggling. If someone offers less then my asking price, I don't want to reward bad behavior. It's not like you can haggle down the cost of milk at the grocery store, and it promotes people asking for too much for something in anticipation of haggling.

I usually sell used performance auto parts for american V8's. Once I was selling a MegaSquirtII (A stand alone fuel injection computer for performance and race applications) on craigslist I was getting offers of $150-$175. When I sold it on Ebay it closed at almost $400 + shipping.

I had a '66 Corvette instrument cluster with a big block tach. Couldn't sell it on CL for $200, sold it on Ebay for $750.

As a buyer I feel I get better deals on EBay too. When I was in the market for my Mesa M-2000. I was finding them on CL $600-$800. I picked mine up off EBay for $450, and it was local enough I drove to get it.

While looking for my girlfriends birthday present, A Sony A33 camera. CL, $400-$550 depending on extras. EBay, got it for $300 with the kit parts and an extra lens, extra battery and bag.

[Blue]

Originally Posted by spiritbass

When selling, you will always attract low-ballers.

... yea, but I was already giving it away. Shame on me.

[Edward G.]

Originally Posted by DiabolusInMusic

The icing on the cake is all the garbage people feed you about this being a brother hood. Most people here are here for themselves in my experience. I have been screwed by more members in sales than I have been helped. Granted I have done less than 10 transactions here, but I do not think it is all it is cracked up to be.

Just goes to show you, that everyone's mileage will vary. I have more than 100 transactions, ranging from freebies to thousand-dollar instruments, all over the US and Canada and a couple to Europe and Australia, and I have neither screwed nor been screwed. The item is the item; the price is the price; the shipping is the shipping; and the time to get it out is right away. It's been working well for me.

[drpepper]

Originally Posted by Blue

... yea, but I was already giving it away. Shame on me.

Yep. But there is a logic to starting with your best and final price...if that logic works, you should be able to get what you want, sell quickly and have a happy buyer. But the reality throws that for a loop.

And CL attracts a special kind of low-baller. I feel like there should be a reason for making an offer below a good asking price.

I recently sold a pristine, 6 month old SVT7PRO, which because of the way I bought it, had full warranty. I saw what others were selling for and jumped in - $550 shipped (so essentially $525).

I also listed on CL and actually had someone contact me saying he'd give me $400 for it. I simply answered "No thanks," but I was inclined to have any discussion over it, I surely would have wanted to know why he would make an offer like that. I'm sure people do much worse. Another time I had someone come out try the basses I was selling as a twin pair, fretted and fretless, at a ridiculous price. He was happy with them, but offered me half of what I was asking.

[spiritbass]

Originally Posted by Blue

... yea, but I was already giving it away. Shame on me.

I think you learned a valuable lesson. In the future, you'll list your for sale item for a little bit more than what you really need to part with it, right? This helps prevent seller's remorse and promotes buyer satisfaction.

Another general observation - The argument that the potential buyer's money supply is "tight" is not a valid reason for me to lower an already fair price. If the shoestring on your budget is about to break, you should be playing what you have or earning more money, not buying gear you can't realistically afford IMO.

[fdeck]

AFAIK, you get your PayPal fee back

[lomo]

Sounds as though we're on different planets. I have done about 120 transactions here, and haven't had an experience even remotely close to yours.

Where is a better way to sell online?????????

I'm not sure how ads asking what you deem to be too high a price are a problem. Just ignore them. Solved

I have had zero issues with prompt shipping. Once in a while it takes a week, but as long as communication is clear, I'm good.

If I sell, I always wait for the buyer to post feedback 1st, then I immediately reciprocate. If I buy, I post FB as soon as I test out the item. If someone doesn't bother to post any feedback, it's only slightly more annoying to me than someone in another country sneezing.

I am not aware of ANY better way to swap/sell/buy bass gear.

Originally Posted by DiabolusInMusic

You really should have gotten out once he backed out the first time, you live you learn.

Personally I don't think the TB classifieds are as great as others make them out to be.

