Advice for Selling Expensive Guitar

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by guitar george

Craigslist can be a very safe place if you are the seller. To finalize any deal, arrange to meet at the buyers bank and have the teller give you the money and then give the buyer the guitar. If you are concerned about carrying a lot of cash ask the teller to issue a bank draft, payable to you, to deposit in your own account. This works and it is safe.

I agree that at least 2 or 3 pictures would help to find a buyer. Even if scammers use your photos to try to "sell" the guitar you would not be affected and only the people who don't follow my first suggestion, would be scammed.

No bank teller that I know is going to give money or a bank draft to a "third party". They are legally obligated to do transactions with bank members only, and no bank manager is going to appreciate an employee passing out money to anyone other than the account holder.

It ain't gonna happen.

[guitar george]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

No bank teller that I know is going to give money or a bank draft to a "third party". They are legally obligated to do transactions with bank members only, and no bank manager is going to appreciate an employee passing out money to anyone other than the account holder.

It ain't gonna happen.

When you use this method the buyer/account holder is the person talking to the teller and withdrawing the money. The buyer then gives the money to the seller who is standing nearby in the bank. The seller then gives the buyer the guitar while still in the bank. Works for me.

[Dwight]

I've been paring down my collection on Facebook exclusively. I have made dozens of new friends and some repeat buyers. The ads are under my real name, I post pictures and the price. I tell people we can meet at a bank or PD but no one has ever requested that (one wanted to meet at Starbucks).

When I sold three cars last year I emailed a copy of my license and requested the same and closed with cash in the bank. I never had to touch the cash so zero risk of nefarious activity.

[Moldstar]

this thread, oh my gosh.

[ZeroFretWear]

Originally Posted by Moldstar

this thread, oh my gosh.

Yes, I just looked at more of the comments. I think some people just read the title of the thread and immediately post their opinion without even reading the first post, much less anything else that has been said.

I did glean some helpful advice to my actual question.
I might just go the consignment route.
Otherwise, I may just post a teaser photo and say that additional photos will be sent only by email. That seems like a fair compromise; weed out the looky-loos but also provide something to actual buyers. And the bad actors will also only have a single photo to use in their fake listings, which isn't ideal for them.

Also, from what I can see, the ones who complain about needing copious amounts of photos without contacting the seller are constantly online and appear to be more interested in getting an easy visual fix rather than actually buying anything, especially a high end guitar like mine. So I won't be losing anything if they "bypass" my listings.

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by ZeroFretWear

Speaking hypothetically (this isn't the guitar I have, but it's of similar type and value). If you saw a listing for say a Martin D-28 CW w/ Brazilian Rosewood, and you both had the money and real interest in buying it, you wouldn't reach out to the seller to ask for photos? That seems absurd to me.

I generally will not unless it's someone I already know. To me, it shows either a real lack of motivation to sell it or someone with no desire to learn how to do it. With the latter, I worry the description will not be very detailed either missing many condition items. Same goes for listings with terrible photos.

I've never considered someone doing it under the guise of safety. That doesn't make much sense to me since there are tons of listings out there with photos of guitars way more valuable than you're talking about. 15k isn't inexpensive but I can find 1000 listings on Reverb for guitars worth more than that.

[Osage]

Originally Posted by UncleJesse

I generally will not unless it's someone I already know. To me, it shows either a real lack of motivation to sell it or someone with no desire to learn how to do it. With the latter, I worry the description will not be very detailed either missing many condition items. Same goes for listings with terrible photos.

I've never considered someone doing it under the guise of safety. That doesn't make much sense to me since there are tons of listings out there with photos of guitars way more valuable than you're talking about. 15k isn't inexpensive but I can find 1000 listings on Reverb for guitars worth more than that.

Could you imagine a real estate listing without photos? How about a car listing? How about shoes or plates or a dress or antiques? Literally everything sold online has photos and has for decades. The seller either doesn't want to sell his guitar or doesn't realize what decade it is. No one under the age of like 45 would have ever seen online for sale listings of anything without photos.

