A Real Newbie Question - How does shipping work?

[Pietor]

Hi All,

I am planning on posting a a guitar for sale on LTG. I see some listings incorporate shipping and some do not. Which is the better strategy? If I do not include shipping, How does that work with the buyer? What other things should I know about the process of listing a guitar on you forum? I am not guitarist, it is a found object from a relative, if we were discussing classic sailboats I'd be much more useful. Thank you in advance.

 

[Westerly Wood]

Most posts I see in Buy & Sell section of LTG are + shipping. As it depends who is buying and where they live, and you cannot always estimate how much it will cost you to ship.

When listing the items, the description I have found most helpful to a potential buyer:

Make, model, year of Guild guitar.
Serial number on sticker or back of headstock
Lots of pictures including of the string action at the 12th fret.
Any detail re blemishes, issues, stuff like that...I know yours is a case queen so probably not a lot of imperfections, but it was in the basement so no telling how that might have impacted the woods over time etc...
Asking price and w or w/o shipping.

 

[Neal]

Shipping is expensive, and gets more expensive the farther apart the buyer is from the seller.

Most sellers build in a cushion in their price + their shipping costs to account for that, so that if the buyer lives on the other side of the country, the seller eats it a little, or if they live a few states away, the seller gains a little. $75-$100 is a good shipping base price to start the negotiation.

What this means, in practical terms, is that some lower-value guitars are not worth shipping.

I like to see lots of pictures of the guitar, front, back and sides, bridge/saddle, and neck. If there is cosmetic damage anywhere on it, that should be carefully documented in both photos and written description. The case, if there is one, should also be documented.

Here on LTG, we like to give the buyer an option to return the guitar if it isn't what they were expecting. The buyer pays return shipping.

 

[mushroom]

Hi
I’d also suggest looking into the appropriate way to package the guitar for shipping.