Finally pullling the trigger to both buy and sell

[red7flag]

I talked with Stan Werblen of Elderly Music, and when he comes to Nashville for IBMA in the fall I will be putting the following instruments on consignment with him, The Gibby A2, Eastman DGM2, Weber Octar and the Lebeda AM-4. Why you might ask? Andrew Mowry is making me a custom guitar shaped octave mandolin (I should be close to the end of the list by October) and if I find the right one, I will be buying a 20s Gibson F4. Why F4? It has always been a dream instrument of mine. The end result is two less instruments, but a more refined stable.

[Rob Gerety]

I would LOVE to own a good guitar shaped OM. I'd also LOVE to own an F4. You're making good decisions for your situation. Think about selling privately.

[red7flag]

I understand that selling on consignment will result in less income from these instruments. I have sold both through eBay and the Cafe classsifieds and do not like the process of negotiating, being responsible for the instruments and making sure that the explanation in the add is exactly correct. The peace of mind I get from Stan doing it is more than worth what he is paid. He sets them up (not a big issue with mine)(this includes cleaning them and the cases, the cost of setting them up for sale is deducted from the end check), advertises them correctly, will call me with any offer that seems legitiment and sends me a check as soon as the trial period expires. With Elderly, it is a very clean experience.

[Mandobar]

amen to that

[nickster60]

I have been selling things on ebay for many years. I dont think folks really read the actions I think they read what they want to. The buyers seem to have most of the rights and the sellers rights dont seem to really matter. I have sold some violins on ebay and it has always been a a very stressful from start to finish.

I am trying to sell a violin on craigslist now. I think that Craigslist has become at least as bad. First the spammers will send you all kind of crazy things. I then had a guy call me up and said he would give me $200.00 for a $1000.00 violin. I did have one guy who came out and looked at it. In between tunes he would scratch his privates. At least he used his bow hand and it was his bow.

[hank]

Hey Tony I recently went through a trade down with Elderly and the whole experience was straight up and laid back. Any loss I took to compensate them was more than worth it to me to avoid all the nit picking low ballers and up down Leroy involved in a personal sell. I was also more than willing to pay a small amount more to know the antique mandolin I wanted to purchase had been inspected, evaluated, cleaned and setup by a company I trusted before I rolled the dice on it as well. I don't enjoy wheeling and dealing and have a notion a lot of the bargains out there are an exercise in frustration for those of us who just want a good instrument from the get go and don't want to be messing with it and trying to make it sound better. Unfortunately I'm in the minority and bargains sell much quicker so the down side might be a longer wait to sell an instrument that isn't in high demand or priced to move.

[boatman]

In the last couple of years I've sold two guitars via consignment with Elderly Music in order to fund a purchase of a custom instrument ordered from Mandolincafes' own "Sunburst" (a.k.a. John Hamlett). I actually netted more than I expected from these sales. IMHO they, (Elderly Music) does a great job.

[Chris Biorkman]

The thing that bugs me most about selling mandolins myself through the classifieds is dealing with people who really have no interest in buying your mandolin, but insist on wasting your time anyway. Last week, I sent pictures of my Ellis to someone and exchanged three emails before they finally told me they weren't in the market for a mandolin right now.

[Randolph]

I'm with all of you who find the hassles of "point-to-point" selling of instruments to be a way big hassle. The convenience of selling on consignment makes it worth it to me. I am always hesitant to buy without playing first, even though I have commissioned a few custom builds over the years. I dread the thought of packing and shipping an expensive mandolin only to have the buyer find it not to his or her taste and then wanting to return it. I have a sweet black face Collings on consignment right now at a local, well respected music store. Even though I will forfeit a decent chunk of the sales price, I don't mind. The owner of the store deserves his commission. He is doing me a favor, he even has it up on his web site. And, as far as I know,the sales staff requires cusomers to have clean hands, with no "private scratching," while playing the instruments.;)

[Piper]

The thing that bugs me most about selling mandolins myself through the classifieds is dealing with people who really have no interest in buying your mandolin, but insist on wasting your time anyway. Last week, I sent pictures of my Ellis to someone and exchanged three emails before they finally told me they weren't in the market for a mandolin right now.

I have asked for pictures several times and I have sent pics several times without a sale. Seems like a small inconvenience to make a sell. Keep in mind that the person who says he or she may not be in the market "right now" or who does not buy right now, may be in the market in a few days or weeks even, and your item will be in their view. The one thing I would not be comfortable with is having someone come to my home to try an instrument. I have always met these people in a public place. Recently, we had a fellow in our area robbed when two craig's list "buyers" showed up to view the wares. So, beware.

[red7flag]

I enjoy sending out the pictures and talking in general about the instrument. I surely detest getting nickled and dimed. Further, some expectations I have found are unreasonable, like expecting an instrument that was advertised as EXC to be in Mint condition. I always try to be fair both in my description and in my pricing. When the customer pushes the envelope past what is reasonable (to me, that is) I find that I get really offended. I guess that is why I am not in sales. I do not enjoy the game of selling, the competition of negotiating or the need to win when selling or buying. For me if done with trust and respect, both sides win. Since that may not be a reasonable expectation, I finally decided that consignment was the way to go.

[Benski]

I'm sorry to hear about all the problems with selling instruments on Ebay or CL. My experiences have actually been very pleasant, to tell the truth. Over the past few years, I've sold a Gibson F5, a 1918 Gibson A, a 30 year old Strat, a similar age Fender tube amp and a ton of non-music related stuff on Ebay. I also bought my current mando on EBay (which was admittedly a bit of a leap of faith) but all worked out fine, ultimately saving me a significant amount of $$.

As far as the selling part goes, I made sure that I had an EXTREMELY detailed description and LOTS of pictures for each item. I also clearly stipulated "no returns". Overall, with very few exceptions, everyone was friendly, polite and actually very nice to do business with. Of course there were the one or two meatballs, but, hey, that's life in general.

I can also say that, as a buyer, I have often asked sellers to send me additional pics and description for instruments that I ultimately did not wind up buying. But hey kids, how many instruments have you picked up at a music store and played, but didnt purchase? Asking for more pics etc is just the internet equivalent. And if there are four figures to the left of the decimal point involved, damn certain I want as much info as I can get before hitting that Paypal "send" button.

Anyway, just saying that it doesnt necessarily have to be a nightmare or a hassle.

Cheers.