Reverb To Increase Selling Fee

[Spike]

Just got the notice that Reverb is increasing their selling fee from 3.5% to 5%.

Seems like a bad time to increase fees, similar to what YouTube TV just did...

Thoughts?

[uwmcscott]

I saw the same email, I am not a fan. Not sure that any of the proposed investments in marketing or support are worth it either. But they pretty much have the corner on that market, time will tell if it pays off for them or not.

[PsychoCid]

Rates are going up everywhere. FedEx just went up 30% on business contracts. Thirty. That happens every year though. If you don't have enough volume, you just pull trucks off the road until your capacity is "scarce" again.

But in all seriousness people think prices should be going down because the economy is down. Quite the contrary, some businesses are currently making RECORD profits.

[honyock]

it was just a matter of time once Etsy bought them...oddly it just so happens to match their 5% fee too...

Wonder how long until Ebay bumps theirs up to match.

[Flatline]

Just remember they're doing this to help YOU!

[mozz]

Next comes more of the fine print. Just like eBay, screw the small sellers and cater to the bigger money sellers.

[Flatline]

Don't forget the payment processing fee so total that'll be:

5% Selling Fee
+ 2.7% + $0.25 Payment Processing Fee
= 7.7% + $0.25 Total Fees

[LightWingStudios]

ADD IN if your Buyer uses Paypal...if you qualify and use the "feature"...Paypal Instant Transfers are ANOTHER 1% tho they have waived that for the last few months and reinstated them on 7/1/20.

[honyock]

I wonder how long until they start adding a fee just to list your item ala Etsy.

[golem]

The fees are getting high. I don't like Ebay fees much better.

[uwmcscott]

Wonder how long until Ebay bumps theirs up to match.

You know I never noticed that Ebay had a special fee of 3.5% to match reverb just for the guitars/basses category until I just went and looked. I always thought it was 10% across the board. I sell other stuff on eBay but not usually guitars. I generally wait until they have special offers for flat-rate FVF fees, which happens pretty often as of late - sometimes you can get either half-price or even flat fee $20 , which is a great deal on a more expensive item.

But yeah, I would expect them to follow.

Even with the increase, Reverb is still the best place to get your guitar in front of other guitar people I think, and they do offer a much better discount on shipping than eBay does.

Bottom line though, you are still far better selling via a forum like this or others and working out a deal with like minded folks.

I do also think we we are definitely seeing a slowdown in guitar sale, stuff I had posted or items I have been watching have been sitting on Reverb for months.

[mozz]

I wonder how long until they start adding a fee just to list your item ala Etsy.

Listed masks on Etsy, now I start seeing these $ 1.20 fees being taken out, every month I think. Slowly erodes any profit I was making.

[honyock]

Wonder how long until Ebay bumps theirs up to match.

You know I never noticed that Ebay had a special fee of 3.5% to match reverb just for the guitars/basses category until I just went and looked. I always thought it was 10% across the board. I sell other stuff on eBay but not usually guitars. I generally wait until they have special offers for flat-rate FVF fees, which happens pretty often as of late - sometimes you can get either half-price or even flat fee $20 , which is a great deal on a more expensive item.

But yeah, I would expect them to follow.

Even with the increase, Reverb is still the best place to get your guitar in front of other guitar people I think, and they do offer a much better discount on shipping than eBay does.

Bottom line though, you are still far better selling via a forum like this or others and working out a deal with like minded folks.

I do also think we we are definitely seeing a slowdown in guitar sale, stuff I had posted or items I have been watching have been sitting on Reverb for months.

I agree about the slowdown in general. Unless you are selling something rare/unique or well below market value, stuff sits and sits.

Maybe with tax day tomorrow, there will be an uptick in purchases that I used to see in around April 15.

[uwmcscott]

I agree about the slowdown in general. Unless you are selling something rare/unique or well below market value, stuff sits and sits.

Maybe with tax day tomorrow, there will be an uptick in purchases that I used to see in around April 15.

People are definitely looking, I had my 73 deluxe listed for a while just as a feeler when I found out i was getting laid off and I had literally thousands of hits and almost 100 watchers, but only lowball offers. Thankfully I came to my senses and pulled the listing after playing it again, i'll only do that again if I get really desparate

But i don't think they are buying. Even with lower priced stuff - look at the handful of SX Liquids and other Rondo offerings Kurt has on Reverb that have been sitting for months. Same with the eclectic mix of stuff I have on my watch list, stuff is still sitting even when they mark it down significantly.

[rrobbone]

Looks like my stuff will get bumped up in price this time. I'll leave what's already posted at current prices, but I'll be passing the extra fees onto the customers from now on. I've eaten every increase so far, and I usually end up going 60/40% with my customers on shipping fees as it stands (I pay the 60%). My prices are already pretty low considering what I'm doing.

I'll be reconsidering what my pricing structure is with the next batch. I've got an across-the-board five star feedback rating - time to see what that's worth.

This was only a matter of time once Etsy bought Reverb, and I'm surprised it hasn't happened before now. Still, 5% seems to be the norm, and I don't really see the increase killing my humble sales numbers.

It'll still be what I've always considered it to be, a hobby that pays for itself and a little besides.

[kurtzentmaier]

I remember a time when we used to sell most of our guitars on eBay. Then eBay started raising their fees every year - right around when the NAMM show was. We slowly moved our stuff of eBay and developed out own site. Reverb's fees were low enough that is was almost as cheap to sell on there as our web site (when considering development costs, credit card fees etc) but maybe no longer. We already reduced our listings a bit when they removed the bundling feature 2 months ago....

[rrobbone]

They'll move their pricing/profit structure in, as we knew they would.

This will allow another start up to come in and steal the thunder, as CME did with Reverb. It'll be another good party until that entity gets pillaged. Such is the way of things in the digital era.

I'll surf the waves until then. We're just headed into ebb tide.