Ever have a fear of selling your drums?

incrementalg

Gold Member
I’ve been eying a beautiful set of drums, but in order to buy them I’d have to sell my existing set. (For space and economics). However I dread the prospect of selling my drums. Not so much letting them go, but the hassle that goes with selling gear. By hassle, I mean tire kicking, no shows and guys showing up with less than than the agreed upon amount and a story...lol.

I’d consider selling on reverb, but shipping a kit costs a lot which would probably make the price unappealing for anyone interested.

Anyone else dread the process, or have I simply been unfortunate in my prior selling experiences?
 
Just make sure that you're upfront about the selling price. Feel free to tell the buyer beforehand that you will not accept anything less when you meet up. I've done that many times and only had a couple of people back out because their plan was as you described, and they had a story waiting in the wings.
 
You can sell on reverb and specify that the buyer has to pick up.

Yup. I didn't see that you're in Boston. Pick-up only. You should have a big enough market for that. What kit are you selling?
 
I've had a lot of experience selling kits on eBay and I've never had a problem. I usually do the "Buy It Now" process rather than an auction, and my shipping fee is clearly stated (it's usually about $120-150 to ship a 4-piece kit in one big 24x24x24 box. While it's on eBay I'm answering questions, giving out specific pictures if they don't see what they want on the listing. There's also a "Make an Offer" feature that you can tell eBay what offers you'll accept or decline, or leave that blank and you're notified of the offers and you can decide if you want to sell or not.

You just have to be honest, and hopefully you'll attract like-minded folks (I've been lucky in all my transactions so far). Usually when I meet someone who's paranoid about doing business like this, I recommend that maybe they should go to a store to buy what they want because there has to be a certain amount of trust from both parties to do this. As a seller I'm never ripped off because nothing happens until I see the money - they have to pay before I do anything, and that could also include if they're doing a local pick up.

People complain about eBay's fees and such, and I get that, but it has become a legitimate way of doing business for a lot of people these days. I don't mind paying the extra fees if it means I'm protected in some way as both a buyer and a seller. Usually my listings are listed as "no returns accepted", and most buyers are smart enough to read the whole listing. It's rare when I run into someone who is just clueless as to how the whole situation works.

Because of this, I'm really good at packing kits for shipping too. And when I ship any high-ticket item (anything over $100), there's always insurance and a signature required upon delivery for my protection, and I only use FedEx or UPS for shipping an entire kit. The bigger the paper trail, the better.
 
I have never sold a kit and shipped it, but I have sold equipment on Craigslist and met people for an exchange. If you are selling a good kit at a very good price, you should be able to find a local buyer and avoid the shipping nightmare. It's one thing throwing a single drum or cymbal in a box, but packing up a kit for shipment - is not for me. :)
 
I've sold a lot of equipment through specific sites. Complete drumkits, snares, cymbals, spare parts, drum skins, ... everything, and both way (I barely ever buy brand new).
If you're not in a hurry, and that the kit is nicely displayed with good photos : it sales.

For the full kit, though, I don't want to pack and ship, too much of a hassle I think - I ask people to pass by.
I've done this too for some kits I bought myself, few kilometers, if it's worth.
But, I live in a small country ;-).
 
I’ve sold a couple of single drums via Reverb and the UPS shipping was really high...like $50 for a snare drum. I’ve always packed my drums with a lot of care...better packing than what I’ve received new drums in. The guy at my local UPS store said UPS wouldn’t insure my boxes without an astronomical fee once I told him what was inside. Maybe I need to try Fed Ex.
I’d hate to send someone something that gets damaged and have to wrestle with insurance.

I’ve had really bad luck with my last bigger sales. Ridiculous offers and a guy showing up short on cash. He didn’t even acknowledge it until I counted the money. Then came the stories and the guy acted like I was the jerk for telling him no deal.
 
There's really nothing to worry about.

You are in a big city. You shouldn't have a problem selling locally as long as the price is right. I would only put on Reverb or EvilBay as a last resort.

Meet in a public place in the day. Cash is king.
 
