Best Place to Sell?

[Lugs]

Moving house and I am either considering putting my hi-fi in rented storage or selling it.

Is E-Bay the best place to sell it. Or is there somewhere better to sell high end kit without the fees?

Also am I better selling it as individual components or as a complete system? Seems a shame to break it up.

Also what value should I be looking for. 1/3rd of original retail price?

Thanks and regards

 

[Andrew Everard]

Respondents please be aware of House Rules.

 

[Anonymous]

depends what the components are? .... if they are good, you will get a reasonable price if properly advertised ...

if not, you may not get any bids

you also need to do research on ebay (completed items) to get a clear indication of what the components are worth

a few things to consider .... either sell the whole setup as a unit, or sell the individual components seperately...

There are a few 'tricks' to selling succesfully on ebay

 

[Big Chris]

Depends what kit it is and how realistic your expectations are.

A trawl throuh Ebay shows pages and pages or Arcams, Kefs, etc, etc and as such the choice on offer usually means your return will not be the best. In this instance (Unless it's a 'cult' item). If that's the case, you might want to consider storing it. If it's rare stuff then you're more likely to get a better price just because of the paucity of other similar items.

 

[Anonymous]

Big Chris:

Depends what kit it is and how realistic your expectations are.

A trawl throuh Ebay shows pages and pages or Arcams, Kefs, etc, etc and as such the choice on offer usually means your return will not be the best. In this instance (Unless it's a 'cult' item). If that's the case, you might want to consider storing it. If it's rare stuff then you're more likely to get a better price just because of the paucity of other similar items.

depends how you sell and where you sell ....

if you list worldwide, (excluding countries that have different power i.e.110v etc), you are bound to get a better price especially if the items are British and good quality

you also need to list in 2 categories, list for 10 days, make sure the listing ends at approx 9pm uk time and on a weekday, and you need to use ebay pulse to get keywords for your title ....

I have found that by listing the item at a very low price and in auction format (not buy it now), ... for a 10 day period ... one tends to get the best price (when correctly advertised on ebay)

 

[JamesOK]

I have sold a lot of equipment on eBay and found it to be totally painless. Last things I sold were an Arcam A85 and P85. I advertised them seperately but offered a free interconnect if a single person bought both items. I got about £250 for both amps which I was happy with (ie £500 altogether). Just be sure to get the delivery cost right as hifi equipment is heavy!

 

[Anonymous]

JamesOK:Just be sure to get the delivery cost right as hifi equipment is heavy!

ship via courier (parcel2go.com) ... it's not all that expensive

but most importantly is that you pack the items very securely and safely .... with hifi equip such as amps etc, I would suggest buying these large plastic lidded containers (cost approx £10) ...

use loads of bubblewrap and polystyrene chips ... add the extra cost of packaging to the shipping cost, but make mention in the listing that you will be using the plastic container etc ....

and insure the item for the cost sold plus the shipping cost

 

[JoelSim]

Sell as separate items. In my experience a system will never get as much as selling all the components separately. eBay is as good as anywhere to sell.

 

[Anonymous]

Lugs: ...I am either considering putting my hi-fi in rented storage or selling it. ... high end kit ..., ... shame to break it up. ... 1/3rd of original retail price...

I would like to say - put it in rented storage.

 

[JamesOK]

JoelSim:Sell as separate items. In my experience a system will never get as much as selling all the components separately. eBay is as good as anywhere to sell.

At least if you sell seperately a buyer has the option to buy more than one of your items if they want to.

 

[Anonymous]

I bought some of my stuff on EBay and I have a golden rule that I NEVER pay more than half the current retail, less if the kit is over a year old. Expecting one third of new price and hoping for half is a good rule of thumb.

People will plague you with "how much to ship to ...." questions for stuff. It really gets my goat. I've taken to telling them either a fixed fee based on Parcelforce size and weight for the UK or telling them to go to the DHL website and work it out for themselves based on the local DHL depot postcode and their own. Some muppet recently asked me for prices for shipping 20 kg floorstanders to Macedonia or Albania or somewhere equally daft. Just tell 'em it isn't practical or limit you sale to UK buyers only.

The other thing that gets me mad is that EBay own Paypal, and so they take a bite of the cherry on the auction fee, fair enough, BUT they then take a second bite on the Paypal fees. Something else to bear in mind.

If you live in a large urban connurbation, then there may be a local greensheet type paper that you can advertise in for reasonable fees. You'll often get good responses and buyers who turn up with wads of nice crispy tenners.

Finally, I'd avoid craigslist like the plague. It started out as a nice dippy-hippy thing, but lately it seems to have been taken over by crackheads and con artists.

 

[caddyhound]

Ebay reaches the biggest market and you may get a better price.Against that are the fees which total around 14% if Paypal is used.There are two excellent hifi sites for classified ads - www.hifiwigwam.com or www.hifi-adverts.co.uk which are free once registered but may take longer to sell.For shipment use www.interparcel.com ,they offer a choice of options regarding time and couriers at rates much less than you would expect.Don't forget cost of bubblewrap,insurance on the package and the inevitable VAT.Good luck if you decide to sell!

 

[Anonymous]

Andrew Everard:Respondents please be aware of House Rules.

As Andrew highlights, answering the question is made tricky given the WHF rules regarding linking other forums.

Options:

- local adverts/newspapers etc (low circulation, 'safe' method as buyer collects/hears the gear and low fees)

- likes of preloved and guntree (still predominantly local/regional circulation, low fees)

- hifi forums (there are 3-5 significant sites with classified sections, one of which is particularly active), no fees, set your rules regarding collection/postage, choose payment method, partially based on reputations and 'trust' within a community, specialist audience - can work well for certain types of gear more than others).

- eBay (widest audience, high fees, often will fetch highest price, highest chance of dissatisfaction - buyer cannot view, risk in transit)

I've used all and tend to try hifi forums first with eBay as backup.

Rob

 

[Lugs]

Thanks to all who replied.