How do you sell your electric guitar?

[EugeneSmasher]

Let's say you've set a date and time with the buyer and there's mutual agreement. How do you go about the sale?

Some possibilities:
- The buyer comes to your house to test the guitar.
- You go to the buyer's house to test the guitar.
- You both meet at a guitar stop where you can test the guitar.

My intention is to find a way that's convenient and easy for the buyer, so that if he or she decides not to buy, at least they weren't so badly inconvenienced. At the same time, I want it to be an honest sale with no loopholes.

In case you're wondering, I'm thinking of selling my electric guitar, because I'm either going to quit electric guitar, or downgrade.

My house is deep inside and so even if the buyer takes a bus, he or she will still have to walk a long distance just to get to my house. And guitar shops might not be happy because we're using their facilities and yet they don't make a cent from us.

And I simply don't have the time to go to the buyer's house especially if it's as inconveniently-located as mine, especially if he/she decides not to buy.

Need your feedback, people... Thanks in advance!

By the way, if you think this is a stupid thread, tell me via PM so I can ask the mods to remove it.

 

[alias1377934a]

Put in your friend house and ask buyer to test and collect and that place

 

[relinquish69]

For me, some people don't need to test the guitar because I list down all the specs and mods (if any) so that the potential buyer can have a rough idea what to expect. They can try the stock guitar at their respective distributors if their aim is just to try a guitar. Things like electronics can be tested prior to the meet up. That is why most of my deals are dealt at the nearest MRT stations most of the time. I bring along my Vox amplug if there is a need to test the electronics. If I think the guitar is fishy, I flash my philips screw driver. I can put it back together anyways.

IMO the only people that need to test the guitar before buying are working musicians or people who are very particular with things like intonation. If I were buying the guitar, I'd check with the seller whether his guitar is in good or bad shape. Usually I'm cool with it being a little wonkey cos I can service my own guitars.

One thing to note. Be very careful when buying acoustic guitars. It's hard to maintain them in this climate and before buying an acoustic, please check whether the neck & bridge is in good shape. I learnt it the expensive way.

Golden rule, never trust anyone. Me included. Always do a substantial amount of research before making a purchase. especially so when dealing with people who sell a few things here once in a while because reputation don't mean much to them. It's no different from buying on eBay from a seller with 1 or 2 feedback.

That's just the few things to note when buying guitars.

 

[mockingbird]

Sorry Eugene, but personally I think there has to be a compromise on your end. As someone looking to sell, you should make yourself available to the buyer (i.e. customer) at his convenience. Of course, he has to be reasonable as well. He can't be asking to meet at his place at 0130hrs to test it, unless you agree to it, that is.

You cannot simply tell the buyer that you don't have the time to adhere to his schedule. My personal view is that if you have the time to post an ad, and by "post an ad" I mean including original photos and specs, then you should be able to spend that 1 hour or so to meet the buyer. Of course, if you want to, you could bring up the asking price to deal at his convenience. For example, your initial selling price was $300. So you jack it up to $310 or $320 to cover, say, the taxi fare to his place. All this can be communicated with the buyer. But like I mentioned earlier, you cannot simply tell the buyer you are unable to deal at his convenience.

Testing out at a guitar store is a no-no, unless you personally know the staff or owner. For me, I would not, even though I know some of our local stores' staff pretty well.

I had a deal with a fellow SOFTie last week for an Epiphone Les Paul. And he was a prime example of a good seller. He contacted me saying he would be in my area at around 9+ pm. I told him I was still in town as I was accompanying my gf shopping for CNY clothes. He told me if I could make it at 2.30am, he could drive down to my house again. I replied saying that I could probably stay awake till 2am as I anticipated reaching home at 1am, but I'm not sure if I can tahan till 2.30am. He said he'll try his best to make it. Not once was he pushy or tried to rush the sale. We ended up having a smoke together while making the deal. THIS is the kind of seller that rates very highly to me. Going out of his way to make things convenient for the buyer. I got a good guitar, at a good price, and met a great guy, all at my void deck.

 

[Brenkoh]

The buyer should adhere to the seller's schedule. If you(a buyer) wants to test a guitar, you should travel to the seller's place to test it. This has always been the practice when Yahoo Auctions still existed. This is the ideal case.

However, some buyers have matured enough to be demanding with a dash of attitude. As such, two workarounds IMO have proven to accomodate such breed.

(1) Meet at a central location like City Hall MRT. Both parties (buyer+seller) are travelling at equidistance.

(2) As the seller, lower your price to factor in transportation fees incurred by the buyer.

In regards to testing out a guitar store, enough has been said. The verdict is pretty much a 100% NO and a LOSE-LOSE situation.

 

[K2desoog]

What about meeting at a predetermined jam studio to test the axe?
Maybe the shop guys can let you have a 1/2 hr in it for say; $5/-

Just a thought...

 

[BeFair]

You want to buy guitar from shop, you go to the shop, you don't tell the shop to go to you or meet halfway unless you pay delivery fee.

 

[Osiris]

It depends on which is more desperate, the buyer or the seller. But as a rule of thumb, customers should come first. So as a seller, the onus is on you to make the buying experience a good one. If the customer is perfectly happy droppin-by your place to check-out the instrument, so be it. However, if he/she requests a more convenient location, seller should make every effort to be accommodating...

 

[BeFair]

Let me quote myself from another thread. Basically buyers these days are ruder and more demanding.

