Selling guitars in Europe

[Dave JH]

I moved back to the EU four years ago from Canada, near the US border with Washington.

If I wanted to sell a guitar it would be gone on 1 to 3 weeks on average. Either via a guitar forum o local Craigslist. Here in Europe, IÂ’ve noticed guitars from EU sellers are just sitting in the buy and sell sections of guitar forums for month after month unsold with hardly a reply or comment on the ad. Zero interest from anyone.

For the Europeans here, why do you think that is? Less disposable income? Less interest in guitars? WhatÂ’s driving the difference in the markets between EU and North America?

[Slimt]

Restrictions on certain guitars . Plus the shipping costs.

[burnbritney]

Dave, whereabouts are you located? Here in Germany, I've noticed a severe slowdown in used guitar sales. I've had two sit without serious interest for 3 months now and it all started with the war in Ukraine from what I can see. Additionally, let's not forget it's the summertime where people will spend a lot of their disposable income on vacations of 3 years of being unable to travel. Others I am sure are playing it safe given the rise in inflation but I don't think there is a lack of interest in guitars per se.

[tbeltrans]

Years ago when I consigned my 1970s Guild Artist Award archtop, the buyer was in Norway. Then, more recently, a local shop whose owner I know had a 1995 Gibson Citation archtop for sale and had interested buyers from Europe and Japan. I bought it, but if I hadn't it would have gone to one of those two areas.

It does seem to me that at least the archtop market for jazz players isn't standing still in Europe. How it compares to the US, I have no idea, but I do know that a few people I know around my area that routinely sell higher end archtops, seem to be able to sell to Europe. But, then, we are talking about a very niche market and not a lot of guitars, so this is very different from a more generalized guitar market, more like selling anything else very niche and high end.

Tony

[brianlcox]

I've been buying and selling guitars out of Switzerland for the past 4 or 5 years and have always had little difficulty selling things when priced correctly. Most of my sales went to Germany or the UK. I also feel that the market is a bit slow right now, and I'm mostly getting (bad) trade offers for the guitars I am selling at the moment. I think that part of this might be that used prices were really high during covid, but demand has since slowed down a little (perhaps the war in Ukraine, the weak economy, and the weak Euro), but sellers aren't really ready to sell guitars for the prices that were common 2-3 years ago. The used prices that I see on online platforms at the moment are 20-30% higher than a couple years ago. I guess that if I were to list my guitars at prices 20-30% lower they would move quick enough, but I'm not quite that desperate for a sale at the moment.

I also know from personal communication from TFOA that they are overstocked right now and they asked me to wait a few months before putting any guitars on commission with them, as they had no space!

[studio1nz]

As a new store / dealer in New Zealand specialising in high end used / vintage ; I have been buying out of the states but the USD is killing me.

Where would I find classifieds for private sales in Europe ?

Thx, Garrick

[Robin, Wales]

The US members here on AGF probably are not feeling the effects of the war in Ukraine as much as we are in Europe. I think that many of us over here are hunkered down for the long haul. It looks like it is going to be 3x more expensive to heat ourselves this winter in the UK compared to last winter. And the energy price spike is feeding into everything. Hence discretionary spends like buying guitars will be taking a bit of a hit.

Also, in terms of the guitar trade, the relative strength of the USD just at the moment has pushed up the price of imports, because the guitar trade from both the US and China into the UK / EU use the USD.

I would expect that things will settle again, but probably not until the spring.

[Brucebubs]

US made guitars are well priced if you're in America but when you factor in currency exchange rates, shipping costs plus Import Duty and Sales Tax .. importing a guitar can be expensive.