Buying/Selling advice

[guitargeek62]

Here's a few tips to help with successful trades on here.

Firstly, remember that this forum is at your own risk, there will be no backup or support from musicradar. They are unable to provide you with another user's details so, on to rule number 1;


Rule 1 - Have an email and a name, address, contact number for each other before you swap items/monies. It saves a lot of hassle if you can't raise that person on this forum if a sale goes sour.....


Rule 2 - Check the good/bad sellers thread as the user may have feedback there left by other members. If you/they have less than 500-1000 posts on here then see if there's another way to verify feedback (other forums/ebay etc) and feel a bit more trusting about them, it's always good to know who you're dealing with!

http://www.musicradar.com/forum/showthread.php?t=77082


Rule 3 - Agree in advance a courier and type of delivery, if possible ALWAYS make sure you have a proof of delivery & receipt option on the service and, ideally, relevant amount of insurance cover. Double-check that the insurance covers the item in question being sent, sometimes musical instruments are only covered up to £100 so find another courier!!! If you're not happy with the service that has been chosen by the seller, offer to pay the difference for a courier of your choice. Likewise, if they're delivery charges seem high, point them in the direction of a cheaper service. (e.g. www.interparcel.com are very good for expensive/bulky products)


Rule 4 - If buying a high value instrument, find a way to verify that the owner is authentic. A very simple method of this with a guitar is to ask the user to write a keyword of your choice on a piece of paper and thread it through the strings and then photograph it. Any seller interested in a sale should be happy to oblige, and feel free to point them towards this thread if they're having trouble understanding it!!! Here's an example.....

An alternative would be to photograph the guitar with that day's newspaper etc.


Extra tip - if paying by PayPal, ask the seller to send you a PayPal invoice - 'Money request' that states what the payment is for as when/if you come to make a claim, that leaves very little room for argument...



Advice for sellers


When selling, the responsibility is on you untill the moment the item is recieved by the buyer. You cannot transfer responsibility to them the moment you post it so if anything goes wrong during transit it is down to you to sort it out.


Do your research - if you're not sure how much something is worth, check out ebay's completed listings section. It'll give you a current street value for that item. Alternatively, do a quick search on here and see if that item's been sold on here as well to see what the asking price was. You won't sell anything if your pricing is too high and there's no point giving stuff away for too little unless you're rich enough to not care!


A picture say's a thousand words - a good photograph, or ideally several, of your shiny goods (the item for sale.... not THAT!) will help massively with getting interest from buyers. Think about it, would you be interested in a two word advert with no picture?! Try using a tripod/base to sit the camera on so that there's no motion blur (no, it doesn't make a guitar play faster if the fingerboards blurry!) and make sure it's well lit. Natural lighting is great for photographing shiny surfaces, indoor lights aren't usually too good!!! Also, be careful with reddish items. Many digital cameras have trouble with red for various reasons so cherry sunbursts etc can look vastly different to real life through them!

Where are you? Many people who are new to selling or have bulky items such as amps often state collection only.....but then forget to mention where they live! Give a town or first half of a postcode. If you don't log on here very often, leave an email address too but do not write it as "name@email.com" as it may get picked up by spambots, instead, try something like "name AT email DOT com" etc - this will help you get less junk email but ensure you get interest still!

Payment Methods Over recent years, paypal has become the standard money transaction method with good reason, it's often traceable if both people are verified, and it's got a reasonably good protection policy. However, many people have started using the "gift" option to avoid paying PP fee's, thist offers no recourse to claim the money back if something goes wrong. If you are not 100% sure that everything will be fine, it's probably better to pay the quid or two and use the standard Paypal "goods" option for added security.

The main benefit of paypal for me is that if you're dealing with a new person, you can pay via credit card which usually covers you up to £500 online regardless of the transaction type.

Failing that, I prefer to use direct bank transfers which can be processed instantly, or a cheque.




I need to expand this thread to cover what happens if a recieved item is not as described (not sure on the legalities?) or faulty. Feel free to add anything else I've missed/gotten wrong, I'll update the original to match.

[Pendragon]

Here's a few tips to help with successful trades on here.

Firstly, remember that this forum is at your own risk, there will be no backup or support from musicradar. They are unable to provide you with another user's details so, on to rule number 1;


Rule 1 - Have an email and a name, address, contact number for each other before you swap items/monies. It saves a lot of hassle if you can't raise that person on this forum if a sale goes sour.....


