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6 Tips for Selling Used Gear
We've all been there before you've got your eye on something new, but in order to get it, you've got to unload something old. Its time to sell something in your collection of musical gear. Where to start? Read on for six tips for a quick and painless sale of your used equipment.
- Fix It Up It will be tough to sell something that's broken, dirty, or missing parts unless its at an absolute rock-bottom price. Before you put your guitar on the market, invest in a set of strings and a polish cloth. You want the buyer to think, Wow, it looks and plays like new, not Wow, it needs a lot of work. The same goes for amplifiers, recording equipment, drums, anything invest a little bit up front so that the item is ready to use upon purchase.
- Be Realistic About Price You know what you paid for it. You know what you would like to get for it. But make sure you're realistic about your price based on the age, condition, and rarity of the piece. An easy way to check prices is to search eBay for similar items and see what they're selling for. You could be disappointed by what you find, but this is basic economics at work it will be difficult to get anything more than the going market rate for your item.
- Know Where To Go Some things work and some things don't for selling musical products. A very high volume of instruments are sold on eBay and Craigslist every day. eBay gives you less control over price, but a high chance that someone will buy your item quickly; of course, shipping is another concern for eBay if you have a large or heavy product. Craigslist can be very effective in metropolitan areas, and you can post on multiple lists if you live between areas. In my experience, printed want-ads, newspaper classifieds, and bulletin boards can work, but will take more time than selling online. Guitar shows are another option that can be hit-or-miss for sellers. Georges Music stores do not purchase used equipment.
- Be Courteous Treat your potential customers well! Write a detailed product description, respond to inquiries in a timely manner, and offer to meet halfway if someone wants to buy but lives far away. A little bit of service goes a long way.
- Offer Something Extra Help your customer enjoy the equipment by teaching them what you can about it. If its a beginner-level guitar, offer a quick guitar lesson to help the person get started. If its recording equipment, offer a run-through of how to set up and use the gear. If its a big old heavy amplifier or drum set, deliver it to their home and carry it up the stairs for them! Make sure they have the cables or other things they need to enjoy your gear as well.
- If At First You Don't Succeed, Change Something! Not every item will have an interested party right away, for any number of reasons. If your gear still hasn't sold, change your approach a bit. Go back to #1 and really fix it up with a full set-up or new tubes. If eBay didn't work, try Craigslist, or vice-versa. Re-evaluate your asking price. And if all else fails, consider keeping it! Maybe it has some sentimental value after all that makes it worth more to you than anyone else.
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