If you’re a lover of guitars just like me, there’s a high chance that you have never bothered asking yourself the question “where should I sell guitars online”? After all, why on Earth would you want to sell your beloved guitar when you have so much fun mastering the instrument?
It’s a very fair point – guitars are almost like family members to many of us, and throughout my 15 years of collectings guitars, I would never consider selling 90% of them. However, the 10% that I have sold has helped me earn a bit of money and has gotten close to a full-time profession at times, and this all occurred online.
Regardless of whether you’ve got a couple of old guitars that you’re looking to sell for some extra cash, or you can’t yet imagine yourself wanting to sell a guitar, you should still check out the following guide that I have prepared on where to sell guitars online. It’s a great way of making some extra cash, and you never know when that might be necessary. Read on to find out more!
Bottom Line Up Front: There are many online marketplaces where you can sell guitars, but you should choose one that has low fees, high activity, and excellent marketing features. However, the most important thing is to choose a platform such as Reverb that has excellent safety, security, and customer service features.
Where to sell guitars online
Why Would You Want to Sell A Guitar Online?
Many of you are probably still reading this, thinking that there is no way that you would ever sell your guitar. That’s fair enough – as I mentioned earlier, there are many guitars in my collection that I would simply never consider selling, they’re just too sentimental and I love to play them. However, even if it doesn’t currently seem like it, there are many reasons why you may want to sell a guitar. Let’s break some of them down.
Switching to a Different Instrument
The first reason for selling a guitar is a sad one but more common than you might think – selling a guitar to afford to switch to a different instrument. I have to say that I have never even considered doing this as I have been playing the instrument for years and can’t imagine myself ever stopping. However, it’s undeniable that guitars are not for everyone, but music certainly can be!
Whether you are considering selling your electric guitar for an acoustic guitar, selling your 12-string guitar for a 4-stringed bass guitar, or simply selling any guitar you own to pursue a new instrument such as the drums or violin, there is no shame in this. You gave it a good go and it wasn’t for you – now you’re moving on with your musical journey to try something else, you should be proud.
In some rare circumstances, you can even find opportunities online to trade one instrument for another with a willing participant. However, it’s going to be easier to simply sell the instrument online, and you are highly likely to make more money out of it than you would be to sell it at your local flea market!
Saving Up for an Upgrade.
Let’s be honest – if you are a guitarist and plan to keep it that way, that last reason for selling a guitar may have felt a little depressing. After all, this is a guitar website, and you are most likely wanting to sell your guitar only to open your finances up to better guitar options! This brings me to my next pointer – saving up for an upgraded guitar!
Whilst selling a guitar may seem incredibly sad initially if it means that you are going to be able to afford an upgrade, this is a very happy day! Whether you’re upgrading to an intermediate guitar from a
However, in my opinion, you should be very careful doing this. It can be tempting sometimes to go crazy when selling guitars, pawning your beloved first Telecaster just so that you can get closer to affording a Les Paul. Stop right there – I’ve had friends who have done this, and it rarely works out. Sure, they end up owning the guitar of their dreams, but at what price? They forever miss their first guitar, and in one instance, this guilt has even prevented a friend from continuing to play the instrument!
Only sell guitars that you don’t use anymore, or you might regret it later!
Starting a Business
Out of all the reasons to sell a guitar online, this final point is arguably the most common and most honorable – starting a business! Everybody dreams of finding a career that revolves around their passions, and if you’re a guitarist like me, what better way to make a living than to buy and sell guitars?!
This could consist of finding bargains at your local flea market and selling them for a higher price online, or buying faulty guitars and repairing them to be sold online at a profit. Whichever way you pick, there are a ton of bargains out there, and it would be rude not to recognize that this can be used to make some money!
Starting an online business is going to be tough, and it will require a lot more work than it would to simply sell a guitar as a one-off. You will need to think about your budget for buying, your revenue goals, your inventory, where to sell the instrument, and how to package it up. Trust me – I’ve been there and it’s going to take a lot of thought and commitment, but I believe you can achieve it.
Luckily for you, I’ve focussed the rest of this guide on what to look for in an online guitar sales platform, in addition to providing some of my favorites. Let’s take a look!
What to Look For in an Online Guitar Sales Platform
Whether you are looking to start your own guitar business or simply sell a guitar as a one-off, you are going to need to carefully consider where you take your business. Different online sales platforms have different benefits and disbenefits, so you’ll need to do your research. However, as a general rule, you can follow the following guidelines – read on to find out what they are!
