Anyone tried selling gear to guitar center?

[gatorbrit]

I was wondering whether anyone had tried selling gear to Guitar center or sam ash? I know that they buy used gear - but my guess is that they'll offer a terrible price.

 

[Eric]

I asked them about it once. I don't remember the specifics, but yeah, it was not a great price price. I think it's like a trade-in with cars -- you really only do it if you're in a hurry or willing to pay money to avoid the hassle of selling on your own.

I might be pulling this out of my butt, but I think it was something like 40% below the street value of the item. So if you have a $100 pedal that can be had for $50-75 used, they'd probably give you $30-45 for it.

Really though, I'd recommend just asking them what their policy is. It's probably not as bad as I say it is, otherwise why would they have as much used stuff as they do?

 

[gatorbrit]

Good point - they do seem to have a lot of used stuff there. I guess I lug my amph up there and have them take a look. Selling on Craigslist is a PITA.

 

[Eric]

Good point - they do seem to have a lot of used stuff there. I guess I lug my amph up there and have them take a look. Selling on Craigslist is a PITA.

Well, you could just call and ask how they figure out a price. That would give you at least some idea. I'm sure you could do the math to ballpark what your amp would fetch from them.

CL is mildly annoying to me. After buying and selling a bunch of stuff from people on there, I feel like I've become fairly adept at avoiding the flakes and figuring out how to make it work. If you decide to use craigslist (which IMO you should), try to be patient. Your item will probably sell, but it has to be the right time. I recently sold a guitar on there that I've been advertising for eons. I listed it at anywhere from $200-300, and probably would have taken less. In the end, I sold it to a guy who was happy to have it for $240.

 

[marnold]

I sold a couple of guitars there to buy my DK2M. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten more if I had sold them outright. The problem is that with my Fender Showmaster, everybody knew that MF had sold them for $250 (original list was $899) so the best offer I had ever gotten for it is about what GC offered. My Floyd Rose Discovery had also been blown out at MF plus it needed special Speedloader strings. NOBODY wanted it. It was still hanging at GC last time I was in there--after about 1.5 years. I just wish I would have yanked out the pickups I put in it and put the originals back in. I probably would have gotten the same amount of money for it.

So, on the whole, I would have liked to have gotten more money for them than I did. To their credit, they didn't have either one marked up a huge amount when they went on sale. They've got to make money on the deal or they won't do it. If I think about it as if I paid full sale price for my DK2M, I got a screaming deal. Since my DK2M was being blown out at the time, not so much. I don't feel I got ripped off. The amount I could have gotten extra is probably outweighed by the fact that I didn't have to go through the pain of selling them myself.

 

[riverrick]

I wanted to trade in my 315CE Taylor which I paid $1800. They offered $600. Needless to say I just walked away. Better to sell private party I'm guessing.

 

[Katastrophe]

And that's why GC has such good prices on used gear... They don't pay much for it from the get-go.

You'll get a higher price on CL or Ebay, methinks.

 

[Tig]

I sold my Ibanez bass at one a few years ago and got a better deal than from the pawn shop pirates, but it still wasn't anything to brag about.
I wish I still had it, but it was an emergency.

 

[progrmr]

The GC here gives you 50% trade based on what they think they can sell the gear for. So if they're gonna put your used guitar up at $250, they'll give you $125 in trade.

Sucks but I've done it - selling on CL can be a real PITA. Responding to "I'll give $200 for that guitar you have listed at $500" emails for weeks gets old real quick. I'll trade it in at GC before I give some CL low-baller lol!

 

[MAXIFUNK]

THEY make sure the profit is in it for them period.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

No, but i have purchased used there.

 

[ZMAN]

My local guy gives me 85% of what he would put it on the floor for. That can sometimes work out fo a decent price. It can sometimes get you about 60% of the new price.
It does hurt when guitars have been blown out by some of the online dealers. I paid 599 for a Fender Esprit double cut and they were being blown out a few months later for 299 at MF. I would rather keep it than give it up for 200 bucks.
I put it up for sale on the local buy and sell in Canada and the only reply I got was from a guy in California. In Canada we have a 13% tax. So if you trade an item the trade amount comes off the best deal you can make, and will save you 13% of that value in taxes. So it can be a pretty good deal. You might get a little more on private sale but you have the hassle of selling it.

 

[gatorbrit]

Well I just sold my Crate V50 at GC for $150. I think that was a pretty good deal. I also negotiated some $$ off some other gear. SamAsh would only give me $100 for it.

 

[Eric]

That's not a bad price. I got $200 for mine on CL, but it took a little bit of time.

 

[Retro Hound]

They offered me $50 for my G-DEC. I could probably get over $100 for it on CL or eBay (or $150 at that time, a new model has come out now probably killing all value mine had).

 

[old mark]

I once worked for a small indie guitar shop-the owner would pay about 35-45% of the selling price, depending on how fast he thought it would sell. I saw him buy a usable old Supro tube amp for $120, then sell it on the phone for $350 inside of 5 minutes.

The selling of instruments is not about the music, but about the money.

Selling to a store that will re-sell will get you maybe 50% of what you can make by selling it yourself, but it is faster and easier...your choice.

mark

 

[Auriemma]

I traded in a used Strat Affinity, I knew that it was worth about $100 used if I sold it on CL. I got a good price at $80. They put a tag of $120 on it. There was some haggling involved and I was buying another guitar.

If you are going to trade-in gear, normally expect to get 50-65% of the average selling price for that item USED... not new... not what you paid for it. Do your research before going in. Check ebay, Craigslist, Gbase, etc. Its where they are going to check. Be prepared to haggle. Since you are buying something else, they will work with you more.

If you are selling it outright, expect about 50% of the used price with no haggle room.

They are in business to make money.