-9/10 ads start extremely overpriced and the first post is always somebody stating how this guy is a great seller and how they cannot believe this is still here at this price. That post is always comical by the 2nd month it has been for sale.

-Sellers take more time to ship here than anywhere else in my experience. They will tell you they will get it out tomorrow and then all of the sudden a weeks worth of delays happens and your stuff is finally on the way

-9/10 sellers don't leave feedback and ignore you if you try and get some. I have had to press sellers for weeks before I got feedback, some I just gave up on.

The icing on the cake is all the garbage people feed you about this being a brother hood. Most people here are here for themselves in my experience. I have been screwed by more members in sales than I have been helped. Granted I have done less than 10 transactions here, but I do not think it is all it is cracked up to be.

Don't get me wrong I will still use them, I just gave up on my high expectations after my first transaction.

[carl h.]

Originally Posted by Mykk

If someone offers less then my asking price, I don't want to reward bad behavior. It's not like you can haggle down the cost of milk at the grocery store, and it promotes people asking for too much for something in anticipation of haggling.

How is making an offer you think may be fair bad behavior? Nobody has to give you their money, and making you an offer less than your asking price is considered bad behavior?

If I can get a deal, I try for it. If the seller declines, who is hurt? You can always refuse the offer. Would you prefer nobody make an offer?



Generally I've had good dealings here as well. Had some packing issues and some stellar packers but generally a good bunch here - though I'm a bit disgruntled over a couple transactions who never fully delivered as agreed on before the sale. - you know who you are if you are reading this. My address hasn't changed if you feel the need to hold up your end.

[Edward G.]

If someone offers me too little money, that's exactly what I tell them: that's not enough. No tricks. If they're not far from an acceptable price, I'll make a counter-proposal. If the price and the merchandise are for real, it never takes long to move something. Part of being able to sell something quickly is to have something desirable to sell in the first place. Junk or bric-a-brac will sell, but it'll take awhile unless you give it away. Sometimes I'm dazzled by how fast some things sell on the TB classifieds, with zero haggling. I don't engage in profiteering. It's more important to move something along than to wait for the absolute top dollar to come wafting in. The time saved matters as much as the money received.

[Mykk]

Originally Posted by carl h.

How is making an offer you think may be fair bad behavior? Nobody has to give you their money, and making you an offer less than your asking price is considered bad behavior?

Yes. I don't intentionally pad the price. I ask for what I feel is fair. No one is "giving" money, it's not a charity. I'm not looking to stroke someones ego at my expense either, making someone feel good on the inside because they got $50-$100 off is not in my best interest.

[carl h.]

8 years ago I sold my house within 12 hours of listing it. Did I make a killing? No. Did I lose a bundle? No.

I got a fair offer a bit on the lower side and was done with the deal FAST. If you've ever sold a house you will know how exceptionally fast this deal was.

I understand sales and the costs associated with holding on to things. If you need the money that badly, I hope you have the time to afford waiting for it. I prefer to be done and move on.

[drpepper]

Originally Posted by DiabolusInMusic

You really should have gotten out once he backed out the first time, you live you learn.

Personally I don't think the TB classifieds are as great as others make them out to be.

-9/10 ads start extremely overpriced and the first post is always somebody stating how this guy is a great seller and how they cannot believe this is still here at this price. That post is always comical by the 2nd month it has been for sale.

-Sellers take more time to ship here than anywhere else in my experience. They will tell you they will get it out tomorrow and then all of the sudden a weeks worth of delays happens and your stuff is finally on the way

-9/10 sellers don't leave feedback and ignore you if you try and get some. I have had to press sellers for weeks before I got feedback, some I just gave up on.

The icing on the cake is all the garbage people feed you about this being a brother hood. Most people here are here for themselves in my experience. I have been screwed by more members in sales than I have been helped. Granted I have done less than 10 transactions here, but I do not think it is all it is cracked up to be.

Don't get me wrong I will still use them, I just gave up on my high expectations after my first transaction.

We all have our own experiences, and it sounds like you've had horrible luck in your less than 10 transactions. I feel bad for you.

