Anyone sell stuff on Reverb?

I never use eBay or Reverb (although Reverb is good for seeing going rates and a wide selection of stuff).
Google Kijiji is awesome - I've bought and sold so much stuff from there it's ridiculous. Great deals, no tax, no shipping.. someone shows up at your door takes away your junk and hands you cash. I use it primarily for buying/selling drums stuff and furniture.. no one will try to scam you for a couch or drums!
Anything like high priced electronics - meet in a mall or coffee shop.. and never accept e-transfers - cash only!
 
I figured I'd sell off an old bass pedal I had... but every time I sell something on eBay or now Reverb, I wonder why I bother. I sold it for $140, free shipping. I figured I had to do free shipping because no buyer wants to see shipping on there, so I bumper up the price a bit. The pedal weighs about 6 pounds, and the cheapest shipping option was $36 (!). So I start at $140, deduct Reverb fees, shipping and an hour off work waiting in line at the post office, plus boxing the thing up. In the end it doesn't seem worth the trouble. I should have just given it away for $60 locally, or just left it sitting.

Am I missing something?

I just bought a starter guitar kit for my kid for $120 including guitar and amp, from Reverb. If I carried that stuff into the post office, they'd want $100 or more just to mail it. I don't know how people make enough to make it worth the trouble. What's the secret?

I've really had nothing but good experiences with Reverb - selling and buying.

For shipping - I'd always go our local "Zip and Ship" kind of place and get an idea of how it would cost then factor that into the price - however it always costs more than I anticipate haha.

I sold a 6 piece drum set and totally ate it on shipping - but that was my fault for not researching how much it cost before hand.

I prefer local - but I live in nowhere NM so finding someone who wants high end gear here is rarely.

I do live a couple hours away from a much larger city though and I've found that a decent inbetween is posting stuff there and meeting people like halfway - that's worked a couple times.
 
Nearly ALL musical equipment is just, dang heavy. That is the majority of the basis for shipping costs. I second most of what people here are saying--sell locally to the best of your ability. PEOPLE LOVE PICTURES! So when you post on CList and Facebook, many good pics will help. Same with the online selling venues.

You simply cannot get around the size and weight of what we sell. No shortcuts.
 
I prefer Reverb to Craigslist, honestly. With Craigslist I either get no response, or ridiculously low offers, or people with no money wanting to trade for stuff I don't want. Reverb is a very active marketplace, and most buyers understand the value of what is being bought and sold there. I recently sold 3 cymbals and 2 sets of hi-hats via Reverb in about a week. It was very smooth. I buy most of my cymbals online, and I save the boxes for when I need to sell something. I buy the shipping label through Reverb and drop the package off at local postal services store. Between the Reverb selling fees, bump fees, and payment processing fees, it costs me about 10%, but I consider it to be worth the convenience.

I lost money on shipping the first few times, but with some experience I've gotten better at estimating the cost. The Reverb shipping cost estimator always guesses low. I wish they had an option to just pass through the actual shipping costs to the customer so that we as sellers don't have to gamble on it.
 
I've not mailed off a piece of music gear in probably 15 years.

In regards to your question, a friend of mine does business via craigslist. I think he usually doesn't sell anything larger than a 12" or 13" rack tom. He does a flat shipping rate. Sometimes he makes money; sometimes he loses a little bit. In any case, he doesn't do anything too large or heavy.

Anything large, I just put it on CL or Facebook Marketplace. If it doesn't sell there, I just keep posting it.
 
I prefer Reverb to Craigslist, honestly. With Craigslist I either get no response, or ridiculously low offers, or people with no money wanting to trade for stuff I don't want. Reverb is a very active marketplace, and most buyers understand the value of what is being bought and sold there. I recently sold 3 cymbals and 2 sets of hi-hats via Reverb in about a week. It was very smooth. I buy most of my cymbals online, and I save the boxes for when I need to sell something. I buy the shipping label through Reverb and drop the package off at local postal services store. Between the Reverb selling fees, bump fees, and payment processing fees, it costs me about 10%, but I consider it to be worth the convenience.

I find that cymbals are the most reasonable drum-related thing to sell when it comes to how much they fetch used, and how much they cost to ship. Other than small vintage things or whatever, everything else is kind of impractical.
 
I’ve just started using Reverb and am rather happy with it. Despite some of the issues mentioned here.
I have no desire to use CL. I just don’t want folks coming to my house.
 
I’ve just started using Reverb and am rather happy with it. Despite some of the issues mentioned here.
I have no desire to use CL. I just don’t want folks coming to my house.
Whenever I sell. On Craigslist. I always meet them at a convenience store. .
 
