What is the best time of year or season to sell a used mandolin?

[Lou Giordano]

Just curious about selling used. Is it spring time. Christmas, Tax refund time. I would guess it would be the opposite for buying.

Thanks

[pheffernan]

Just curious about selling used. Is it spring time. Christmas, Tax refund time. I would guess it would be the opposite for buying. Thanks

The worst time seems to be tax season, when lots of instruments with that excuse seem to flood the market. Most of my purchases have been fueled by opportunity coinciding with stipends or bonuses, so I'd imagine Christmas time to be a better one for selling.

[BradKlein]

One vintage dealer told me, 'gotta have enough ukes for X-mas', I think a lot of folks find that a ukulele makes a nice Christmas present. As far as individual sales go, and other instruments, I wonder! I certainly don't know the answer.

Beyond agreeing that there seems to be deals available for buyers in March and April, as tax payments come due. But that's also when refunds go out so, who knows?...

[Tavy]

Now.

New year is strangely OK too, given that most other retail businesses are dead Jan/Feb.

Not summer time, can't sell instruments to save your life from August-September, those potential buyers that aren't actually off sailing have spent all their money holidaying. Music is basically a winter-time hobby for a lot of folks.

[Br1ck]

Whenever you have a mandolin someone wants priced attractively. The other day I saw a vintage A Gibson for well under 1k. I bought mine two months ago so....timing.

But somewhere someone will want that.

[Folkmusician.com]

Concurring with Tavy's observation. Summer is absolutely the worst (you might think otherwise with festivals going on). With the exception of Christmas, anything around holidays is VERY slow. Back to school, is slow unless you are selling band instruments or strings.

Instruments sell best when people have free time and are not distracted with other things (vacations, sports, etc..).

And strangely, just like the UK, it is pretty good in Jan. Maybe people using X-mas money or returning gifts to buy instruments.