Is there an alternative to REVERB?

[rokdog49]

Whenever I listed a guitar on Reverb or EBay, I always took pictures of it myself in its current condition. Those photos would include any cosmetic flaws as best as I could capture them along with a detailed description. I always listed the guitar as "no returns accepted"
The last thing I want is a controversial sale. I recognize that nothing is 100% but
if a person is honest, your odds of not having any issues go up don't they?
My attitude is why make something more complicated than it need be.

[Hoyt]

That's one reason I think Reverb is a safe site for buying and selling.

If someone wanted to offer a guitar for sell they don't really own -- ie, a scam -- they'd use someone else's photos. It's not hard to search for similar photos. I'm glad Reverb appears to be doing just that to ensure the legitimacy of items posted for sell.

A good policy. I would not buy a guitar without actual recent photos. Just about any cell phone will take decent photos.

With that said, I've had good luck selling guitars on Ebay and Reverb. I do prefer Reverb recently.

[frankmcr]

Reverb doesn't seem to have the many many many spam listings that make ebay such a slog to search theough -
the ones from people trying to sell a beat up old beginner guitar under the headline
"ACOUSTIC GUITAR GIBSON MARTIN TAYLOR".

[muscmp]

other than ebay, craigslist but there are problems there also.

play music!

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by RP

....she then complained to Reverb about paying return shipping, and Reverb reimbursed her.....

I had a similar experience. A guy didn't like the TONE of a guitar I sold him, and he wanted me to pay for return shipping. I said it didn't work that way. Reverb stepped in and asked me would I accept the return if they paid return shipping. Well... OK.

I've used reverb's "chat" feature several times. Reverb reps have ALWAYS bent over backwards to make things right, so I'm surprised the OP could not get this photo thing straightened out...

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by Hoyt

If someone wanted to offer a guitar for sell they don't really own -- ie, a scam -- they'd use someone else's photos. It's not hard to search for similar photos. I'm glad Reverb appears to be doing just that to ensure the legitimacy of items posted for sell....

True, but in this case, reverb would be able to see that the OP originally bought the guitar and, if I understand it correctly, he's using the same photos from the original ad. If the guitar is in the same condition, I see no problem with using those photos again.

And I'm surprised that once reverb is made aware of this particular situation that they wouldn't allow use of those photos.

[Mbroady]

Most likely there have been enough complaints were folks posted older professionally taken photos that were not representative of the guitars current condition. So they enacted this policy. If some one used/sent me pics of a guitar that were taken months or years ago I would request current pics.

In regards to alternatives, I have had surprisingly positive and local results on Facebook market place, more then Craigslist. It’s always better to have a local sale or purchase, with no fees.

[RalphH]

Several times (twice very recently) I put guitars simultaneously on reverb and eBay. They always sold through eBay. I've stopped bothering to put them on reverb now. It may be that reverb just doesn't have a very big UK user base, but I barely got a sniff through reverb - 1/10th as many views at no inquiries.

[fazool]

I support this policy by Reverb.

If a store has a beautiful glamour shot of a guitar then John Doe buys the guitar, uses it a while then sells it, it could be very misleading (even if in mint condition) to use those glamour shots as the guitar has since been used.

Also this is a good way to protect against counterfeits and fraud where scammers post photos they skim off websites.

By rejecting re-used photos they protect the whole buying process.

Kudos to them!

[Silurian]

If I bought a used car I would expect photos of it in its current condition. Not photos from when it sat new in the dealership showroom. I don't see why it should be different with guitars.

[HippieDave]

Originally Posted by Silurian

If I bought a used car I would expect photos of it in its current condition. Not photos from when it sat new in the dealership showroom. I don't see why it should be different with guitars.

Ah, but that is the exact problem: The photo's did depict the guitar in exactly the condition it was in when I offered it for sale...they just happened to have been taken by the maker the day I bought it.
The problem is that Reverb's position on this has nothing to do with fraud. It is easy to depict the guitar with photos in such a way as to hide problems; The question should be the accuracy of the depiction provided, not the date or the source of the photos.

[Silurian]

Originally Posted by HippieDave

Ah, but that is the exact problem: The photo's did depict the guitar in exactly the condition it was in when I offered it for sale...they just happened to have been taken by the maker the day I bought it.
The problem is that Reverb's position on this has nothing to do with fraud. It is easy to depict the guitar with photos in such a way as to hide problems; The question should be the accuracy of the depiction provided, not the date or the source of the photos.

I don't doubt your personal integrity and fully accept that the guitar was still in the same condition as seen in the photos but this will not be the case with every seller.

It's also true that flaws can be hidden or mitigated through photography. In these cases the buyer will usually highlight this and has remedies to resolve the issue.

You're right that the question should be the accuracy of the depiction and for practical purposes and as a general rule across the platform, recent photos taken by the seller appears to me to be the most sensible option that best addresses that.

[ManyMartinMan]

Never mind. I just noticed his thread is a year old and irrelevant. Dave has obviously moved on from this.

[6L6]

I’ve never had a problem selling guitars or gear on my local CL. No fees, no shipping...

[PapaC]

OfferUp. I love it.

On edit: I believe and support the OP’s position, but this is a classic case of a standard needed for the masses. I imagine Reverb doesn’t want to deal with the individual complaints of old, or stock photos, so they make a rule for everyone.