I no longer sell extremely cheap gear online - all of my poor experiences have been when I have sold lower end things. Scam messages, people asking for favors, people lowballing and then getting offended and sending angry messages when I reject their offers - I’m sure the stuff happens with middle market and higher end gear as well, but I’ve only experienced it when selling cheap stuff. I’ll trade it in or give it away at this point.
Earlier this year or late last year I sold one of the Roland aira synths. I had several messages from people who were obviously trying to scam me. Actual buyer asked a handful of questions before the sale which made me a little suspicious, but not suspicious enough to cancel the sale.
A couple weeks after the sale, he messages me saying that there was some sort of issue and he can’t get sound out of it, saying he thinks there’s something wrong specifically with the drums because he can hear the synth sound. Well that’s pretty weird because it’s a digital device and all the sounds are coming out of the same chip. After some basic troubleshooting I send him to Roland support, who is obviously baffled and tells him the problem he’s experiencing literally can’t happen.
At this point I’m 100% certain he’s trying to angle for a refund because he’s experiencing buyers remorse. He goes to reverb because I say I’m not going to issue the refund - Roland support has stated it must be user error. Reverb forces me to issue a refund. I received the device in the condition I sold it, everything worked. This fucker just wanted his money back.
I guess I should be thankful he didn’t destroy it.
Came here to add this to the thread. I’ve been selling for a long time, but only recently have I put up some under-500€ listings. Selling these gave me the most headaches I’ve ever had.
People lowballing hard. Like, asking for 20-40% off the already low price.
Asking a lot of questions, like A LOT, then disappearing.
People wanting to buy it RIGHT NOW, and then also bailing.
People treating me like ChatGPT asking whether it will fit into their complicated setup (and not buying, naturally).
People wanting freebies (is the USB cable included? no? I’m not buying this item that’s 50% off the market price).
Really not worth it. No idea what to do, since I don’t want to just trash the stuff. But I guess this market attracts people who are:
Not sure whether they want to commit to buy in the first place.
Are probably spending their last money on the purchase.
Feel super entitled to receive discounts and free things.
Selling a Hapax for 950€? No questions, guy asks if it’s available, asks for my PayPal, sends the money and address.
Selling a Roli Block for 180€? Several people, over a month: Oh, how does MPE work? Do you have the software? Will you transfer it? Will you include the USB-C cable? Looks a bit used innit? Will you sell it for 80€? Whatever, forget it, I’m not buying.
mine was the reverse once…bought a 4track tape mixing console. when it arrived found it to be dirty and non-working. Tried to reach the seller account was closed.
I havn’t sold anything in 25 years and before that only a handful of times, I find the process too much so my method is to only buy gear that I will keep forever or until it is uneconomic to keep going. At which point it goes in the bin or gets gifted to someone, having earned its keep emotionally.
This sucks, but could be way worse (see my post above). As in: paying 250€ for having given someone a 250€ refund.
I’ll add that besides this experience and maybe 1-2 slightly annoying ones that eventually still went okay (meaning I got a product as a buyer or money as a seller), I have pretty good experiences selling on Kleinanzeigen. It’s Germany’s Craigslist and as far as I can tell it’s a shitshow with crazy scammers everywhere. But if you follow a few simple rules, you’re usually on the save side. I’ve sold and bought so much stuff and if I just keep my impulses for crazy deals intact, ask a few questions to get a feeling for the person and only use PP business as buyer or family as seller, you’re usually on the save side.
I feel sorry for @natehorn because I also have the experience that if you offer for slightly less than what something could be worth, you usually sell fast and find a person that’s really thankful for you being fair and will appreciate the price, making you feel like a good person giving somebody the chance to get an instrument cheaper.
Same here. My wife does lots of selling of children’s toys/clothes/etc. High volume and mostly $5-$25 price range. My god, the headaches she puts up with. I have to laugh whenever she gets lowballed on an $8 listing (frequently!).
Thankfully I live in a city with a strong buy/sell market — when you’re listing fairly specialized gear for local sale, most of the people interested are on the level. As others have noted, cheaper sales are usually harder, but I’ve gotten some great deals and given some great deals and sometimes people are annoying but I’ve never had a proper “nightmare.”
Except…
A few years back I was selling a few pedals that had failed my “six months on the shelf” rule, and someone reached out to say that they couldn’t afford to buy anything right now, but based on what I was selling, they really wanted to hear my music. We started chatting and had really similar taste in music, so he invited me over to jam.
I showed up with an Electribe, a handful of pedals, and a six pack of beer. His house had graffiti on the front door, boarded-up windows, and bags and bags full of god-knows-what all over the porch. I got a bad feeling but didn’t want to be rude, so I texted to let him know I had showed up. He let me in and the whole ground level was packed with overflowing garbage bags. We walked up an unlit stairway to his room, in which every surface was covered with cat hair, weed ash, and untouched grime. I still didn’t want to be rude, so we cracked a beer and started jamming a little. He told me he was planning to set up a little studio in the basement and we should go see it later.
About half an hour later, another dude showed up and expressed relief that “the guy in the other room” wasn’t home. When the host started talking about the basement, the other dude said, “Oh no, don’t bring us down there, that place is awful.” And at some point, the host actually managed to spill the beer I brought onto the very pedal that started our conversation.
Despite all this, we all got along pretty well and I feel awful that I couldn’t get over the filth. If you’re reading this, just know, it’s not you — it’s me.
