Selling on Reverb

[sedaka]

Put this in the for what it's worth column.

I have sold several high end guitars on Reverb.com over the years. In the process I have shipped quickly and responded quickly. In addition to their being a knowledgable service based company in the Midwest, they have awarded quick shipper, quick responder and preferred seller notations when you post. I never cared about the preferred seller aspect because I am not a business but I did like the quick shipper and quick responder "badges." I think it underlined the feedback aspect.

Well, this week I sold 2 guitars on Reverb and I lost my previous badge notations because it alerted their system. Turns out in order to achieve these badges you have to meet their standards every 90 days now.

I get they want to drive the fees to them through more sales but for smaller entities it shows that once again we are just not worth their time to reward faithful attempts to provide good service/do the right thing for those who are more comfortable purchasing guitars through an entity like Reverb.

Reverb has been a good way for selling to a more musically knowledgable, larger audience. In the end we who want to sell our guitars will choose whatever venue that works for us. I just find it disappointing that once again only the larger companies will be getting the incentives and rewards for using a service like Reverb, particularly when we smaller folks gave Reverb their start.

Just consider me a dinosaur ambling off to the tar pits since I remember when small entities made a difference.

[Shades of Blue]

Reverb is getting to be like eBay....greedy and sides with the buyer 90% of the time

[TubeG]

was thinking about selling an old guitar on Reverb, guess have to reconsider.

[Mr. Jelly]

I just bought a guitar off of Reverb for the the first time the other day. It worked out fine. I do like the EBay experience better though. EBay usually keeps me better informed as to what is going on and the status of the sale or purchase. Not that EBay is perfect or anything.

[Shades of Blue]

The issue for me is returns. People today think they have a right to return anything if they don’t like it.

When I list a guitar and I have answered a buyers 47 questions, dropped my pants on price, packaged to perfection, and sweated bullets that it arrives safely, NO I do not accept returns.

The issue is that eBay almost always makes you accept a return while holding your feedback hostage, as well as Reverb. I’m as clear as water up front about returns, but sometimes buyers suck.

One buyer on Reverb wanted to return a guitar, but I told him that he had to pay my original shipping costs, as well as return shipping. Never heard from him again.

What buyers forget is that yes, it actually did cost me $75-100 to ship your guitar and when you return it, it costs you the same.

End of rant...

[mercy]

thanks for the info Sedaka

[aknow]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

Reverb is getting to be like eBay....greedy and sides with the buyer 90% of the time

It already does.

[Woodstock School Of Music]

On a related topic....Does Reverb have "sold" or completed prices like Ebay? I haven't seen anything and I have to flip to ebay to look at what items actually sold for

[pickitPaul]

Can't tell how much a guitar went for on Ebay if it was Buy It Now.

[pjroberts]

Originally Posted by The dman

On a related topic....Does Reverb have "sold" or completed prices like Ebay? I haven't seen anything and I have to flip to ebay to look at what items actually sold for

Nope.




.

[pjroberts]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

Reverb is getting to be like eBay....greedy and sides with the buyer 90% of the time

And I actually like Reverb for buying way more than eBay, where I have not even considered for the last 8 years. Selling not bad, but generally a great selection, BUYER friendly policies and musically knowledgeable sellers willing to negotiate. Whether private or commercial. And the ratings do help ... especially good without the small community reputation thing we’ve got here. Do not have that level of buyer confidence with eBay.

[Kupuna50]

As well as the topics discussed on the 'downside' of Reverb, may I add another 'not-so-nice' issue:
When you contact a seller to get information, and perhaps make an offer, Reverb pesters you with incessant emails trying to get you to purchase the instrument.
To me, that shows that they are primarily interested in their bottom line via the sale.
As much as I dislike E-bay, they have a better 'interface' with customers.
IMHO

[ChrisN]

Originally Posted by pjroberts

Nope.
.

Check the Price Guide -https://reverb.com/price-guide and plug in your make/model. Some have sparse coverage due to few sales, but there's good guidance on popular guitars. Here's an example for cheap Telecasters: https://reverb.com/price-guide/guide...5-arctic-white

[CT77]

Originally Posted by The dman

On a related topic....Does Reverb have "sold" or completed prices like Ebay? I haven't seen anything and I have to flip to ebay to look at what items actually sold for

They used to. Now, when an item is sold, you just get a tiny picture of it and a message that "Sorry, this listing sold. Check out the similar listings below", as if they are being helpful. That's too bad, as being able to read the past listings not only gives excellent history price detail, but also details about the instruments etc. that can be useful in research.

[muscmp]

if you can't sell on reverb nor ebay, where do you sell? on the AGF? or start your own website?

play music!