Reverb vs Sweetwater Gear Exchange

[Mark Schmieder]

21 minutes ago, Outkaster said:

Selling Hammond's and Leslie gear is probably the hardest thing to do.  It's a major pain in the ass.

 

Yeah, I'm finding that out. Do you think it's better to just take such gear to a local music store or to GC and suffer the skimming off the top that inevitably happens when a third party is involved?

[Stokely]

As far as selling to GC--they've told me personally, and I've heard the same from other people, that if they want your gear at all you'll get 50% of what GC thinks they can sell it for.

Most definitely you can do better on your own monetarily.   GC's used prices are on the whole very reasonable (with outliers of course).  So that reasonable price is cut in half for you the seller.  I'd have to be quite desperate to sell to them, honestly.

The question is whether the much lower price you'll get is worth the freedom of having to go through the selling process.  I've sold on Reverb before and it turned out ok, but I can't say it was especially enjoyable.  I'm lucky in that I can ship stuff from work for a fair bit less than UPS or Fedex would charge me, and shipping charges are ridiculous.  The shipping companies have no respect for what they are shipping, I swear they probably do demolition derby during their breaks with forklifts and boxes.    I'll never do a local sale again unless it's someone I know or is known through people I know. 

[Jonathan Hughes]

I've sold the most things on reverb.com (including a bunch of things) and never had any issues with lowball offers, payment, or anything else, and most things have sold fast. Recently, I was surprised that their shipping rate for a fairly heavy rack mount unit was way lower than I expected. I've only sold one thing via the Sweetwater gear exchange, and then also went fine. I knew I was going to buy something from them, so I used the sale to get store credit. I've done craigslist in the past, but the likelihood of finding a buyer locally for a lot of stuff is slim, and it's also not worth having to deal with people in person.

[KuruPrionz]

Most of my transactions are sales on craigslist and purchases at thrift stores, craigslist and pawn shops. Bellingham is a college town with a state university, a community college and a technical college (they train mechanics, electricians, etc.). There are lots of younger people who buy music gear while they are here, play music with it and then flip it on the cheap when they move on to other stages of life. Some of them just donate things when they don't sell in the desired time frame. It all comes and goes so a score is random for the most part. If the value is there and the price is low, I may buy something just to flip it. I won't get rich doing that but it can be good side money here and there. 

[Outkaster]

18 hours ago, Mark Schmieder said:

 

Yeah, I'm finding that out. Do you think it's better to just take such gear to a local music store or to GC and suffer the skimming off the top that inevitably happens when a third party is involved?

 

 

Reverb and eBay are fine, I do a fair amount of business with each.  Reverb is more specific for musicians and a lot of people still aren’t aware it’s around.  I only use on music store near me to sell things locally I don’t think I can move online.  I have a Leslie 610 which was made for an H100.  Multi-channel organ Leslie speakers don’t sell well generally.   The thing is to convince someone to buy it as it’s worth a lot in parts but I have it on consignment at a small music store near my house because it’s easier.  With organs and really sought after Leslie’s I use Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.  I will put it on Reverb but the fees are nasty with high ticket items.   If I can do a private sale I will. I was lucky between 2021-2023 I sold 12 Leslies but lately It’s been tougher.

[FatFingers]

My issue with FB Marketplace is that my FB account is in my real name, and in my county it’s easy to look on the county assessor’s website to track down where I live.  Which means that anyone could find out the address of where an expensive keyboard could be stolen.  So I usually list on Craigslist, then list on Reverb if a local sale on Craigslist doesn’t pan out. 

My SK Pro was totaled by UPS while in transit to a buyer but nicely covered by Reverb’s safe shipping option with no hassles.  My Montage M8x was also damaged by UPS on its way to me, and while that’s my dealer’s problem, I remain wary of shipping anything large and heavy.  I was lucky to find a buyer on Craigslist for my Leslie 3300 who was willing to drive 4 hours to collect it.

[Stokely]

Interesting, was "safe shipping" something you had to add?  I've only shipped one keyboard via Reverb and that was a few years ago.   Having those crap package handlers destroy gear is one of my big fears about selling.  I've seen gear destroyed, and that's two examples just above.

Someone also mentioned Reverb's shipping prices, which suggested that they pay shipping perhaps?  Something else to read up on.

[CHarrell]

24 minutes ago, Stokely said:

Interesting, was "safe shipping" something you had to add?  I've only shipped one keyboard via Reverb and that was a few years ago.   Having those crap package handlers destroy gear is one of my big fears about selling.  I've seen gear destroyed, and that's two examples just above.

Someone also mentioned Reverb's shipping prices, which suggested that they pay shipping perhaps?  Something else to read up on.

 

Safe shipping is an optional service you can opt into for a fee, dependant on the value of the item you're selling, I believe.  Even though you always want to assume everything goes well, I always opt in...a couple years ago I sold a Numa Organ, really well packed, yet somehow over delivery got a huge crack on the side. Safe shipping saved my ass big time, I wasn't penalized at all, and the buyer also received a partial refund from Reverb for the damage.

 

For items over $1,500, safe shipping is mandatory. 

