Can any of you give me some pointers for selling a guitar on ebay? I am on my third round now with my LTD, I always have several watchers, but never a bid, and I am afraid that before this is over, I am going to owe ebay a big chunk of money. This is the guitar that will be the bulk of my silhouette funding, so I'd like to sell it without losing a lot to ebay. Any thought? Thanks in advance.
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Start at 0.99 cents and no reserve. Good quality pictures are a must. I host all my pictures with photobucket which means every item I list only costs me 55 cents The big thing with ebay is to keep the price fair. You have to realize that it is used gear and you are not going to get what you payed for it.
BigTony
Well-known member
Presentation is everything.
As Larry said, starting with a very low price attracts more people to watching, and having a little bid. There is no point in starting the price too high, we all like a bargain.
The other thing you can do, is to place it with a BIN price, but allow people to submit offers.
Presentation is everything.
Oh, and sell the dream. What you may consider to be a good guitar, to someone else, will be an absolutely amazing guitar, so sell it that way. Remember, everything is objective. So, again, sell the dream!
Presentation is everything.
And finally, presentation is everything.
edit
Do some research on the completed listings. Have a look to see what the market is like on that guitar at the moment, that is possibly why you have 4 watcher's, there appears to be about 4 dave mustaine guitars on there at the moment. Sometimes, its better to hold on for a while.
As Larry said, starting with a very low price attracts more people to watching, and having a little bid. There is no point in starting the price too high, we all like a bargain.
The other thing you can do, is to place it with a BIN price, but allow people to submit offers.
Presentation is everything.
Oh, and sell the dream. What you may consider to be a good guitar, to someone else, will be an absolutely amazing guitar, so sell it that way. Remember, everything is objective. So, again, sell the dream!
Presentation is everything.
And finally, presentation is everything.
edit
Do some research on the completed listings. Have a look to see what the market is like on that guitar at the moment, that is possibly why you have 4 watcher's, there appears to be about 4 dave mustaine guitars on there at the moment. Sometimes, its better to hold on for a while.
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BigTony
Well-known member
Is it the one with the $650 BIN?
Sure you mean the past auctions, I wouldn't see why not it's not a live auction anymore.
BigTony said it 3 times and it can't be said enough, Presentation is everything, the better the information is the better you chances are at selling it.
Having a BIN helps, I had 11 watchers on the first round with my BD Silo and 9 on the last one, but not 1 bid. You have to make this thing sound like it was gods guitar and he jammed it Hendrix on it. Hahahahaha, you get the point.
Take really good pictures and have a lot of them. I usually post the one free and then refer people to my photobucket account.
People are fickle, if there are other guitars like yours for a better price your not going to sell yours. Again, everyones always looking for a deal. You might have to lower your price. If you were searching the Bay, would you buy or even look at what you are selling. We all want a mint for our stuff, but unless your got something super rare or limited, your not going to get top dollar unless that's exactly what someone wants.
One thing I've noticed is pay attention to when your auction ends, if it ends during the daytime, you might not get as many bidders. You'll get the bulk of your bidders in the last few hours of the auction.
It's a gamble, sometimes it pays off and others it doesn't. Remember post it on the forum and on Craigslist, because you never know who might be looking for what.
Good luck, Glenn |B)
BigTony said it 3 times and it can't be said enough, Presentation is everything, the better the information is the better you chances are at selling it.
Having a BIN helps, I had 11 watchers on the first round with my BD Silo and 9 on the last one, but not 1 bid. You have to make this thing sound like it was gods guitar and he jammed it Hendrix on it. Hahahahaha, you get the point.
Take really good pictures and have a lot of them. I usually post the one free and then refer people to my photobucket account.
People are fickle, if there are other guitars like yours for a better price your not going to sell yours. Again, everyones always looking for a deal. You might have to lower your price. If you were searching the Bay, would you buy or even look at what you are selling. We all want a mint for our stuff, but unless your got something super rare or limited, your not going to get top dollar unless that's exactly what someone wants.
One thing I've noticed is pay attention to when your auction ends, if it ends during the daytime, you might not get as many bidders. You'll get the bulk of your bidders in the last few hours of the auction.
It's a gamble, sometimes it pays off and others it doesn't. Remember post it on the forum and on Craigslist, because you never know who might be looking for what.
Good luck, Glenn |B)
eBay: ESP--LTD Axxion - Mustaine Megadeth 20th anniversary 
(item 230122623119 end time May-01-07 09:33:22 PDT)
There you go. Hope I am not breaking any rules
(item 230122623119 end time May-01-07 09:33:22 PDT)There you go. Hope I am not breaking any rules
BigTony
Well-known member
I think you have big problems with that guitar mate, it just doesn't seem to sell. I have no idea, but even with the best presentation ya gonna have problems.
