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After many months of extremely unsuccessful local listings I am giving serious consideration to posting my rebuilds for the world to see. This part of the world really doesn't have much of an accordion following and those that do are usually only looking to part ways with them. Much has changed the last few years, what can I say.
I am asking to see if anyone has any experiences doing this on ebay. Mostly my concerns are about being ripped off, but also the quagmire of fees for listings and selling internationally. Any feedback at all really.
These are not by any stretch high end, but are all fully functional (rewaxed, valved and tuned). All are less than 120.
I’m happy to give my couple cents worth as others chime in.
What platforms have you tried and not been successful with?
I have a goodly amount of experience buying and selling on eBay and some on reverb.
I think open, honest, clear, transparent (as you are comfortable willing) communication is key with a buyer.
Negotiations and dialoguing about price is often appreciated while also having a firm amount you aren’t willing to go below that includes what will be taken out as costs/fees to you is important.
Including as much rationale, story, and history and current state of the item and your own is helpful. (Buying from someone who plays and knows accordion for a while and has some sort of verifiable experience repairing or Rhein we workings vs “I found this in so and so’s attic and I know nothing about accordions” or worse in my opinion, little to no info provided.) stating who and where someone took it to be evaluated is helpful. Or providing link to a forum where others chimes in about assessment/evaluation is helpful.
I don’t think a lot of buyers understand what and when eBay and reverb charges fees and costs to sellers, so sometimes some straights forward and kind education is helpful.
While not the conventional way of doing things, I have gotten creative sometimes with sellers and buyers….moving communication off the website and then discussing possible trades with or without money (if of interest to you) and negotiating price based on willing to meet up and travel vs ship.
Though the websites don’t encourage it and seem to have structures in place to try to prevent it, sometimes my purchase experience get done done through PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, other similar mutually agreeable platform and then one could by pass the sites .
You probably saw it but there is also the thread …
I thought it might informative if we could pool our knowledge on the costs (& more) of the various ways to sell the spare accordion you've grown out of/inherited etc. I know of Gumtree, Preloved, eBay and various outlets that will sell on commission or for a fee or free (?) but not sure what...
You have nothing to fear selling on ebay so long as you insist on cash or bank transfer before collection, do not use paypal, and expect the first responders to be scammers.
And be prepared to have the purchaser try to reduce the price on inspection, difficult to refuse a cash offer.
I’m happy to give my couple cents worth as others chime in.
What platforms have you tried and not been successful with?
I have a goodly amount of experience buying and selling on eBay and some on reverb.
I think open, honest, clear, transparent (as you are comfortable willing) communication is key with a buyer.
Negotiations and dialoguing about price is often appreciated while also having a firm amount you aren’t willing to go below that includes what will be taken out as costs/fees to you is important.
Including as much rationale, story, and history and current state of the item and your own is helpful. (Buying from someone who plays and knows accordion for a while and has some sort of verifiable experience repairing or Rhein we workings vs “I found this in so and so’s attic and I know nothing about accordions” or worse in my opinion, little to no info provided.) stating who and where someone took it to be evaluated is helpful. Or providing link to a forum where others chimes in about assessment/evaluation is helpful.
I don’t think a lot of buyers understand what and when eBay and reverb charges fees and costs to sellers, so sometimes some straights forward and kind education is helpful.
While not the conventional way of doing things, I have gotten creative sometimes with sellers and buyers….moving communication off the website and then discussing possible trades with or without money (if of interest to you) and negotiating price based on willing to meet up and travel vs ship.
Though the websites don’t encourage it and seem to have structures in place to try to prevent it, sometimes my purchase experience get done done through PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, other similar mutually agreeable platform and then one could by pass the sites .
You probably saw it but there is also the thread …
I thought it might informative if we could pool our knowledge on the costs (& more) of the various ways to sell the spare accordion you've grown out of/inherited etc. I know of Gumtree, Preloved, eBay and various outlets that will sell on commission or for a fee or free (?) but not sure what...
This is great feedback, thanks. I guess I didn't search back far enough, I did go through at least ten pages of results though .
I do agree about transparency and information - I have very detailed listings with lots of photographs, including (usually) a link to youtube demonstrating all notes on all registers, along with a quick playing video. Nothing to hise. I have been using Kijiji here and Facebook marketplace - at the beginning of C*%$# people were a lot more interested, methinks inflation as a consequence has really tempered a lot of that.