- I haven't bought or sold anything that was "overpriced." Where I got some things at good prices to being with, I passed that along in my sale; in some cases, selling well below going prices. I didn't lose anything and the benefit was a fast sale.

- Everything I have sold, that wasn't local, was shipped as quickly as I possibly could, and I haven't experienced an delays in receiving things I bought.

- I have had 21 transactions and have left feed back 21 times and received feedback 20 times. The one person who didn't leave feedback did PM me that he was very happy with the promptness, packaging and the amp. He simply doesn't use the forum regularly and, I assume, doesn't know about the feedback system.

You're right that to say that the forum is a giant kumbaya experience is probably a bit much, but there is a definite spirit, and I've seen it extend to the classifieds. I've carried it there myself, and like I said, through transactions, I've made friends, good acquaintances and contacts. Not every single transaction, but some.

I can't believe that for every experience like mine, there are 9 like yours...just can't except that.

[jlepre]

The trick IS...

Get the money, and ship it out the same day if possible. G.A.S is a strange thing, and people go hot and cold at the drop of a hat.

C'mon guys, who's with me!

[singlemalt]

I rate the TB community tops for buying and selling and trading. Craigslist can be strange but sometimes a great buy pops up. Ebay, mostly smooth, but a few bad apples.

I been able to try out tons of gear and move it along with very little downside here on TB. I blame TB for my pedal habit.

I don't mind a little back and forth on price, I can always say no. I almost always make an offer below the list. Sitting on a nice new black leather couch, looking at the matching love seat as I write this: Craigslist, $650, $100 off the asking price. Never hurts to haggle, the rest of the world does. And no, I don't feel the need to be armed to go make a Craigslist deal.

Once I've decided that something is for sale, I do everything to get it ready to go ahead of time. It's packed and ready to ship. (Love those "if it fits it ships" USPS boxes I keep a stack of them at the house). Bigger items might get the local deal treatment on Craigslist to try and save on a big shipping bill, but I've shipped 100 lb cabs, we just worked out the shipping details. (Greyhound rocks, I sent a huge Sunn scoop 2-15 to San Francisco, overnight, for under $100.)

I get a paypal payment and shipping address, it's gone.

[VanillaThundah]

Originally Posted by DiabolusInMusic

The icing on the cake is all the garbage people feed you about this being a brother hood. Most people here are here for themselves in my experience. I have been screwed by more members in sales than I have been helped. Granted I have done less than 10 transactions here, but I do not think it is all it is cracked up to be.

+ 1

I've had good and bad here, but the bads have been VERY bad.


I'll spare details, to be fair, but I expressed interest in buying an amp from him and I was rather intent on getting one but was short on money at the time so I offered a deposit of over 15% for him to hold the amp for a max of 30 days. This was an older listing and he wasn't getting offers all the time on it, but the guy wants to try and raise the price on me in addition to reaming me on the shipping costs as well. I was saving MAYBE $100 from buying it new on MF.com, but that was $100 I didn't have and wouldn't have for a while...I needed the amp ASAP. When I'd had the amp (a VB-2) and took care of it with the utmost of caution, the unthinkable happens....the famous internal fuse breaks and the amp has zero output. I kept trying to get the amp registered in my name and asked for him to submit the information so I could get it registered in my name, but he just registered it in his and told me to tell the shop I was his buddy taking the amp in for him....needless to say I was out another $100 to get that crap fixed and I wasn't even THAT thrilled with the tone of the amp...I sold it very soon after.

[shoot-r]

Originally Posted by Blue

I offered great gear at a stupid low price.

He wanted it, then he didn't, then did again, and actually sent the stupid low price - from which I had to deduct all paypal fees plus execute the packing then pay all shipping fees including a special trip across town to UPS.

I spent a couple hours Sunday packing it very well, finding a box that fit perfectly around the gear which had been wrapped in a plastic bag. I then carefully fitted slightly modified styrofoam corners - and added another layer of 1" styrofoam just to be sure. I'm pretty good at packing but this came out as one of my better works of packing art.

