Is it me, or is Reverb a total joke?

[commonplayer]

I actually do fine on Reverb, both as a buyer and a seller. You have to quickly filter out like 90% of the listings, but if you're deliberate there's good stuff to be had. The offer process is pretty smooth, and you get solid buyer protection if something goes south. I've gotten burned several times on TB recently, now that it's all done through paypal F&F. No recourse at all for buyers.

 

[tb-player]

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?

Are offers turned on? That's why it's overpriced. They're leaving room to get lowballed.

 

[bmusic]

Is this a poll? I vote that it's you.

No, I do not always get my way with all things Reverb. But "total joke"? Where's your sense of humor?

 

[Williethump]

I bought a uke bass from them online even though I swore to myself I'd never again buy an instrument with non-adjustable bridge and saddle. And sure enough two strings intonated badly. After some online form filling they emailed me an image of the FedEx shipping return label to print and I quickly got it mailed back and all my money refunded. So, yes, they did ship me an subpar ax, but OTOH it was easily returned (all the way back east!) and I lost no money in the deal. My contact with them wasn't perfect but at least OK.

 

[pie_man_25]

Some folks don't know how to price an item

 

[bassist4dalord]

You probably could have made more than that just selling it to Guitar Center.

You're absolutely right, I probably could have. I actually brought it to work with me intending to take it to GC on my lunch break when I received the "your gear sold!" notification. Oh well, I've moved on.

 

[BigBigGuy44]

As a seller, I've recently sold a lot more on Reverb than I have here in the classifieds and at much higher prices. Even after their fees I come out ahead. It seems if you want to deal with tire kickers list here, if you want to deal with buyers list on Reverb. It's a shame because it used to be opposite.

 

[DrBnz]

Its a game we play. Now being fair, Reverb doesn't "do" anything other than collect their fees at the end. What you're talking about are all the crazy people on Reverb. Yeah, its a crazy world out there now adays. The prices are ez to explain... They can put whatever price they want on there. Doesn't mean its selling for that. Note where it shows you how long its been sitting there.... and true, Reverb and shipping fees will ruin any good sale they make, so they pad the price. So do many individual buyers cause they paid a lot for their bass and think they can recoup their money. Nah..... its a buyers market. You lost that money as soon as you drove it off the lot... When I sell I typically will sort the comparable items by price and then list mine pretty close to if not on the bottom. But with good pics, write up and a fair price, it'll sell typically in about 2 weeks.... If not the price is too high or its an ugly bass.

Now if I'm buying.... I switch gears. I no longer care about your Reverb and shipping fees, been there, done that... Thats not my concern any longer. I offer what I believe is a fair market price. They either take it or they don't. If not, move on... there are LOTS of others in the world. I'll be drooling over another one by next week. Just get your money right and be patient.

Tip: If you are interested in something. Put a "Like" on it and wait. The next morning many stores will have knocked 10% or so off the price for you.

 

[2thAche]

Well, a few things:

1: The things you "always" see are overpriced. That's why they're sitting there for months / a year. The sellers won't negotiate and neither will anyone pay. Usually it's something in ragged out or far-from-original-parts condition but the seller think it's going to sell like %10 less than the same item in mint all-original condition.
2: The things that are reasonably priced are likely gone so quickly that you didn't see them.
3: The things you thought were overpriced, but still sold? They weren't overpriced.
4: You can make a reasonable offer. Many times the seller accepts or counters.

 

[KenD]

It's not just you: Reverb is a very different platform now than it was at its beginning. A few years ago they brought in some new execs (from paypal or ebay I think) and proceeded to crap out IMO.

 

[charliethomas]

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

I know this was just an analogy, but traffic is less a function of the amount of jobs in a city, and more a function of city planning decisions, transit options, land use, and road layout. Driving isn't the only way people get to work—it's just often the easiest or only option (especially in the states)

 

[MegaSwing]

I've bought some low-cost, appropriately priced items on Reverb, but I've come to accept that that's not the norm there. It helps to know exactly what you should be paying. You don't have to overpay unless you really want to.

 

[Ulf Buck]

I sell quite a bit there with good results. I price properly and my items usually sell quickly.

 

[Topkat13]

Would you avoid stepping in dog sh*t? Try the same with Reverb.

 

[james condino]

The original version of Reverb was a great place to work with. I did a lot of both purchasing and selling with them.

The new corporate owned version ONLY cares about making as much money as possible to pay off their $275,000,000 that they paid for the company so they can repackage it and sell to the next corporate fiasco within 3-5 years. They suck for everything else. I had a 1964 P bass sale in progress with the old Reverb when they sold the company and the new Reverb refused to pay me for the transaction until I agreed to a completely different set of terms and pricing. After two months of impasse, I was banned from the new company; F#@$ that place!

 

[Thegreatzambini]

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?

reverb was great at one point yes but I agree with you. Prices are through the roof and when you price to sell an item at a very reasonable cost, you get lowballed

 

[Thegreatzambini]

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).

You see I don't agree with that as a seller…. I live in a small town in northern Canada and there's no way I could've sold my custom shop Warwick's or any of the other higher end stuff if it hadn't been for reverb… I never padded my prices and I realized I'm taking a hit, but I wouldn't have been able to sell it all in my local demographic

 

[Mosthigh]

You see I don't agree with that as a seller…. I live in a small town in northern Canada and there's no way I could've sold my custom shop Warwick's or any of the other higher end stuff if it hadn't been for reverb… I never padded my prices and I realized I'm taking a hit, but I wouldn't have been able to sell it all in my local demographic

I'm in BC (Canada) and sold a power amp to a guy in California. Not only did Reverb take its fee, but I had to pay "import California sales tax" on top of that. People have told me it's Canada taking the tax, but I'm pretty sure it was it was CA. There was a message quoting some court ruling, saying states can charge tax on import second hand items.
It's a given when I buy something from the US that I will pay Canadian import tax (not to mention exchange and carrier brokerage fees). So after a few expensive lessons, I just don't buy or sell outside of Canada anymore. Yes, I'm limiting my market, but patience always pays off.

 

[Gorilla Monsoon]

"My dog barks some…Perhaps you might even picture Toto... from "The Wizard of Oz." But I can tell you, my dog is all ways with me."….Rocket Scientist…Reverb is, and remains what it always was.

 

[pcake]

for all but one of my reverb transactions, i had completely smooth experiences and paid what the item was worth or less. the weird one was a local transaction, but as weird as it was - and it was - i did get my pickups, and since i had already paid for them, everything was good.

there are always people anywhere who overprice things - check ebay, etsy or CL, not just reverb. i just ignore those listings. i've gotten some good deals on reverg, particularly on used pickups or pickups taken out of a new bass or and parted out, but i also bought a couple basses there in the last year and am very happy all the way around.