Good Things Seldom Last

richardp69

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Just got a message today from Reverb that they will be bought out by Ebay. Still a stand alone entity but I suspect get ready for higher fees.
 

twocorgis

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Well that just sucks. I'll bet they won't be a "stand-alone entity" at all, or for very long. Say hello to 10% final value fees plus 3.5% for PayPal.
 

richardp69

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richardp69

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Not sure this will work. (spry if it doesn't) I copied and pasted the message I receive this a.m.


Dear Richard,

I have some exciting news to share. Earlier today, we announced that we signed an agreement to be acquired by Etsy. We expect the acquisition to close in the coming months. When it does, Reverb will remain a standalone business, but will have the added support of Etsy—the global online marketplace for handmade and vintage items, with millions of buyers and sellers from nearly every country in the world.

With Etsy as our parent company, we’ll remain the marketplace built for the music community by a team of musicians and music lovers. Your ability to buy, sell, learn, and connect on Reverb will not change. At the same time, we’ll have added resources to continue growing and improving the Reverb community. You can read more on our blog.

Thank you for helping us get to this exciting point. Without you, Reverb is just a website. Because of you, Reverb is the best community online for musicians and music lovers from all over the world to connect over the perfect piece of gear. And together with Etsy, we’ll continue to make the world more musical together.

To Reverb’s next chapter,
David Kalt
CEO / Foun
 

txbumper57

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Thanks for the link Clydetower. I don't for see too many changes to Reverb with Etsy owning them. They are already a profitable business and I don't think Etsy would want to damage Reverb's Built in customer base. Thank goodness it is not Ebay buying Reverb. That would have been a real bummer!

TX
 

walrus

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That's interesting. Etsy is a marketplace for handicrafts, etc. Not sure how guitars fit in...

walrus
 

twocorgis

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Thanks for the link Clydetower. I don't for see too many changes to Reverb with Etsy owning them. They are already a profitable business and I don't think Etsy would want to damage Reverb's Built in customer base. Thank goodness it is not Ebay buying Reverb. That would have been a real bummer!

TX

It sure would have TX. I know Richard likes them, but I'm not an eBay fan at all.
 

txbumper57

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That's interesting. Etsy is a marketplace for handicrafts, etc. Not sure how guitars fit in...

walrus

Thankfully they made a point to state that Reverb would continue to be it's own company so I don't see them merging Etsy and Reverb online. I doubt many of us will even notice that much of a change after the acquisition is complete.


It sure would have TX. I know Richard likes them, but I'm not an eBay fan at all.

To me Ebay is kind of like the evil Empire in the way they let you communicate between buyers and sellers. There are a lot of little details to be discussed when purchasing a guitar, especially an expensive one and the fact that Ebay blocks your message if you include a phone number in it is kind of BS to me. You can't even legally discuss an offer with the buyer under their policies without actually hitting the make offer button, of which you can only make 2 offers before you are automatically blocked from the item. I know that some folks try to buy outside of Ebay but you have to remember if you do that you are not protected under their buyer protection policy. It almost seems as if Ebay frowns upon open communication between the buyers and sellers as they moderate what content you can discuss.

The thing I love about Reverb is that they encourage open communication between buyers and sellers so all the info is out there to be discussed including making offers. Reverb took everything that was wrong with Ebay and corrected it. Then they lowered their fees to a fair rate which in turn really put the squeeze on Ebay. I hope Reverb stays around for a long, long time.


TX
 
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richardp69

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Just to be fair. It's not permitted to have your phone # on a Reverb listing or a Reverb message either. They don't always catch it but when they do they go in themselves and remove it from your listing. It's happened to me more than once for sure.

So, to be clear, at least in my opinion, every site has both advantages and disadvantages. I actually prefer dealing on Reverb but Ebay does have some good points. Like Ebay Bucks for example. I've earned up to $450 in one quarter and you can use them on anything. They are not in lieu of your sales revenue or partial revenue, they are in addition to. They also at times off a 10% off promotion (usually limited to $100 or less) but it's still $100. Lastly, and this has been the deal clincher for me on more than one occasion, PayPal (owned by Ebay) will fairly often offer 24 month interest free financing on any item over $600 purchased on Ebay. I love using other peoples money.

Now, Reverb will always have a special place in my heart because they alone forced Ebay to reduce their final value fees and that's no small thing. They surely would not have done it on their own. But to me, that's just Capitalism, Competition and Free Enterprise at work. I'm pretty sure if I owned a company I would maximize profits to whatever the market would bear until such time as competition told me I couldn't do that anymore.

Lastly, the PayPal (or credit card fee on Reverb) is nearly identical for both Ebay and Reverb. And to me at least, that's the deal of the century. They collect your money, tell you when it's o.k. to ship, are part of the dispute process and then deposit your money into your account. I'll pay 3% for that service any day of the week.

I don't want to sound like I'm saying Ebay is the best thing on the planet because it's not. But, I do think that some people seem to just echo what other folks criticize about them without really understanding the whole picture or admitting that although not perfect, they do have positive points as well.

I know I'm in the minority here and that's o.k. because I often am. We could debate this all day but I don't intend to. This is all I'm saying on the matter. Over and out.
 

AcornHouse

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My apologies. You are absolutely correct. I read the message from Reverb, saw the four letters and immediately jumped to the conclusion it was Ebay. Sorry for the confusion. I don't know anything about Etsy. I likely should but I surely don't.
Turn off your brain’s autocorrect!
 

adorshki

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This is all I'm saying on the matter. Over and out.

It was cogent, well said, and useful for folks who really want to try to maximize the tools at their disposal, especially coming from someone skilled in their use himself.
Thanks on their behalf.
:tranquillity:
 

Quantum Strummer

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Sounds like a decent deal to me. Also sounds IMO like Kalt rather than Etsy was the instigator, or at least that he welcomed the Etsy offer if one was made. He strikes me as the kinda guy who likes to keep finding something new to get involved in.

-Dave-
 

GAD

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It was a perhaps unsuccessful attempt at humor. Your brain saw "etsy", may or may not have understood it, but autocorrected it (spellchecked it?) to "eBay".

Brought you you by the Frono-bot joke'splainer 5000.
 
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