Rule 2 - Agree in advance a courier and type of delivery, if possible ALWAYS make sure you have a proof of delivery & receipt option on the service and, ideally, relevant amount of insurance cover. Double-check that the insurance covers the item in question being sent, sometimes musical instruments are only covered up to £100 so find another courier!!! If you're not happy with the service that has been chosen by the seller, offer to pay the difference for a courier of your choice. Likewise, if they're delivery charges seem high, point them in the direction of a cheaper service. (e.g. www.interparcel.com are very good for expensive/bulky products)

Rule 3 - If buying a high value instrument, find a way to verify that the owner is authentic. A very simple method of this with a guitar is to ask the user to write a keyword of your choice on a piece of paper and thread it through the strings and then photograph it. Any seller interested in a sale should be happy to oblige, and feel free to point them towards this thread if they're having trouble understanding it!!! Here's an example.....

An alternative would be to photograph the guitar with that day's newspaper etc.

Rule 4 - when selling, the responsibility is on you untill the moment the item is recieved by the buyer. You cannot transfer responsibility to them the moment you post it so if anything goes wrong during transit it is down to you to sort it out.



I need to expand this thread to cover what happens if a recieved item is not as described (not sure on the legalities?) or faulty. Feel free to add anything else I've missed/gotten wrong, I'll update the original to match.

If we get this up to scratch can we sticky it on each classifieds sub-forum please?

Personally, if I were buying/selling/trading on MR I would feel more assurred and relaxed if the transaction was with someone who is a regular forumite [post count > 1000],especially if the individual was known to other MR forum members. Therefore, is there any mileage in listing forum members who have reputably conducted transactions on here and whether they were the buyer or seller? A little like the guitar techie list where we could see who is a recommended, reliable person to deal with.

[guitargeek62]

Personally, if I were buying/selling/trading on MR I would feel more assurred and relaxed if the transaction was with someone who is a regular forumite [post count > 1000],especially if the individual was known to other MR forum members. Therefore, is there any mileage in listing forum members who have reputably conducted transactions on here and whether they were the buyer or seller? A little like the guitar techie list where we could see who is a recommended, reliable person to deal with.

Very true, I mostly deal with the same 5 or so guys on here, but I was aiming at a more generalised overview of buying/selling for new users or people who don't have as much experience as some of the more GASsy members on here.

I got complacent in the summer and forgot to get contact info from a certain someone, it then took 6 months to recieve the item and that was only after threats of legal action. OTT I know for a pedal but I was more annoyed about the principle of it than the value and felt he should be taught a lesson!

[guitargeek62]

Overlords - thanks for the sticky!

[dandadog]

With permission from a mod, let's make a "Good/bad traders list" where everyone who makes a good trade gets their name in the first post, with a multiplier next to it, for example:

user posts:

I've a good deal with so and so, traded for a guitar and all went swimmingly.

Then the op gets updated to:

so and so x 1

Like the system ultimate guitar used to use properly, before it all became slack over there.

I'm happy to make and maintain the thread, should a mod PM me and give me permission.

Edit: Thread is now active under 'Misc'.

[Pendragon]

Very true, I mostly deal with the same 5 or so guys on here, but I was aiming at a more generalised overview of buying/selling for new users or people who don't have as much experience as some of the more GASsy members on here.

I got complacent in the summer and forgot to get contact info from a certain someone, it then took 6 months to recieve the item and that was only after threats of legal action. OTT I know for a pedal but I was more annoyed about the principle of it than the value and felt he should be taught a lesson!

I think what you've posted is excellent advice, especially for the 'trade virgins' like myself.

All I need to do now is learn to take decent photographs ... my photography makes the most beautiful imstrument look like a dog Maybe I should ask Minky to give me some photography tips

[Sporky_McGuffin]

All I need to do now is learn to take decent photographs ... my photography makes the most beautiful imstrument look like a dog Maybe I should ask Minky to give me some photography tips

For pedals and such this is well worth the money - just add a cheapo tripod to hold the camera steady and you should get very good results. I bought one of these a few years back and it made a huge difference.

http://www.backdropsource.co.uk/Prod...ube-with-light

[Pendragon]

For pedals and such this is well worth the money - just add a cheapo tripod to hold the camera steady and you should get very good results. I bought one of these a few years back and it made a huge difference.

http://www.backdropsource.co.uk/Prod...ube-with-light

Good suggestion, the lights are very reasonably priced. Thanks for the tip.

[guitargeek62]

I think what you've posted is excellent advice, especially for the 'trade virgins' like myself.

All I need to do now is learn to take decent photographs ... my photography makes the most beautiful imstrument look like a dog Maybe I should ask Minky to give me some photography tips

Good idea, I'll add a bit about photos!

[dandadog]

Don't forget to check the good/bad traders list to see if they're reputable.