Activity
The first thing that you should always look out for when searching for an online marketplace to sell your guitar is activity. What I mean by this is that you must make sure that the platform is active, with many different punters using it every day. Some platforms are exceptionally quiet these days and some are incredibly busy and trust me – the busier they are, the more likely you are to get a good sale!
A prime example that I use to illustrate this point is Craigslist. Craigslist is an incredibly popular platform in some locations, but it very much depends on that – location. In my home town, there have been about three ads created on Craiglist in the last year, and they are all for gardening services! If I were to attempt to sell my guitar on that platform, I would honestly be amazed if I ever heard a response.
Luckily, there are tons of options out there that are very active. I would recommend that you spend a week or two scoping out a platform, checking the feeds every day for new posts. If guitars are popping up on the platform regularly, this is a great sign!
Fees
The next thing that you should look out for on an online sales marketplace is fees. Many guitarists are under the illusion that selling a guitar online is completely free, heading to a website only to be bitterly disappointed. Sure, there are many free options out there, but these generally tend to be less reliable, particularly in terms of security.
Don’t panic though – selling fees are generally pretty cheap, with the majority of platforms only requesting a few bucks to list your guitar. You may even find that there is a free option on the platform, but I would generally recommend paying the fee as it will likely put your listing at a higher priority.
Avoid any platform that is asking for a significant cut of your sale (I’ve seen some marketplaces take 10% of the sale price which is insane!), and don’t be alarmed if you are asked to spend a few bucks to list your guitar. If it increases your chances of completing the sale and turning a profit, it’s worth it!
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Some people are fortunate enough to own rare and sought-after guitars that will rapidly be snatched up on online guitar sales marketplaces, but others are not so lucky. I’ve had a few strokes of luck, but perhaps 75% of the time that I have tried to sell a guitar online, I haven’t initially had much interest and have feared that I would never sell the instrument.
If this sounds like a problem you may encounter, you need to look out for a platform that provides advertisement features. Some of these allow you to pay a one-off fee to boost your listing and improve where it appears in search results, whilst others may allow you to customize your listing to make it stand out with fancy colors, themes, and headers.
As a general rule, I would recommend that you try selling a guitar without advertising it first – after all, listing it on a marketplace is advertising, and if it’s a good guitar, this should be enough. However, in many cases, you may be trying to sell a guitar that is listed on a website every single day, and in that event, you are going to want your listing to stand out through advertising.
Security
This last feature to look out for on online sales platforms is perhaps the most important – you should always look for a site that has appropriate security. I’m not talking about protecting yourself from viruses or anything like that, but scammers. It’s easy to think that anyone in the market for buying or selling guitars will be a good person – after all, we’re pretty cool for the most part. However, it’s a sad fact of life that scammers exist, so it’s your job to watch out for them.
Websites such as Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and Gumtree are notorious for scammers. They usually have no form of security protocol, and you will have to simply trust the person on the other end of the deal. This usually works out well, but you need to have your wits about you just in case. Other websites such as eBay, Amazon, and Reverb have escrow and feedback systems, putting measures in place to minimize the chance of scammers getting away with it.
I would always recommend going for one of these sites – this is your hard-earned money we are talking about!
My Top Recommendations for Where to Sell Guitars Online
Throughout this guide so far, we have covered a ton of information including why somebody may wish to sell their guitar, what to search for in a good sales platform, and what to avoid.
Now, to bring all of this information together, I think it’s time to provide some of my top recommendations. They’re all good for different reasons, so I’m sure that one of them will be the marketplace that works for you!
Facebook Marketplace
The first recommendation on my list is Facebook Marketplace, and it is undeniably one of the most active, easy, and commonly used platforms for selling guitars. Take a look at your feed now and you’re likely to see a ton of guitars without even searching for them.
There are no fees to list guitars although there are opportunities to pay for Facebook’s excellent advertising algorithms. I used to sell guitars on the platform all the time until things went very wrong for me.
Unfortunately, Facebook Marketplace has no particular security protocol in check outside of friendly advice, and I learned this the hard way. One day I met up with a punter in person to exchange a guitar of mine for some cash, and I was met by several thugs who snatched the guitar, threatened to beat me up, and didn’t pay me. Luckily for me, it was only a cheap £50 deal and it certainly wasn’t worth risking my health over, but it scared me off the platform for good.