The presentation is pretty bad btw. Take a look how some of the guys here post pics of their guitars, they love em, and it shows. You need a good camera and some wonder wipes on that thing.
My advice would be to get some good shots of it, and try to swap it for something you can sell. I have checked the completed listings and people aint buyin that guitar.
There is a chap selling his, with an amp, with a starting price of $400, but again, no bids. I think ya gonna have to either keep it, or try and swap it locally. Or even try putting it as a part-ex for something else.
Ebay does not seem to be the place for it at the moment I am afraid.
The presentation is pretty bad btw. Take a look how some of the guys here post pics of their guitars, they love em, and it shows. You need a good camera and some wonder wipes
on that thing.My advice would be to get some good shots of it, and try to swap it for something you can sell. I have checked the completed listings and people aint buyin that guitar.
There is a chap selling his, with an amp, with a starting price of $400, but again, no bids. I think ya gonna have to either keep it, or try and swap it locally. Or even try putting it as a part-ex for something else.
Ebay does not seem to be the place for it at the moment I am afraid.
Dude, I agree with BigTony on this one, you need way better pictures. I haven't done any search on this type of guitar, but if there are others and they are listing cheaper than yours you aren't going to sell it. The pictures really need to jump out, take lots, the more the better.
Find some writeups about the guitar on the web and link them out in the body, there must be some reviews on HC or NAMM out there.
Here's a link to my BD auction that I had.
eBay: Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette Guitar in Blue Dawn (item 230115717309 end time Apr-15-07 05:28:36 PDT)
Hope this helps, Glenn |B)
Find some writeups about the guitar on the web and link them out in the body, there must be some reviews on HC or NAMM out there.
Here's a link to my BD auction that I had.
eBay: Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette Guitar in Blue Dawn (item 230115717309 end time Apr-15-07 05:28:36 PDT)
Hope this helps, Glenn |B)
jagged
Well-known member
I think one thing you can try is to separate the information into a list or something. Reading a paragraph that gives me all the information I need is more troublesome for me. Say I read it... but then forgot something, then I have to read the whole paragraph again to figure out what I forgot. With a list, I can see everything quickly.
Better pictures are a must.... the pictures you have look like web cam pics... maybe try and get your hands on a digital camera to take some high quality shots in there
Better pictures are a must.... the pictures you have look like web cam pics... maybe try and get your hands on a digital camera to take some high quality shots in there
Yeah. Nice, big, sharp pics and lots of them. People don't always expect minty mint gear off of ebay, but they do expect to know exactly what they are bidding on. If there are any flaws, show them! People will trust you much more if they believe that the item is being presented accurately and thoroughly. And trust is a *huge* determiner in attracting bids - nobody wants to get ripped off.
Use some paragraph breaks, too! Lists are good, as well. I don't usually even bother to read someone's listing if they cram all that information into one paragraph - I'm a busy guy with a short attention span! Remember, your potential high bidder could have serious ADD! If you suck at html, you can write up and format the text of your auction in a word processing program (I use OpenOffice) and save it as HTML. Most common formatting such as paragraph breaks, bold text, font size, lists, etc. should convert fine but TEST the document first.
A BIN auction is okay if you know exactly what the item will likely go for. If you don't know what it will go for, you have to accept that it will sell for whatever the going market rate is, adjusting for the quality of your auction. *That* is why you should start at .99c. People will definitely bid on it then, and in my experience tracking bidding history, people who start bidding on an item, keep bidding on an item. This can actually INCREASE your final selling price.
Use some paragraph breaks, too! Lists are good, as well. I don't usually even bother to read someone's listing if they cram all that information into one paragraph - I'm a busy guy with a short attention span! Remember, your potential high bidder could have serious ADD!
If you suck at html, you can write up and format the text of your auction in a word processing program (I use OpenOffice) and save it as HTML. Most common formatting such as paragraph breaks, bold text, font size, lists, etc. should convert fine but TEST the document first. A BIN auction is okay if you know exactly what the item will likely go for. If you don't know what it will go for, you have to accept that it will sell for whatever the going market rate is, adjusting for the quality of your auction. *That* is why you should start at .99c. People will definitely bid on it then, and in my experience tracking bidding history, people who start bidding on an item, keep bidding on an item. This can actually INCREASE your final selling price.
silverburst
Well-known member
Buy it now is pretty effective if you know what an item is worth. There are alot of people who don't want to watch an auction for 7 days, waiting for it to end. Plus some folks put ridiculously low BINs on items and you can get some real steals.
