Is it me, or is Reverb a total joke?

[BassyBill]

I don't have extensive experience or evidence, but based on occasional, casual browsing, it seems like every piece of gear I see on Reverb is just risibly overpriced. I mean, £219 used for an item that sells at most online retailers new for £249?! So, skip the warranty, return options and being the original, single owner for a reduction of just 12%?! That seems batpoop crazy to me.

Just to eleaborate, I'd expect to pay a msximum of, say, £175 for a preowned item of that value. Am I getting something wrong here? Or are Reverb prices really just nuts?

 

[Parzival]

There are a lot of crazy prices asked for stuff there. You can find decent deals sometimes, but I would agree most of it is crazily priced. Part of that is sellers just trying to get as much as they can from hopefully an unknowing consumer, but Reverb and their fees adds to that. Try listing something there and then look at what you will get after they take their cut. It's not horrible on a $100-$200 pedal, but for an expensive guitar or amp, it hits hard. Best thing to do is if you find something you like that is priced a little high and you see it is some kind of retailer and not a person, just reach out to that retailer outside of Reverb. They would most likely give you a discount as they wouldn't have the fees to worry about.

 

[davelowell2]

Yeah, Reverb fees are in the range of 9% depending on bumps and stuff. Always open a dialog and ask if there's any wiggle room.
I only sell there if somewhere like TB hasn't panned out, you'll pay fees but the exposure to more buyers is sometimes worth it.

 

[J Wilson]

On Reverb, I ONLY deal with brick and mortar stores, never individuals. Stores have realistic pricing generally, have solid return policies, etc. I'll often do a web search and find that indeed it's a real store, and I'm good, and often will just call them. In this case, Reverb.com has worked just fine for me.

As far as I'm concerned, buying from an individual has never worked out for me, and I just don't do it. If for no other reasons than I think they get a monkey to spin a wheel to set their selling price.

 

[-Stingray]

The market is crazy. To be fair it's not that much better up here. Pre Covid I wouldn't consider a used deal less than 40% new prices. Those days are apparently gone.

 

[Killing Floor]

When I see a price that's higher than I am willing to pay I move to a different listing.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

I've made a few deals on Reverb both from stores and individuals. Tuners, pickup, necks, and some assorted items. Never a bass or amp, yet. And all the deals have been good.

My biggest "pet peeve" with Reverb is, without fail, it seems that the thing I want and am searching for is "pickup only." Living in central WI that usually entails a 27 hr drive or an expensive flight.

 

[MattZilla]

It's not Reverb, it's instrument owners on all platforms. Even Craigslist is pretty silly sometimes.

It's also buyers to some degree, occasionally drunk-purchasing in the wee hours of the morning, getting high Sold Item prices posted.

 

[Reedt2000]

When I see a price that's higher than I am willing to pay I move to a different listing.

This ^

I've gotten good deals on Reverb, and dealt with professional sellers and individuals alike. Yes, some people are out of their friggin minds with what they ask... I just don't buy from those people

 

[Dominic D]

Definitely not specific to Reverb. On eBay I frequently see sellers pricing used items higher than retail. Especially sellers from Japan.

 

[Kevlanco]

Hard to say. I just picked up two basses from Reverb in the last month that I would've had to pay double the price for new or probably another 20% if purchased from the classifieds here. Maybe it has to do with the gear one is shopping for, as to me it seems like it's a market issue in general more than a Reverb specific issue.

 

[db59]

When I see a price that's higher than I am willing to pay I move to a different listing.

So you're telling me if the price is too high you don't buy it........genius

 

[Gully Foyle]

I have only had good deals on Reverb. I wouldn't buy them otherwise? Reverb is just like everything else in the world, greedy bastards for the most part, and a few good old folks mixed in. Just don't patronize the greedy bastards. Works in any marketplace.

 

[GBBSbassist]

Give it a go, m8.

 

[corinpills]

The other thing is that Reverb is at least partially owned by Chicago Music Exchange. I have had experience when offering vintage pieces that they snap it up and the immediately start negotiating after the sale. They nitpick any small blemish that most buyers would never care about and it's either send them a few hundred back or they will return the item. You end up making about what you would if you just sold it to your local store in the first place. I a, not the only person with that experience and I assure you I did my absolute best to be clear in my listings.

 

[Danny O Danny]

I've done a fair bit of selling and buying on Reverb and it's generally been great. I've gotten some good deals and also sold things for a fair price. It's a given that everyone on Reverb has to pad their asking price a bit because of the overhead of Reverb's fees + shipping expense (if you're offering "free shipping"), but that's the cost of doing business over the Internet. Of course there will always be people asking unrealistic prices for their merchandise, but that happens anywhere (including TB classifieds and Craigslist and some music stores).

 

[birminghambass]

I love selling there. Almost everything I've listed on TB the past 3 years has sold quickly.....on Reverb. And always for a much higher price.

 

[40Hz]

Many people take prices way too personally IMO.

If you have an issue with an asking price, either try to negotiate, move on to something else - or take your money and go somewhere else.

Why is that such a big deal?

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

People complain about the traffic here in this town--- thing is, if there was no traffic, there would be less jobs.

As a business, the goal is to make money, not lose money. Bad businessmen lose money.

Yeah. Seller fees and stuff suck, and fall on the consumer at times, but we all gotta pay the bills. I usually don't mind paying what they are asking, but I will do extensive searches to find the most reasonable deal for both parties.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Prices on Reverb often made me decide to buy new stuff in a store. That's all I can say.