If you choose to use it (or any other social platform such as Craigslist or Gumtree), I suggest that you do so with caution.
Pros
- Extremely active
- Free to list any item
- Excellent options for advertisement
Cons
- The cash-in-hand nature of the platform and the lack of security or escrow features means deals should be made with caution
eBay
The next recommendation on my list is none other than eBay, a sales marketplace that I used to death when I was younger. It was the first sales platform of its kind back in the day and it was incredibly active, and I made many purchases and sales related to video games, clothing, and guitars.
This platform has it all – there are tons of options to market your product, including reserve prices, ‘buy now’ options… the list goes on, there is a feature for every scenario. However, it must be said that whilst these features are useful, they all cost money and this starts to rack up after a while.
Whilst the fees can be a bit of a pain, eBay has an incredibly complex feedback system and a secure payment system, and this makes it stand out significantly. As long as you’re dealing with someone with a high feedback rating, you can generally guarantee that you are not going to get stung. eBay is also a huge corporation that deals with problems daily, so they offer various insurance policies to ensure that you are protected in the event of a scam.
It’s just a shame that eBay isn’t as active as it used to be because I’d still be using it for every sale otherwise.
Pros
- Excellent customer service and security features
- Tons of different marketing tools for every scenario
- Easy to use interface
Cons
- Almost every feature comes at the cost of fees, including listing products
- Not as active as it used to be
Reverb
My last recommendation on this guide to where to sell guitars online is my favorite on the list – Reverb. No, I’m not talking about the guitar effect, but the online marketplace. Reverb is the newest option on this list, presenting a modern solution to selling items online. The best thing of all is that it is specifically for buying and selling music equipment, which means you always know that you are reaching the right audience.
In addition to specializing in music products, there are a ton of features that I love about Reverb. Their customer support is fantastic which I have benefitted from during many confusing transactions, you can contact them any time. There are also auctioning features like on eBay, fixed-price listings like on Amazon, and all sorts of other tools.
My one qualm with this platform is the fees – it used to be one of the cheapest options out there, but the company recently increased its commission fee from 3.5% to 5%, which is even higher than eBay. This hasn’t been a big enough problem for me to look elsewhere as the features and service is worth the cost, but I sincerely hope that they don’t raise that fee any higher!
Pros
- Specifically designed for buying and selling music equipment
- Excellent customer service
- Tons of features for marketing
- Very active these days
Cons
- The fees are pretty expensive and are steadily increasing
FAQ
I hope that you have learned a lot from reading this guide on where to sell guitars online! We’ve covered a ton of information ranging from what to look for in a marketplace, what to avoid, and some top websites to look out for. Now, let’s round things off with a quick FAQ!
Question: Is It Better To Sell Guitars Online or Offline?
Answer: These days, you are going to make much more money selling your guitars online than you would at a local flea market or second-hand shop, and it will be a lot easier too.
Question: What Should You Look For In An Online Guitar Marketplace?
Answer: A good online guitar marketplace should be active, charge minimal fees, provide customizable features for marketing, and provide some form of security layer or escrow system.
Question: What Online Platform Charges The Lowest Fees for Selling Guitars?
Answer: Free online marketplaces such as Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist are the cheapest options for selling guitars, but they come at the cost of reduced security.
Question: Where Is The Best Place To Sell Guitars Online?
Answer: Different people prefer different online marketplaces due to varying features, but Reverb is generally considered to be the best for selling guitars as it is exclusively for the sale of musical equipment.
Final Thoughts
Overall, if you’re worried about running out of options for selling your guitar online, trust me – you’re not going to have to worry about that. There are tons of options out there and out of every guitar I have listed for sale online, I have sold all of them – no matter the platform.
However, it’s undeniable that some are better than others, and for me, I have resorted to using Reverb for almost every sale simply because it is so active, it’s specialized in music, and the customer service and security are exceptional. It’s a shame that options such as Facebook marketplace aren’t more secure and safe to use though, as I used to enjoy selling on them.
I wish you the best on your guitar selling journey, regardless of why you are doing it. However, out of all the reasons to sell a guitar, I hope that you are doing it to set up a guitar buying and selling business. Believe me, there is nothing more fulfilling than making a living from something that you are passionate about. Good luck!
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