Tips on Selling a Drumset?

I own an orange Yamaha Manu Katche Jr. drum set. I bought it brand new in 2003 for around $500 or so. I need to sell it as I'll be moving soon. Won't have room for a drumset. The easiest thing to do would be to take it into Guitar Center and get cash for it. I'm not selling it on ebay. That would be too complicated with the shipping. Is craigslist the best answer? How much would you sell it for if you were me? The ride, crash/stand were purchased separately.

I'd use craigslist - its fast. I'd hate to use ebay, complicated.
I'd look around for what the set goes for on ebay to estimate a price.
You might also consider selling in a separate ad the extra hardware/cymbals you got, to get more return. In my experience, hardware and individual cymbals can sell fast, everybody needs collects them more than shells.

Sell it on Craigslist. You'll get pennies on the dollar selling it at GC or any other music store. After all, they're a business, they want to make money.

True story: I once sold a snare to a music store for $200, they sold it for $550. Learn from my painful mistake and cut out the middleman.

Figure out what your kit sells for new and put it on craigslist for 50% of that. Expect to be talked down to about 35% of your original "new" price. Easy peasy. If you want to sell it for more than that, craigslist isn't the route to go.

Alright, thanks guys. I totally forgot I posted this. I haven't sold it yet nor have I put up an ad. Still hanging on to it.

Craigslist is great if you are in a hurry but you will get far more cash off Ebay. I can buy or sell pretty much any pro level cymbal on Craigslist for $100 cash, like a 18" A Zildjian Med Thin crash in new condition where on ebay you will generally get $150 but have lots of lame fees and have to deal with the worst company on earth, Paypay! NEVER use paypal, NEVER!

These help sell drums for top dollar:
- Pro quality photos of the drums
- High quality sound files with interesting/competent drumming
- New drum heads

GJS

My two cents: You don't need a professional photographer to get professional-looking shots.

Take some time to clean up your set. Wipe off the dust, polish the chrome, and get everything looking good.

If you look at pictures in Craigslist some will say "Sorry for the crappy cell phone pictures". That should be a clue. Don't use your crappy cell phone to take pictures. Borrow the best camera that you can.

Get more light. Don't just rely on the camera flash. Get the drums out into the sunlight. Nobody is going to be interested in seeing your bedroom or your basement. Try to get the camera to shoot the flash even in the outdoors. By the way early morning or late afternoon is the best time to shoot if it's a cloudless day. An overcast day is ideal for shooting photos outside. It doesn't need to be early morning or late afternoon if it's overcast. The light is more even and eliminates a lot of the shadows.

Check the background. Check the viewfinder. You don't want the barbeque grill or that old set of tires in the shot. The background should not detract from the subject matter (your drums). If you have access to a camera where you can control the lens opening (f-stop) adjust it for the widest opening (smallest f-stop number). This will cause the background to blur, again highlighting your subject.

Lower your angle. Don't just stand there and take a few shots. Get down on one knee and take some shots at a lower angle. It's a good idea when taking pictures of kids and pets. Works well for drums, too.

If you put a little thought and preparation into your photographs you'll be doing much better than about 80% of the other pictures I see on Craigslist.

Excellent tips below.

Another one: With funny tom angles your ad will go viral on drummer forums and you will have six million buyers the next day

Make sure you spell symbels correctly.

Decide if you want to sell it locally or will ship. I just had to cancel a sale because the shipping costs were going crazy. The drum price was fine but with too much for shipping it killed the deal. And yes as mentioned, clean the drums and take good photos. If people can't see what they are buying they don't buy.

I have only come across one Manu K. set sold in my city over the last 5 years on Craigslist, so they aren't common. I'd go $400 if you have the matching snare. Good luck.

p.s. The kit also goes by Hipgig so include that as well.

Shoot the photos with a girl positioned as if they are about to play.
You'll get a lot more interest then,