Reverb.com is shady... but what can you do?

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

A few days ago, I was browsing telecaster variants on reverb.com, and I favorited a guitar that I thought looked cool as hell. I don’t plan to buy it, but I like the look and just want to keep track of it as I compare guitars. I should note that the seller happens to be in Korea and they have about 600 sales on reverb.com.

Today, I logged into the site and found I have an offer waiting for me. It was the same guitar for a significantly lower price, but when I looked more closely, I found that it wasn’t an offer from the Korean store, it was an offer from [USA-based minor-mega-retailer] zZounds.com, who has 30k plus ratings/sales.

The offer says “You’ve received this special offer because you’re watching a product like this.”
The zZounds deal is actually 40% cheaper than the Korean store. But what the actual heck!?!? Has Reverb always done this? I’ve got dozens of things “favorited” over the last couple of years and I’ve never seen this before. How come no one has ever offered me 40% off the DSI tempest already?

One way or another, reverb is sharing info about my favorites with other stores, and those stores are either manually or [probably] systematically checking to see if they also have the same product and then deciding if they want to try to undercut the first guy.
I actually appreciate the opportunity to get a better deal, but this feels icky.

I scanned terms of service and privacy on the site and didn’t see anything that says they’ll share info about my favorites with other vendors. Although, they do share with advertisers… technically, anyone who has ever sold anything on reverb is an advertiser, so I think I should get access to all your favorites…

idk. anyone else experience this? was there a notice?

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#2

Basically any action you take on a marketplace-type website for the most part will be considered an intent to buy, and these sorts of companies primarily only care about making money off of you (and the sellers).

I did notice this happening recently but since I once worked for a marketplace-type website doing software, I didn’t think this was weird (though I don’t like it, either). Internally they probably treat a ‘watch’ now as a ‘favorite’ - that is, since you added the product to your favorites, you are now a marketing target.

#3

I too collect lots of items on my Watch List and have received the same “special offer because you’re watching a product like this” but it’s never struck me as a shady practice. Seems fairly normal as far as sales tactics go, and I’d imagine large retailers like Zzounds have access to features that the little guys don’t. Maybe I’m just de-sensitized to the ways of online marketplaces.

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#4

I don’t watch anything on Reverb and I can confirm that if you don’t use the watch/heart function, you don’t receive the offers. I just get marketing on other sites pop up ads about items/types of items I’ve looked at.

I do know that it used to be people would leave an item in their cart to see if a specific Reverb seller would send them a lower offer or to receive an update if the price drops before the system update batches the change and aggregates it to the listing, but that’s sort of a deliberate attempt to get a deal, not the unsolicited type you received.

I’ll say this though: While I’ve never done business with zzounds, if you google them (even though I guess they’re an actual business) they get awful reviews.

#5

apparently, it’s slightly less nefarious than I concocted in my imagination.

it’s part of their “direct offers” system. https://help.reverb.com/hc/en-us/articles/10672996858387-What-are-Direct-Offers-and-how-do-they-work-

So if you sell enough things, you’re eligible to configure direct offers.
When you list the item, you can configure direct offers to go out to people who favorite the same item.

So it’s not actually zZounds looking at my favorites, but rather, zZounds has indicated in advance that they want to compete on that item, and they’re willing to buy the business.

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#6

The feature is new-ish, probably under a year?

Yep! Exactly.

Anyone who has X to sell can broadcast offers on that item category. Usually the offers i get are more expensive than the items i have on watch :stuck_out_tongue:

zZounds is a fairly large dealer, I can’t speak for their current level of service quality but they’ve been around a bit and don’t get sketch on deals that i can recall.

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#7

I’ve never had that pop-up. I tend to only have a few items on my watch list at a time.

I don’t find it surprising as I’m sure they’re looking for ways to bring in money, and this could be one way to attract paying shops.

I strongly doubt it’s manual… that would defeat the purpose of that feature as a commodity.

I get the icky feeling, but it doesn’t bother me much.

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#8

I’ve gotten this offer for making an offer on a different listing with the same product.

To me this is not shady, it’s exactly what I would come to expect in a completely controlled and surveillanced environment.

You google something and then all of the sudden every website has ads for the thing you googled, sometimes you don’t even google it, you just mention it to a friend and boom there are the ads.

This reverb thing is less surprising to me than all of that.

And there is probably also a good reason for the zzounds option being so much cheaper, that reason may include exchange rates and international manufacturers suggested retail pricing, etc.

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#9

I doubt Reverb is giving zZounds data about you, that’s Reverb’s carefully captured data and they will hoard it as closely as possible.

Instead, it’s likely that zZounds is giving Reverb a big spreadsheet (hopefully actually CSV or XML) listing various discounts that should be offered to people who follow specific items or use specific search terms.

:+1:

zZounds is the Trader Joes / ALDI of music gear. They have always had great deals and a ton of B-stock gear. I suspect they buy out unwanted inventory for a tidy discount and then turn around and make their offers. I got my SuperNova II Keyboard from them in '01 or so, as well as a bargain basement XV-5080. The SN2Kb had a slightly bent frame, but it was easy to bend back. Zero problems with the 5080.

(Trader Joes started out by buying excess white-label consumer packaged goods (boxed food) and slapped their own label on. ALDI does the same thing but is more aggressive)

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#10

Time to populate my Reverb watch list, apparently. This is why I don’t use a wish list on Amazon, but instead add everything to my cart, so I’m notified when prices drop on items.

I get that it feels creepy, but it’s a win win for both seller and buyer.

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#11

One can dream.

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#12

So you’re saying I love zZounds, and I should plan regularly Sunday trips there with my wife? What’s the zZounds equivalent of cheap bananas?! :upside_down_face:
(There’s no Aldi where I live, but I have mad respekt for their coin release shopping cart system. Do our UK/Europe friends have Trader Joes?)

This post wasn’t an attack at zZounds. I’ve never bought from them and my sentiments toward them are almost entirely neutral with a slight lean towards positive. The positive comes from the fact that I’m friendly with a hardworking YouTuber (5k-6k subs) who somehow managed to get them to send him gear for demos.
What cracks me up is that he always says “Zee-Zounds” in his videos. I always assumed we just say “Zounds”…

yup. might as well!

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#13

Aldi bought Trader Joe a while ago although… I once dropped a Benjamín in a Trader Joe, called like three hours later and someone turned it in to customer service. Another time, I was short a couple bucks at a Trader Joe and asked the cashier to take off a bottle of wine and he insisted to pay the difference. I love Trader Joe but… I cannot not eat a whole Trader Joe vanilla butter cream sheet cake in a single evening. It’s just impossible.

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#14

I know the feeling - I’m a sucker for the danish Kringle… but that thing just sits around forever, definitely not gone before the next sunrise :grimacing:

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#15

Ha ha. Well… the kringle is dense. It’s like a giant bagel.

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#16

Exactly, but don’t forget to bring your own shopping bags.

Technically correct, but it’s a bit more complex than that.

#17

This has never happened to me on Reverb and I usually have a decent number of watched items at any one time. But the items I watch are typically pricey vintage items where I’m just gear lusting or hopelessly waiting for the price to drop to something reasonable.

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#18

In the current era if you don’t take steps to block trackers, it’s sort of on you.

I’d suggest Ghostery, and no an adblocker alone is not enough.

#19

anyone know if it’s safe to buy from reverb users with no feedback?

#20

Everyone starts somewhere. Does the listing seem phoney otherwise

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