I’ve just started using Reverb and am rather happy with it. Despite some of the issues mentioned here.
I have no desire to use CL. I just don’t want folks coming to my house.

As long as they don’t seem sketchy when I’m messaging them, then I have no problem letting them come to my house. The kinds of people you don’t want coming to your house usually have a ton of red flags when you’re dealing with them, from the very beginning. That’s just my personal observation.
 
As long as they don’t seem sketchy when I’m messaging them, then I have no problem letting them come to my house. The kinds of people you don’t want coming to your house usually have a ton of red flags when you’re dealing with them, from the very beginning. That’s just my personal observation.

What are your red flags? These drummer forums are the only social sites I interact with.
 
What are your red flags? These drummer forums are the only social sites I interact with.

Wanting to come to my house is a red flag. So is wanting me to come to yours. I suggest the police station to meet. Anyone trying to rip you off won't want to meet you there. Anyone honest will feel better about the meeting if it's at a police station. Safety first.
 
As long as they don’t seem sketchy when I’m messaging them, then I have no problem letting them come to my house. The kinds of people you don’t want coming to your house usually have a ton of red flags when you’re dealing with them, from the very beginning. That’s just my personal observation.

Hi, I want to buy your drums. My grammar is good and I look like a normal guy. My text messages make me seem pretty okay. What you don't know is I am carrying a pistol in my waist band. My intentions are bad. There are 3 dead bodies buried in my garden. That girl from the Amber Alert, I know where she is. And the seemingly regular Toyota Camry I will be pulling up in is actually stolen. Oh yeah, I'm high on meth too. Life is hard, I'm outta my freaking mind, I have your address and will be there in an hour. But you can trust me because my grammar is good.

Remember: Criminals are LIARS! It's what they do.
 
Am I missing something?
Yes. Reverb, the company, wants a cut. SOP. Any site hosting your stuff for sale is gonna take a cut, except CraigsList.

Before you get your money, pay up:
  • Shipping
  • Shipping insurance (let's face it, this is legal gambling)
  • Bank fee
  • Hosting fee
If you wanna clear a certain amount after the shipping & transaction fees, do the math and don't sell lower than the amount required. If the item sits on the shelf for 8 months, then you know your price is too high. Respond accordingly (which, in some cases, is: burn your bass drum because it's cheaper than shipping it).
 
What you don't know is I am carrying a pistol in my waist band.

What you don't know is I'm carrying one too in my holster, and don't be surprised when I open carry as well. I'll also have one in the car. I'll probably have someone with me, and he/she will probably be carrying as well.

We will probably be meeting in front of the police station as well, never at my house unless it's a really large item. :cool:

@MrInsanePolack - You are exactly right!!! You have to be so careful these days. Every day, I commute at least 45-50 min. one way. It's best if you just assume everyone is armed and is on meth. I try my best to let people in who merge, let tailgaters pass (I pull over and wave them on if I need to), and take my time. People are crazy out there.
 
I live in a decent area and most times with craigslist I can tell it's some old dude from the area and it's totally non-threatening. Sometimes people chat you up with small talk or whatever. Even with junky furniture or car parts, I just have the stuff ready out on the driveway with everything closed up so they can't case the house or garage. I'm not so paranoid as to think I'm going to be robbed at gunpoint or home invaded. My main concern is with the house/garage being cased out, or if there's some way they can take off with the sale item. I heard of a dude taking a nice bike for a test ride and somehow just riding away and meeting a buddy with a truck.
 
What you don't know is I'm carrying one too in my holster, and don't be surprised when I open carry as well. I'll also have one in the car. I'll probably have someone with me, and he/she will probably be carrying as well.

This is me also. The above example is who I expect to meet. Just not at my house! Sometimes the doberman comes too.
 
Yes. Reverb, the company, wants a cut. SOP. Any site hosting your stuff for sale is gonna take a cut, except CraigsList.

Before you get your money, pay up:
  • Shipping
  • Shipping insurance (let's face it, this is legal gambling)
  • Bank fee
  • Hosting fee
If you wanna clear a certain amount after the shipping & transaction fees, do the math and don't sell lower than the amount required. If the item sits on the shelf for 8 months, then you know your price is too high. Respond accordingly (which, in some cases, is: burn your bass drum because it's cheaper than shipping it).

I think the point is that if I added on $30-40 shipping and $10 fees, I would be out of line with everyone else price-wise and probably pushing new. Of course, that must be my problem in that I have in my head I should clear more than $20 for $100+ sale. All I can figure is that people selling, e.g., guitar/amp combos for $120 with free shipping are moving a lot of stuff and hardly making anything per item.
 
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