Allow me to chip in with my views about buy and sell of gears..


I was active many many years ago in the old Luthermusic classifieds where a huge volume of gear was advertised and traded on a daily basis. I don't know how many of you guys remember it but it was a heaven for buyers and sellers as both parties got what they want and they were happy with it. Lots of nice cool gear popped up and there were ready buyers. It was exciting for buyers and sellers alike to log to surf Luthermusic classifieds back then. Unfortunately, afterwards the classifieds there isn't active and vibrant anymore due to change in format. I heard that it was caused by flaming where people made comments about other people's adverts.

Anyway, recently I stumbled upon this Soft classifieds and decided to sell my guitar, a Fender Standard Strat, for $450. The response was overwhelming and I was swamped with lots of questions from buyers such as


What is the reason for sale?
Why so cheap? Surely got problem.
Can cheaper?
$300 I take
Why no picture?
After sending picture to someone, he said not enough pictures need more pictures. Request complied again then he went MIA.
Woodlands too far for me, deal for $400 at Bedok?
How many frets does it have?

And I'm having a culture shock. I never encountered such things before in the old Luthermusic classifieds. Is it an issue with this website's members or a paradigm shift in the attitude of people? Most of the old Luthermusic classifieds guys were very to the point buyers. They see an advertisement and fancy the gear, they contact the seller to arrange a meeting to test or view, like it then buy on the spot, don't like it no problem can walk away. They don't waste time at all or ask strange questions, or disrespect your price. BTW there were no pictures with the old advertisements at all and buyers didn't even request for pictures. So the fixation with pictures now is odd given the wide scope of Google nowadays and the fact that pictures can't compare to viewing the guitar in your hands. In the old Luthermusic classifieds days I've had a buyer come from JB to meet me, now I've got someone tell me to meet him in Bedok because he finds Woodlands too far for him. Strange that Woodlands is far from him in Bedok but he doesn't find Bedok far from me in Woodlands. And he gave himself a $50 discount while telling me to do that, wow!

I think there should be guidelines in place to educate buyers not to take sellers for granted with various odd requests and questions that we all know goes nowhere. From my initial experience here, I already have a strong feeling that buyers these days are very demanding and unreasonable.

I'll also like to add that a lesson from the old Luthermusic classifieds is that comments on other people's adverts can cause things to go downhill.

Perhaps the other old birds who surfed Luthermusic classifieds back in its heyday and are also in Soft right now can chip in with their insights and experience too.

 

[Osiris]

Yep, true enough. Have you seen some the antics customers get up to in restaurants these days? All High 'n Mighty, demanding recompense for some trivial (and sometimes imagined!) affront against their person?

Fact is, buyers are getting more savvy with each passing day. These changes in buying attitudes & demands are here to stay, for better or for worse. And if sellers cannot adapt to these changes, well...just take a look at my signature!! Haha!

 

[relinquish69]

what to do? the government say we have to provide better customer service & some buyers actually take full advantage of that fact. it is their right as a customer you know?

I don't get it really. whenever I GAS for something, I just shell out the money. I don't spend 3 days thinking about whether the instrument will grow on me or will I like it. It's about getting used to a new instrument and that itself takes time. I like the experimentational process. I don't believe in messing around with a new piece of gear for 5 - 10 minutes and conclude that it's not for me. I'll switch pedals here and there, tweak the amp a little to see if I can get a certain sound I like.

When people have money, they don't have the need to yearn for something. they don't understand the feeling of saving up to get something. when someone lowballs you, chances are they probably have enough money to pay for your item but just want to have the thrill of bargaining. Even if they get the item, they won't feel for it because it was all too easy. I think the same logic applies to relationships right? well, that's another story.

 

[mockingbird]

^ Well said. Nicely phrased.

 

[EugeneSmasher]

I am willing to compromise to the seller if I can, but the thing is that it's difficult to just trust someone you don't personally know. It may look brand-new but there could be a problem with the wiring, etc. From the point of view of the buyer, if I paid for the guitar, brought it home and found it faulty, it'd be too late. Hence I'm more concerned about the buyer being able to test it, yet not have too much inconvenience on either side.

Personally I'd also feel a bit intimidated about going to other people's houses, both as a buyer and as a seller, if we didn't know each other previously.

The Vox Amplug idea sounds good. I think I'll buy one. Then at least we can deal pretty much anywhere and the buyer gets to test that the guitar works properly.

Thanks!

 

[ShredAddict]

I think for buying guitars online, what we should do is check the neck to see if it's straight and whether the electronics are scratchy or not. acoustic guitars on the other hand, need experience to see.

 

[aremarf]

Hmm. Just a thought - a private deal between two people is quite different from buying from a shop. Shops provide good customer service as a rule because they aim for repeat business - this might or might not be true of forummers. Shops have also factored the cost of providing good service into the product (which I think most sellers here don't - I mean, you don't see friendly sellers charging higher prices than nasty sellers, do you? in fact, it's often the other way round! LOL), not to mention shops also have better economies of scale in providing service than forummers.

So - to buyers: if your think your price is fair - you don't have to give in to unreasonable demands by buyers at all. If you're in a hurry to sell, you could accommodate his request (if you like), but you don't have to. Just say no.

 

[theunknown]

I usually sell stuff at my convenience. So when I buy stuff, it's at the seller's convenience. Cos I simply think the seller
is more at risk in case deal cancel suddenly upon meeting, or when either one reached agreed location.

That's just me.