Gear trading/selling/buying ain’t what it used to be…

[SleepyheadRooster]

Just venting. It used to be more fun. I’ve never made money. That was never the point. But I met a lot of nice people, tried fun gear, and had a pretty easy time of it for over a decade up to around 2019 or so.

I mostly stopped the gear game before the pandemic just due to other things in life keeping me busier, and I never really used classifieds much again other than a few things I needed.

I have some ads up on Craigslist and Facebook now trying to liquidate gear I no longer use. It’s slow going, which isn’t really a big deal. But I get a lot more weird, spammy responses than I used to get. Then today I got an absolutely livid response accusing me of selling stolen gear. (Obviously it’s not and I have original docs and photos of me with it more than 10 years ago.) I really can’t tell if the reply was serious or somebody’s idea of a joke.

I don’t reply to the weird ones. But it’s still no fun to receive them.

I’m just grumping. I used to enjoy swapping stuff with folks. It was always fair and mostly fun. Seems like it has changed. Once this batch of gear is gone, I think I’m done.

And in fact, I might not even last that long. The pawn shop won’t give me much value on the dollar, but I won’t have to deal with the public. There’s some value in that. I’m really considering it. Maybe the nicer stuff I’ll bring in to consign.

 

[ukudancer]

I still enjoy buying and selling guitar pedals. Even the last time I bought an electric guitar was fun.

We usually end up talking about music and what we play for a bit. Idk, it just depends on the person you're dealing with.

The other half we talk about why they're getting rid of gear (either downsizing or they bought something new).

 

[man0a]

I think that Facebook in general has gotten a lot more obnoxious and spammy in recent years. If you're selling music gear, I would use a music-specific marketplace like the one in this forum or Reverb.

 

[Wiggy]

Agree with all you said. The local CL has gotten crazy and I'm getting concerned with leaving myself open for who-knows-what. The down/up side is I'm dialing back on buying and enjoying more with what I already have.

Unfortunately, many are "do something with, someday" projects. They are piling up and becoming a burden. I hope to run across some face-to-interest to move a few along.

I get serious pangs from Marketplace (I'm still in dangerous waters there) but then I look around my room, pick one out, and practice for the next strum-along. The pang subsides... for a while.

 

[SleepyheadRooster]

Agree with all you said. The local CL has gotten crazy and I'm getting concerned with leaving myself open for who-knows-what. The down/up side is I'm dialing back on buying and enjoying more with what I already have.

Unfortunately, many are "do something with, someday" projects. They are piling up and becoming a burden. I hope to run across some face-to-interest to move a few along.

I get serious pangs from Marketplace (I'm still in dangerous waters there) but then I look around my room, pick one out, and practice for the next strum-along. The pang subsides... for a while.

I agree. The thing for me is that I stopped gigging and now I’m only teaching. So I’ve got nice stuff collecting dust that I’d like to sell. I price it fairly, probably on the low side.

To the other posts, I think Reverb is probably good. I’m just not interested in shipping things anymore.

I am careful with CL and FB, and I’ve made nice friends and even met new students through those deals. It just seems like now there’s a lot more garbage coming in. It has gotten weird. Plus it has slowed down, and while that’s not the end of the world it does make it less fun.

As another example, maybe a year ago I did want to buy a basic, fairly recent Kamaka concert off CL. It was a low price. But the seller wouldn’t share any contact info with me even after they had my name, phone, email, and website. I get that people like to be safe, but that was too much for me. I need a real person attached to gear if I’m handing over $xxx dollars in cash. Maybe that’s my quirk, but I know there is a lot of stolen gear out there. I’m not supporting the crooks. You’ve got all my info including the public face of my job. You’re taking my money. A name and number is too much to ask?

Then there is this guy that keeps emailing me telling me a speaker I’m selling is priced too low. So then buy it, pal!

I’m just turning into an old grouch!

 

[MusicalApprentice]

I've been thinking for some time that life's too short to deal with mean people. It's one of the reasons I keep enjoying this forum. The overall friendliness and sense of community is refreshing.

Hats off to the moderators and to the community.

 

[spongeuke]

The shipping cost has discouraged me from listing some things I wish to re-home. The $200 and + stuff is pretty much gone. I offered a double gig bag for a very low price but the shipping cost tripled the amount. I've given away some nice ukuleles to people I know. It is hard to give up some things like a large selection of vintage tuner parts and sets.

 

[necessaryrooster]

The scammers on every corner of the internet are so frustrating. Even selling on Reverb you'll get messages from people trying to get you to email them so they can scam you. Luckily, Reverb is pretty quick to catch and ban those people so usually by the time I'm seeing the message their account has already been disabled. The packing and shipping is off-putting as well. I have several guitars I'd like to sell and keep putting it off because I just don't want to deal with all the hassle. I'm also considering consignment even though it's a much bigger cut. Not that I'm looking to make money, but it'd be nice to recoup most of what I spent, ya know? Especially with how slowly the market is moving right now; some buyers are getting ridiculously good deals.

 

[rhiggie]

I agree it isn't what it used to be but between here, Reverb, FM and CL, I still am meeting up with new people who share common interests. Many times what starts as a buy or sell changes into a trade once you get to talking. I think some of the problem is we used to sell/trade entry to mid level equipment and there were more people in that category. Now we have graduated to higher end stuff and there's way fewer people looking there especially to trade with. I've often thought that the Uke Festivals held everywhere should have a couple hour session called "Flea Market" where you bring your cash, you bring your unused stuff and trade/sell. How fun would that be?

 

[mjh42]

I've really curtailed my buying, selling, trading. It's not fun anymore. Saves me money. In some arenas prices are too high, other times people offer low ball offers. As mentioned questionable and spammy/flakey communications. Issues with IRS rules and changing landscape. Paypay issues. Higher shipping costs. Perceived or real economics in a volatile landscape. With musical gear I've been going to MusicGoRound. They evaluate my gear and give me a check right then and there on the way home I stop by the bank and deposit it--sometimes I do trades with them. The end game was never to make money but to recoup some funds to be able to buy the next item to try out. If the item worked for me I'll keep it long term or forever. Sometimes I'll give or donate items--sometimes just easier. If the item didn't work I could sell or trade. I'll continue to do a little bit of buy, sell, trade but certainly not as much as I used to the negative hassles aren't worth my time and effort. And as said, I've saved some money which then can be applied to more careful purchases.

 

[engravertom]

Shipping costs and the time it takes to pack stuff up really hurts the return on investment.

I am thinking that I will go back to selling locally, trading in, and just not buying stuff because “it’s a great deal!”

It might not be a great deal on the back if I decide to move on.

I really want to just be happy with what I have, and not get distracted by other things so easily.

There have been times where I have done well selling things, too. But if I factor in time and stress, the times that I have done well aren’t as frequent as I thought.

Then again, getting something out of what I am not using is nice. Maybe donating more often is a better plan. I don’t regret giving musical instruments to people.

 

[badhabits]

it certainly isn't, and things are indeed slower... going back even further, remember when ebay used to be people selling their unwanted stuff? now it's full of stores/merchants selling anything and everything under the sun.

 

[chris667]

There's genuinely nothing I want, ukulele-wise. Not on the buying and selling platforms at least.

 

[ukudancer]

It's interesting you guys have had so many bad experiences. I mainly buy from CL & Facebook Marketplace and have had pretty good experiences with both.

I will say that buying gear has definitely slowed down a bit after lockdown when it seemed like everyone was buying a ton of gear.

Anyway, I still browse daily, but I'm not really tempted by anything as I'm happy with all the gear I'm playing these days...I might offload one of my ukes, but I'll do that locally when I do.