[ZeroFretWear]

Originally Posted by Osage

Could you imagine a real estate listing without photos?

Actually, if you ever shopped for a house, you'd know that sites like Redfin do not show photos to just anyone; they require you to have an account and meet criteria before viewing the photos. And the photos are immediately deleted from the website after the house is sold.
So if you were familiar with the house selling and buying process, I think you would realize that your example undermines your point.

[ZeroFretWear]

Originally Posted by UncleJesse

I generally will not unless it's someone I already know. To me, it shows either a real lack of motivation to sell it or someone with no desire to learn how to do it. With the latter, I worry the description will not be very detailed either missing many condition items. Same goes for listings with terrible photos.

I've never considered someone doing it under the guise of safety. That doesn't make much sense to me since there are tons of listings out there with photos of guitars way more valuable than you're talking about. 15k isn't inexpensive but I can find 1000 listings on Reverb for guitars worth more than that.

I respect the points you're making. I would just ask: what if you reached out to the seller and received 30 high res photos of everything you'd want to see about the guitar and the seller was knowledgeable and responsive in communication. You'd still stick to your assumptions?

[rokdog49]

I’m just pleased I don’t own a guitar that expensive and were trying to sell it.

[ZeroFretWear]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

I’m just pleased I don’t own a guitar that expensive and were trying to sell it.

LOL, this is true. Something I never would have accepted in my youth, but the Brooklyn bard was right: Mo Money, Mo Problems...

[Osage]

Originally Posted by ZeroFretWear

I respect the points you're making. I would just ask: what if you reached out to the seller and received 30 high res photos of everything you'd want to see about the guitar and the seller was knowledgeable and responsive in communication. You'd still stick to your assumptions?

I would literally never bother to reach out to a seller who can't be bothered to post pics. I'd either think they were maybe old and confused or just some scammer. Either way, I wouldn't want to deal with them. I'm someone who buys and sells a lot of guitars and honestly, if you can't post pics, I assume you aren't serious. It's been the case literally every time I've tried contacting someone and so I stopped doing it. I'm not alone in this. I'm serious when I say that basically no one under 45 has ever bought online without pics and essentially everything sold online has pictures and has for decades. Back in the days of The Want Advertiser etc.. I was happy to call without pics but that was literally in the last century!

I just did a quick Craigslist search of my area. There are 148 items that show up when I search for "guitar". All but one has a pic.

[Gress]

Originally Posted by ZeroFretWear

Actually, if you ever shopped for a house, you'd know that sites like Redfin do not show photos to just anyone; they require you to have an account and meet criteria before viewing the photos. And the photos are immediately deleted from the website after the house is sold.
So if you were familiar with the house selling and buying process, I think you would realize that your example undermines your point.

Everything you stated is incorrect. I feel sorry for you. Wish you making your decision at some point along this long and bumpy process you struggling with.

[Osage]

Originally Posted by ZeroFretWear

Actually, if you ever shopped for a house, you'd know that sites like Redfin do not show photos to just anyone; they require you to have an account and meet criteria before viewing the photos. And the photos are immediately deleted from the website after the house is sold.
So if you were familiar with the house selling and buying process, I think you would realize that your example undermines your point.

What are you talking about? I've never been to Redfin in my life but just went. Every single listing in my area has tons of great photos. You can enlarge them, you can zoom in, etc.... There was absolutely no criteria I had to meet before viewing. That would be insane! I couldn't imagine a real estate site not having easy photos for you to click on.

I also pulled up all the sold listings in my area and they too have tons of great photos.

[TheGITM]

There is an old saying that still comes in handy now and then:

"Don't feed the trolls."

Carry on... and all the best to those who are buying and selling guitars... there are always deals to be had out there! Good luck and happy commerce!