 

If you buy a label through Reverb, you get oftentimes a strong discount on the shipping than if you were to pay for one straight at the delivery provider. I sold the aforementioned CP88 this past weekend on Reverb (sorry GX), and I probably saved close to 50% on shipping costs by purchasing a label through Reverb. You just have to report the dimensions and weight. Another benefit is that if you buy labels through Reverb, you get paid the day after the delivery provider scans it in their system. The tracking info is also then readily available for the buyer to view.

 

 

[Mark Schmieder]

3 hours ago, FatFingers said:

My issue with FB Marketplace is that my FB account is in my real name, and in my county it’s easy to look on the county assessor’s website to track down where I live.  Which means that anyone could find out the address of where an expensive keyboard could be stolen.  So I usually list on Craigslist, then list on Reverb if a local sale on Craigslist doesn’t pan out. 

My SK Pro was totaled by UPS while in transit to a buyer but nicely covered by Reverb’s safe shipping option with no hassles.  My Montage M8x was also damaged by UPS on its way to me, and while that’s my dealer’s problem, I remain wary of shipping anything large and heavy.  I was lucky to find a buyer on Craigslist for my Leslie 3300 who was willing to drive 4 hours to collect it.

 

Oh wow, so that explains how several people came to my house unannounced, with no prior communication, in relation to stuff I had on FB marketplace last year! I was pretty freaked and wondered how they knew where to come and how they didn't communicate in advance. They might have been annoyed that I was home. 🙂

 

[Mark Schmieder]

 

2 hours ago, CHarrell said:

 

Safe shipping is an optional service you can opt into for a fee, dependant on the value of the item you're selling, I believe.  Even though you always want to assume everything goes well, I always opt in...a couple years ago I sold a Numa Organ, really well packed, yet somehow over delivery got a huge crack on the side. Safe shipping saved my ass big time, I wasn't penalized at all, and the buyer also received a partial refund from Reverb for the damage.

 

For items over $1,500, safe shipping is mandatory. 

 

If you buy a label through Reverb, you get oftentimes a strong discount on the shipping than if you were to pay for one straight at the delivery provider. I sold the aforementioned CP88 this past weekend on Reverb (sorry GX), and I probably saved close to 50% on shipping costs by purchasing a label through Reverb. You just have to report the dimensions and weight. Another benefit is that if you buy labels through Reverb, you get paid the day after the delivery provider scans it in their system. The tracking info is also then readily available for the buyer to view.

 

 

 

That sounds pretty similar to Gear Exchange so it is likely that Sweetwater learned from their model rather than copying the eBay approach.

[Mark Schmieder]

One thing I'll say about Sweetwater Gear Exchange is that shipping is WAY cheaper on their site than anywhere else, probably due to a special relationship they have developed with FedEx that luckily for us also translates to Gear Exchange used items that we sell.

[eric]

I am completely unaware and unfamiliar with Sweetwater Gear Exchange...I've been using the forum and Reverb exclusively...I have never really liked using Facebook for gear sales.

 

I am still thinning my gear a bit and will have a close look at Sweetwater. Lately I have not found as much success with Reverb...I think it's simply flooded with products and so things tend to sit for months with an occasional low ball offer. Then I ultimately decide to lower prices to get things sold.

[Old No7]

On 1/15/2024 at 4:50 PM, Stokely said:

Having those crap package handlers destroy gear is one of my big fears about selling.

 

Not related to any one selling site, but when I sold a Mojo 61 recently it arrived at the buyer's home in great shape.  What I did to better protect it was -- to double box it -- and luckily I had the extra cardboard to do it.

 

It was put in a decent padded gig bag with some bubble wrap around it, and taped in a cardboard box. Then using cheap lengths of pipe insulation for padding, I built a second cardboard box encasing the first one and the insulation.  Yeah, it added some dimensions to the box shipped, but very little weight -- and oh, the seller "did not have fun" unpacking it -- but it arrived undamaged.  (I also shipped the pedals and cables/cords etc. in a separate box.)

 

I have some smaller gear to sell and will test both Reverb and Gear Exchange to see what's best for me.

 

Old No7

[Mark Schmieder]

Yes, double-boxing is a great idea these days, and as shipping costs are now almost exclusively determined by distance, it is extremely unlikely that it will increase the rate. I just double-boxed a fragile South American stringed instrument today.

 

Regrettably, it meant putting my Hammond XK-1c back to local-only sale, but as I haven't even gotten a single inquiry in months, even after dropping its pre-negotiation price over $100 below its typical sale price when in bad shape and without a case/bag, I figure that ones eventually going to Guitar Center for trade-in.

[AnotherScott]

10 hours ago, Mark Schmieder said:

Yes, double-boxing is a great idea these days, and as shipping costs are now almost exclusively determined by distance, it is extremely unlikely that it will increase the rate.

Is this a recent change? Which carrier(s)?

 

Years ago, that was definitely the case with UPS at least... a UPS package of a given weight would have the same shipping cost regardless of size (as long as it fell within their max allowable dimensions for standard shipments), but that was changed a while back so that dimensions altered shipping cost as well (which really increased the cost of shipping what would otherwise be lighter weight keyboards). Is that no longer the case?