Selling gear post-Reverb

[Errant Tiger]

So it seems like a lot of people are planning on jumping ship from Reverb once the fee hike kicks in. I get that for makers, Bigcartel is a pretty good option, but what about those of us who just like to sell some gear every now and then? What are people planning on using? I'm aware of Soundlot (which is apparently no longer supported), eBay, the Sweetwater used site, and our very own B/S/T (which for some reason I have had barely any luck on)... are there any other options? I'm thinking particularly of US-centric stuff, but anyone else, feel free to chime in...

[Jwar]

What is it going up to? I haven't even paid attention. That's super fucking annoying but probably because so many people on Reverb have posts listed for like a year or two. Wonder why? Could their prices suck ass? Maybe Reverb is trying to make up for that lost space where they aren't earning because of fuck wad re-sellers? It's probably all greed based, but it's nice to think that could be the reason.

[Errant Tiger]

What is it going up to? I haven't even paid attention. That's super fucking annoying but probably because so many people on Reverb have posts listed for like a year or two. Wonder why? Could their prices suck ass? Maybe Reverb is trying to make up for that lost space where they aren't earning because of fuck wad re-sellers? It's probably all greed based, but it's nice to think that could be the reason.

5%, from 3.5%. It's all Etsy's fault. Maybe not a big deal for someone like me who's just trying to sell used gear, but apparently tough for builder/sellers. At least, that's what I gather from Instagram.

[Jwar]

I'm ok with 5%. That's not that big of a jump.

[cantremember]

I think they way they went about raising the fee percentage is what rubs people the wrong way. Starting out by bragging about how well the company is doing and by raising fees its doing us all a favor was a pretty dick move. Especially during this weird time where a lot of people are out of work or maybe even make a living off of selling stuff on reverb.

Regarding a new platform to sell used gear, I've seen a few people mention having good success on facebook gear groups or Instagram. I haven't really sold anything in the BST here but I'll definitely be giving it a shot now that reverb isn't really an option (for me at least).

[DOSS BS-1]

Reverb is one company that has actually done really well during the quarantine. From the Rolling Stone article in late April:

Instrument/gear seller Reverb is seeing success during this period with both new and used musical instruments — with buyers and sellers that range from large brands and local music shops to individual players and famous artists. “We are seeing extraordinarily high order volumes, outpacing even the amount of orders we see during the busy holiday season,” says Jim Tuerk, the company’s director of business development. “Several of the music shops that sell gear on Reverb have even told us that March was one of their best months ever… Compared to this time last year, searches for music gear are up nearly 50%, with several categories seeing search spikes of 100% or more when compared to this time last year.”

Meanwhile, musicians have been particularly screwed by the quarantine. Many have to sell their gear just to pay bills and survive.

Now Reverb is upping their fees and saying that the money will be used for "increasing our product team focused on creating and enhancing seller tools and services to increase the visibility of your shop and inventory."

Holy shit. Reverb is LITERALLY TELLING MUSICIANS THAT THEY WILL BE MAKING LESS MONEY BUT GETTING MORE EXPOSURE.

I feel like I've heard this excuse before.....

[retinal orbita]

I’ve been dropping my stuff off at my local shop. I bet I pay more in fees and probably get less bang for my buck but they deal with it and then just send me cash when it’s done. I can’t be arsed to deal with Craigslist or Reverb any more for selling. Buying? I still look but it’s pretty grim out there, just a lot of flippers and retail stores selling for lots of money.

I think if Reverb was able to actually do more for sellers, like fully automate shipping costs - especially for international buyers - sellers would do better. I was eyeballing a pedal except the shipping to Canada was $70! It wasn’t until I read the fine print that I realized he just put an arbitrary amount and asked buyers to message for a quote. Turns out it would have been.... $20!! But who wants to get stuck with a shipping overage?

[tremolo3]

I use Facebook groups because no shipping/taxes involved, and I trust people.

Reverb.com disabled my account last year because I refused to pay like $80 from my last sale, it was some new tax that I wasn't aware of so I unlinked my CC and said goodbye to them.

[jirodreamsofdank]

Bigcartel and Shopify and others charge a monthly fee. No such thing as a free lunch to get someone else to handle the back end of your e-commerce site.

[coupleonapkins]

The Reverb fee bump was planned pre-COVID/post-Etsy buyout, so I suppose it was already an unstoppable force, no matter what.

Reverb will always be a go-to for many, however, since it's already established itself in the niche that most others don't excel in - not necessarily a great thing, but the pricing structure that will result will reflect that. What has been happening for me lately is purchasing utility gear (cables, jacks, etc.) from smaller stores with a Reverb presence, ultimately just using their non-Reverb standalone site to complete the transaction. Sure, it might take an extra email or a phone call depending on the place, but it's worth it in the long run to remove Reverb (or Amazon or eBay) from the equation as much as possible, as well as squeaking out of seller fees and sometimes less shipping, too.

I'm already used to eBay's hi-chunk rate, though Reverb doing the shell game with your earnings is a little loopy, especially since a bank account is required (but really, that should be a threshold thing, only for 5K & up, or something to let the bloozies swap their genuine Les Paul hardware with buyer protection).

If your gear has been for sale for longer than 3 months unsold posted anywhere, you should probably rethink your pricing strategy! But I've always tried to sell things to move them fast and out of my life, primarily because when I do money and time is more important, not getting a return on my initial investment (which is totally possible, but truly all gear should be used to create music, hopefully, and not just accumulate/shift more gear and/or debt from person to person).

Whatever!

No such thing as a free lunch to get someone else to handle the back end of your e-commerce site.

putitonmytombstone.gif

[echorec]

Fuck Reverb. I'm not even going to get into all their bullshit right now. It's taken less than 7 years for them to become worse than eBay. The people behind Reverb lack accountability, sincerity, and anything vaguely resembling competence.

I have to laugh at this 1.5% increase. Behind the curtains, this isn't even a 1/100 on the outrage scale. The shit they have done over the past few months is far worse than a 1.5 fee increase.

Reverb blocks people from leaving negative feedback against fraudulent sellers. They are covering up crimes. And you guys are mad about 1.5%?

You can't steal $300 from someone and then appear before a judge and have it expunged from your record, thanks to a phony apology. Reverb is a joke, and that's not going to change.

[Jwar]

I still am waiting to buy Fulltone pedals on the cheap so I can circuit bend them and paint penises on them. I thought Reverb would be the place. Alas, it is not.

[jirodreamsofdank]

I was hoping to find a cheap JHS Colour Box 2 so I could do basically that but no they're sold out and selling for more than retail. Fuck that shit, I'm not abandoning all my principles. I'm open to forgetting one or two here and there but not all of them.

So I'm just gonna learn to solder and build my OWN Neve-esque 500 series mic pre. At some point. Off in the future.

[Jwar]

Ohhh I like the sound of building a Neve-esque anything. What kind of thoughts did you have? Were you designing it yourself or using a PCB??

[cantremember]

I still am waiting to buy Fulltone pedals on the cheap so I can circuit bend them and paint penises on them. I thought Reverb would be the place. Alas, it is not.

I think they decided to ban second hand sales of these on the site if I remember correctly.