How do I EBay: Selling Vinyl Records and a Guitar edition

1. I have no idea how to rate a guitar. It sounds like your partner & you should be able to cover the basics - whether the neck is straight, no fret buzz or other odd rattling noises, no cracks or major dings or dents, no major scratches, the tuning machines work properly, the strings stay in place and the guitar stays in tune. It wouldn't hurt to have a "more expert" guitar-playing friend take a look, too, if you've got one. Otherwise, it's not like there's any agreed-upon numbers-based (or, y'know, "Excellent", "very good", "good", "fair") rating system or anything. Plus I think most people tend to take seller descriptions with a grain of salt anyway, so if there are no major problems or cosmetic damage you can safely call it "excellent" or "very good." It's probably worth stating that this is a guitar with "low miles" on it - no gigs, stayed in a smoke-free house (if true), only played a few times, etc etc etc. 2. What measurements should I list? What details need to be put out in the open? PICS PICS PICS PICS. Lots of pics. Clear, in-focus pics that show how good a condition the guitar is in, or ones that clearly show any scratches or dings or cracks if you discover any. Pics of the serial number are good, too. Otherwise, manufacturer & model name/number, description of the body materials. People will, I think, generally do their own research, so you don't need to list the exact dimensions of the body or anything. If it's a fairly obscure guitar, it might help to add links to whatever webpages you can find about the manufacturer/maker and/or the model. You should do plenty of searching yourself for these pages before you list it, if only so you can answer questions. Should I assume the person buying this guitar already knows what it sounds like and that's why they're buying it? I realize someone could buy it, decide they hate the sound and return it; what can I do to lessen the chances of this? Well, assuming anything is probably not the best idea, and it's not just about how the guitar sounds but how it physically feels as you play it - and the problem is all the dimensions and info in the world won't actually provide much useful information for the player; they need the guitar in their hands. Having said that, your guitar is not actually all that high-value in the world of guitars, so being scrupulously honest and clear about the condition the guitar is in (and packing it really really well) is probably your best safety net. If they don't like the way the guitar sounds or plays after they've received it, they're likely to just chalk it up to "Fine guitar, not for me" and then try to re-sell it themselves rather than try to return it to you. It's certainly possible someone could try to return it, or claim that the guitar was not as described in the listing, so keep the money around and available so you can process a refund with minimal hassle and financial hit to yourself (PayPal's practices for holding/withdrawing/refunding money have supposedly caused some sellers no end of grief, for example, so read up on those practices if you're accepting PayPal.) Should I just take the guitar, now, to a place like Mailboxes Etc and get it fitted for a box and protective packaging, as well as weighed while in the box/packaging? YES, absolutely, this is the best idea. Plus the dimensions of the box may put your guitar into "oversize/overweight" territory (even if it's not actually all that heavy or large.) $25 - $50 U.S. seems to be about the going rate for shipping guitars in the continental U.S. Go ahead and list your shipping costs in your listing, no-one expects free shipping on this kind of item from a private seller (from a retail business, sure, but not an individual), and if they do they're a fool. And who is the best carrier for shipping a guitar - UPS/Fed Ex over USPS? What options should I give buyers? Considering that (AFAIK) both UPS & Fed Ex often use USPS as part of their transport system anyway, you might as well just see who's got the best price. Most heavy/large musical gear I see on ebay doesn't tend to give many options - they're shipping it how they ship it, for $[x] price, and that's it. When selling high-value items like guitars, what do you document to CYA? With electronics, I always photograph the serial number and make sure the serial number is in the listing photos. I'm not sure what I can do to protect myself from return-fraud on a guitar. I also assume I should buy insurance (seems like a no brainer), but anything else? Again, in the context of guitars, $250-$400 is pretty moderate, so you might not have as much to worry about as you think, as far as being targeted for a scam. But yes, serial numbers and insurance and tracking & requiring signature at delivery. I've seen sellers state that they won't accept bids from people with less than a certain feedback score, but I've no idea how this works. If you're only interested in selling in the U.S. or continental U.S., state that as part of your listing. "Overseas buyers" are often a scam (especially if there's some kind of middleman involved), so if you note "US only" up front, you can safely ignore any requests to sell the guitar to someone in another country. Otherwise, there are plenty of complaints out there about ebay's buyer protection policies providing opportunities for a variety of buyer frauds, and not much to be done about it besides hope for the best, keep the money available so a refund doesn't screw you up, and get ebay involved ASAP if you think you're being targeted for return fraud because they might provide you some help or backup or at least not tank your ebay account & reputation. Sorry I don't have better news, there. Craigslist or consignment at a local music instrument store are options you could look into, if selling a guitar on ebay makes you really nervous.