I hoped it would go out Monday, but I had to work late, then was out of town Tuesday. Tonight when I got to UPS I discovered I had stupidly left the preprinted and prepaid shipping ticket on my desk at work.

Meanwhile he PM'd. If it hadn't shipped it yet, he wanted out - again - so I refunded the money, all of it - even though I had already lost $14 on the PayPal Fee.

It ain't worth the disgruntlement ... and there are others who actually want great gear offered at a stupid low price.

ahh ... The Joys of Selling Gear.

This is just another reason I "love" my Avatar bass cabinets.

Really good sounding, well built cabinets with top notch drivers coming in new at a low enough price that I don't have to try to flip them to finance something else.

I'll just park them, try whatever overly priced cabinet the gas has me wanting to try, and the Avatars are still mine when I come to my senses!!!!!

[bb03]

Originally Posted by Blue

If I didn't have a real job ...
If I did have a real brain ...

Don't feel bad..."if you had gotten it out earlier (or not forgotten your label) " had me thinking "hypocrite'' as I was writing it.

[GregC]

Originally Posted by DiabolusInMusic

You really should have gotten out once he backed out the first time, you live you learn.

Personally I don't think the TB classifieds are as great as others make them out to be.

-9/10 ads start extremely overpriced and the first post is always somebody stating how this guy is a great seller and how they cannot believe this is still here at this price. That post is always comical by the 2nd month it has been for sale.

-Sellers take more time to ship here than anywhere else in my experience. They will tell you they will get it out tomorrow and then all of the sudden a weeks worth of delays happens and your stuff is finally on the way

-9/10 sellers don't leave feedback and ignore you if you try and get some. I have had to press sellers for weeks before I got feedback, some I just gave up on.

The icing on the cake is all the garbage people feed you about this being a brother hood. Most people here are here for themselves in my experience. I have been screwed by more members in sales than I have been helped. Granted I have done less than 10 transactions here, but I do not think it is all it is cracked up to be.

Don't get me wrong I will still use them, I just gave up on my high expectations after my first transaction.

And you have three feedbacks in your profile. Some sketchy math going on here...

[Edward G.]

Originally Posted by jlepre

The trick IS...

Get the money, and ship it out the same day if possible. G.A.S is a strange thing, and people go hot and cold at the drop of a hat.

C'mon guys, who's with me!

Amen.

[hdracer]

Originally Posted by DiabolusInMusic

You really should have gotten out once he backed out the first time, you live you learn.

Personally I don't think the TB classifieds are as great as others make them out to be.

-9/10 ads start extremely overpriced and the first post is always somebody stating how this guy is a great seller and how they cannot believe this is still here at this price. That post is always comical by the 2nd month it has been for sale.

-Sellers take more time to ship here than anywhere else in my experience. They will tell you they will get it out tomorrow and then all of the sudden a weeks worth of delays happens and your stuff is finally on the way

-9/10 sellers don't leave feedback and ignore you if you try and get some. I have had to press sellers for weeks before I got feedback, some I just gave up on.

The icing on the cake is all the garbage people feed you about this being a brother hood. Most people here are here for themselves in my experience. I have been screwed by more members in sales than I have been helped. Granted I have done less than 10 transactions here, but I do not think it is all it is cracked up to be.

Don't get me wrong I will still use them, I just gave up on my high expectations after my first transaction.

+1

I have bought and sold a lot of things on ebay and CL.
I have had the worst luck on TB.
Way to much "Bro" mentality and not enough business sense.

A bass gets listed and hangs out for a month before I buy it. Seller has to find a box before he ships, a week and a half later the bass still hasn't shipped.
That has happened to me three times. When I wrote to ask whats up with my bass, do you have a tracking #? I get a, be cool bro!

As far a selling goes,
You have to give things away to sell them here.
You really can not get a fair market price on your gear after you eat the shipping and fees.
I think that is one reason sellers drag their feet. They didn't make anything off the sale so why hustle.