Having sold drumkits on Craigslist, Ebay, and Reverb, I'll throw in a few suggestions.
Craigslist-I'd try selling here first, or at the very least concurrently while you have a listing with ebay or reverb. Just be prepared to pull the item once it sells locally. I've had some negative experiences with Craigslist individuals early on....DON"T let them come to your residence(I don't know why I ever thought this was a good idea!). Try to just meet in a public place, even if it means packing up the kit into your car. At least you can drive off if you get a weird vibe or sense bs. I always give them my number and ask that they text me to confirm the meeting time. Save yourself a trip from the people who don't have the cash to begin with, or the general time wasters. Usually someone looking to do the legitimate transaction will follow through. When you list your gear I would always put a stated price in the ad. 99% of the time, the people who message you want it at a lower price than what you are asking. Don't put "best offer" in your ad because automatically you are agreeing to sell it lower than you want. Just let them throw out the first price and work from there. Sometimes, they won't even try to haggle over the price. If they want to see it first before the offer, chances are they are serious if they show up to meet and will make a reasonable offer. Be sure to state "cash only" in your text when they confirm the meeting place and time.
Ebay-use the "buy it now" and specific local pick up only. Yes, you will incur fees but if someone wants the gear, they have to pay first before you deliver the stuff(or pick it up). Once they pay, there is a low likelihood they will flake out and not show. Plus you are getting more exposure to people who might live in a surrounding city/town/state and are ok driving a bit to get a decent deal. I've met people at the half way mark.
Reverb-this one too has fees but its a much bigger market exposure than the local CL market. My experience is that you can get a higher price for your sale because typically you are dealing with musicians who understand values of specific instruments....as opposed to a parent just looking for a set of drums to start their kid out on.
With Ebay and Reverb-absolutely make sure you have boxes/container ready and have the shipping logistics mapped out. Using the UPS shipping estimator is a great tool and will help you save time once the item has sold. You have to be ready to ship if someone buys your stuff immediately. Buyers on Ebay and Reverb for the most part expect to get a tracking number within a day or so. Most of this stuff might seem like common sense type stuff, but you wouldn't believe the stunts people try to pull on Craigslist...I know because its happened to me. Hope this helps in your decision.
 
Yup. I didn't see that you're in Boston. Pick-up only. You should have a big enough market for that. What kit are you selling?

Thinking of selling my Gretsch new classics. Turquoise sparkle (only 30 in the US). The set I’m interested in is a USA custom. Tonally the NC is really similar to the USAs, but the USAs come in the sizes I’d like...24”, 13”, 16”
 
Having sold drumkits on Craigslist, Ebay, and Reverb, I'll throw in a few suggestions.
Craigslist-I'd try selling here first, or at the very least concurrently while you have a listing with ebay or reverb. Just be prepared to pull the item once it sells locally. I've had some negative experiences with Craigslist individuals early on....DON"T let them come to your residence(I don't know why I ever thought this was a good idea!). Try to just meet in a public place, even if it means packing up the kit into your car. At least you can drive off if you get a weird vibe or sense bs. I always give them my number and ask that they text me to confirm the meeting time. Save yourself a trip from the people who don't have the cash to begin with, or the general time wasters. Usually someone looking to do the legitimate transaction will follow through. When you list your gear I would always put a stated price in the ad. 99% of the time, the people who message you want it at a lower price than what you are asking. Don't put "best offer" in your ad because automatically you are agreeing to sell it lower than you want. Just let them throw out the first price and work from there. Sometimes, they won't even try to haggle over the price. If they want to see it first before the offer, chances are they are serious if they show up to meet and will make a reasonable offer. Be sure to state "cash only" in your text when they confirm the meeting place and time.
Ebay-use the "buy it now" and specific local pick up only. Yes, you will incur fees but if someone wants the gear, they have to pay first before you deliver the stuff(or pick it up). Once they pay, there is a low likelihood they will flake out and not show. Plus you are getting more exposure to people who might live in a surrounding city/town/state and are ok driving a bit to get a decent deal. I've met people at the half way mark.
Reverb-this one too has fees but its a much bigger market exposure than the local CL market. My experience is that you can get a higher price for your sale because typically you are dealing with musicians who understand values of specific instruments....as opposed to a parent just looking for a set of drums to start their kid out on.
With Ebay and Reverb-absolutely make sure you have boxes/container ready and have the shipping logistics mapped out. Using the UPS shipping estimator is a great tool and will help you save time once the item has sold. You have to be ready to ship if someone buys your stuff immediately. Buyers on Ebay and Reverb for the most part expect to get a tracking number within a day or so. Most of this stuff might seem like common sense type stuff, but you wouldn't believe the stunts people try to pull on Craigslist...I know because its happened to me. Hope this helps in your decision.

Thanks for all this input!
 
I recently had a CL ad up and experienced about 8 instances of people saying something like this. " I would like to buy your drums and can meet this evening after work. I'm very interested, please get in touch."

And they would leave a ph number. I'd respond and would never hear another word from them. So I was speaking with a friend who frequently sells on CL, and he was saying he was also receiving the same kind of BS responses, just recently w CL., after having had success selling in previous years. I came to the conclusion it just wasn't worth the trouble.
 
I sold via Reverb once, waaayyy too fast before I even had boxes and a transport company.

I had to leave work to scramble for large boxes, thankfully Long-Mcquade stepped-up with a Mapex bass drum box on short notice.

Then I discovered a warehouse in an industrial park selling shipping material, all paid cash of course.

Finally I called a contact who ships art, lucked out and borrowed his business account.

The drums shipped the same day from Canada to Atlanta, door to door in less than 24 hours, which will never cease to amaze me.

So basically I lost a solid 30 hours of my life, sold at a profit and put my logistic skills to the test.

In contrast to the experience proudly acquired, I feel it was too much work to end up with seller's remorse.
 
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