Really great advice above regarding the guitar. My additions: The main benefit of having the shippers also pack it for you is that you are (supposedly) in the clear if the item gets damaged due to "poor packing" -- it would be on the packer/shipper at that point. Packing a guitar isn't rocket science, and as mentioned above, it will be a decent chunk of your sale to pay for someone else to pack it for you. There are horror stories about all shippers out there, but if I was to pack a guitar and ship it tomorrow, I would go with FedEx or USPS, leaning more towards USPS. If you go with USPS, make sure you get USPS' in-house insurance, I've heard they're easier to deal with if something comes up. When you create the listing, you can select to only sell to members in the continental US (only members with a US address will see the ad) -- this is my standard practice and it's one of the easiest ways to protect yourself from scammers. Personally, I don't offer returns for anything on eBay. Protects you from scams and headaches. If you document everything well, the buyer knows what they're getting and will be willing to accept the risk. You have a decent feedback rating and that should give buyers confidence in you. Seconding that it probably wouldn't hurt to go local and see what a store nearby will give you. After eBay fees and PayPal fees, and the hassle of shipping a guitar, they might end up giving you a similar amount. Dealing with randos on Craigslist, though, is not worth any amount of money in my book.

RE: selling a guitar... 1. Just describe the condition of the guitar as well as you can, making note of and dings, scratches or other condition concerns. 2. If you have the model no. you can look up other people's listings and see what they put, or you might be able to find the relevant measurements on the net somewhere. 3. Guitars suck to ship. Especially acoustics... I've had better luck (for guitars) going to places where they'll wrap and ship your package than doing it myself, but it'll take a big chunk out of your potential earnings.

Are you trying to get top-dollar for the albums, or just get them sold to someone who'll appreciate them? I've sold records on eBay (granted, a few years ago) and on Etsy lately with little more than "very nice, minor scratches" as a description of item quality. People will base how much they want to pay for it compared with their risk of scratches, so if you want $50 for an album you're going to need to go into greater detail. I usually took a general photo of the vinyl, but otherwise haven't gone into much detail, and I'm only expecting to get around $5 - $10 a disc. Describe it as best you can, you're right, people are going to trust a more detailed description, which you'll need to get top-dollar for an album, but a lack of one isn't going to scare people off, it'll just reflect in what they want to pay. Make sure you photograph both sides of the jacket, if the inner sleeve is fancy do it to, and both sides of the vinyl, just to cover your bases. The reason we haven't sold much on eBay lately is that for collectibles and antiques it has gotten very rummage-sale in both item quality and price; unless you've got something outstanding it may not even sell, and even outstanding things are going for cheaper than I'd expect at Etsy or at a flea market. Other tips: cardboard pizza boxes are excellent for shipping albums; not used pizza boxes, of course, but box companies online will http://www.webstaurantstore.com/367/pizza-boxes-corrugated-plain.html. Note that record albums, with packing material around them, are probably going to push it into oversized pricing with the USPS, so figure that into your price. If you've got 78s, package them like fine china; Wifey bought a 78 that was shipped like it was vinyl, and it arrived in tiny, tiny pieces.

With the records I think the best approach is to say include pics of both sides of the sleeve and the record itself, and say something like, "The record plays well and seems to be in good condition, someone wrote "jimmy" on the back cover (see pics). I am not a record grader and this is a 30 year old piece of vinyl - bid accordingly." You basically can't do high end record grading unless you do it all the time, so why bother? Be clear, honest, and thorough but not super detailed or technical about the condition as you perceive it, start the bidding low and let the chips fall where they may.

i occasionally work for someone who lists and sells thousands of albums on ebay. in regarding your ratings, sight ratings are perfectly fine. in many cases the album i post has the rating lowered slightly--so a mint minus is turned into a vg plus and whatnot. indicate in the description if there's writing on the cover or label. don't bother trying to fix any worn covers. they get rated the same way albums do but with notes for common damage like ring wear and cut out holes. my employer uses custom lp shipping boxes that are commercially available. he even sells the boxes. on particularly valuable records and/or covers he'll ship the record in a separate dummy cover--that is he'll put the actual disc into a 100 strings album cover and sleeve and keep the unpeeled velvet underground cover empty. you don't need a lot of pictures unless it's colored vinyl or there's some special trinket included. most of the major release trinkets (read sgt pepper) are pretty well known and don't need to be photographed.

My son's guitar teacher told me that there is a guy in our nearest big city (Providence, RI) that has turned his general pawn shop into a specialized guitar shop (with a few general items on the side). So there may be a way to do this on a consignment basis if you have the time to wait.