I find most folks I have interacted with really have no idea, and for the most part getting their feet wet in the accordion world isn't worth more than a couple hundred bucks. The serious players are looking for several thousand dollars worth of quality for about a thousand bucks. Mine are somewhere in between.
You have nothing to fear selling on ebay so long as you insist on cash or bank transfer before collection, do not use paypal, and expect the first responders to be scammers.
And be prepared to have the purchaser try to reduce the price on inspection, difficult to refuse a cash offer.
I’m curious to know why you say not to use PayPal.
I have had good experience using PayPal to send payment as well as to accept payment. I sold an accordion for $1500 on Craigslist and stood on the street in DC with a buyer who played the instrument and then transferred payment to my PayPal account as I watched. We waited a couple minutes for the payment process to complete and I handed her the accordion. It was a done deal. Once the PayPal payment is made and accepted, is not the transaction safely complete?— or do you know of some other risk I am unaware of?
Same. I’ve had a lot of positive experiences with PayPal and accordion transactions, and others. Yet it is always good to know of additional risks and possible issues.
Same. I’ve had a lot of positive experiences with PayPal and accordion transactions, and others. Yet it is always good to know of additional risks and possible issues.
"I have gotten creative sometimes with sellers and buyers….moving communication off the website and then discussing possible trades with or without money (if of interest to you) and negotiating price based on willing to meet up and travel vs ship.
Though the websites don’t encourage it and seem to have structures in place to try to prevent it"
I recommend those intending to use eBay take on board colinm's sentiments above. ie. if a seller then avoid PayPal.
P.S. The 'Gumtree' selling platform is owned by the eBay group but has less of the constrictions of eBay. It's free and I have found it helpful in getting an item into the public domain.
have you posted directly on Craigslist Seattle or Portland ?
these serve big markets with plenty of accordion interest and
within driving distance of you
(if the deal and accordion is good enough i would drive that far)
even if you drove down and met customers at the border,
that wouldn't be so bad
Re: "have you posted directly on Craigslist Seattle or Portland ? these serve big markets with plenty of accordion interest" Thank you for sharing this. I hadn't known and it is really helpful to know.
Re: "(if the deal and accordion is good enough i would drive that far)"... absolutely. I've doe this and even now trying to figure out how to make a road trip to Texas fit in to my schedule for an accordion of interest.
Being road trip season, people might even use it as a reason to take a drive and incorporate the purchase into a broader experience and trip.
Re: "even if you drove down and met customers at the border, that wouldn't be so bad" Absolutely. Used to live out there. People didn't think twice about going up to the border.
I recommend those intending to use eBay take on board colinm's sentiments above. ie. if a seller then avoid PayPal.
P.S. The 'Gumtree' selling platform is owned by the eBay group but has less of the constrictions of eBay. It's free and I have found it helpful in getting an item into the public domain.
I've had good experiences buying and selling on Ebay. As Gatorcheesehead says, when selling it makes loads of difference if you include plenty of detail to show you know what you're talking about.
When buying it can help if you ask questions in the right way. When looking at a pair of clarinets last year I deliberately asked the seller "Are they at 440?" He replied, "yes I can confirm they are pitched at A440." The purchase went well.
I sold one accordion for a price I regretted - purely my fault for setting the reserve too low.
I don't approve of avoiding fees when the platform has found you a buyer or seller. Sorry.
TomBR: Best respects to you. I don't approve of avoiding fees either, even if it is possible. Gumtree, I believe, is largely funded by advertising. The basic service is free but costs are incurred when you want to, for instance, keep your ad. at the top of the list or use a 'link' to a video or sound sample.
I agree avoiding fees is not the way to go. Keeping it within ebay, reverb, etc also keeps the transactions communication and information readily available for the platform support staff should challenges come up during or after the transaction. I like have the record readily available in my account For some preferred items, I have have sometimes offered more than the asking price to take into account what they fees to seller would be so that they can be passed on to me. What is nice about the ebay and reverb is that there is the support they provide sellers when questions come up...I have found that I have that I sometimes am finding answers for the sellers and sending them links and resources from the platform's Q&A a guides when they are waiting on responses from the platform staff.
I have purchased a couple of accordions on eBay. It is helpful when the seller provides info such as the actual size of the keyboard, whether rust or musty odors are observed and if all the keys and buttons work. I love it when the seller records a demo song or plays the scales so you can actually hear what it sounds like. If you provide that kind of info and the "buy it now" price is somewhat reasonable, it should be fast and easy to sell! I cringe at all the "as is, estate find" listings with no info other than a few pictures!
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