Advice on selling Audio gear on Ebay etc...

[Feanor]

I have sold quite a bit of audio gear on ebay and staging your pictures using a high quality camera with detailed close ups is important. Don't scrimp on the number of photo's and always give a sensible reason for selling.

A glass of wine with a single rose placed next to an amp on a marble table works for me every time. The implication here is that the seller has class and the item is expensive and well cared for.

I strongly agree on the value of good quality pictures.

When I see the likes of the above mentioned wine & roses, I'm inclined to think, as a buyer, that the seller takes me for an irrational person.

[Jim Eck]

A few other things worth mentioning.

Record the serial numbers (even save a photo for your records), and if possible make an identifing mark inside the unit you are selling. There are some buyers on eBay that will buy your working equipment and return to you their broken equipment and want a refund. Also, in your pictures do not picture the serial numbers, that is your information till they buy the unit.

Always sell "As is, no implyed warranty". Delicate electronics even when properly packed can still end up not working after shipping, (in this case it is usually something vibrated lose and not generally sereious). Use plenty of styrofoam for packing, bubble wrap is inadequate as packing material for most electronics. I usually put the unit in a plastic bag then build a hamock of sorts in side the box, centering the unit away from the outsides of a very heavy box or double boxed.

Turntables take a real special treatment for packing. Always remove the platter and pack it seperate, wire the tone arm in place (you might even remove the headshell if it is removable and safely pack it where it can't get loose and cause damage to itself or the turntable or other parts, and plastic wrap the dustcover. I usually put the platter between styrofoam under the rest of the turntable. You can't be creaful enough.

For large speakers you should look to the possiblity of using a common carrier, box them and attach them to a pallet.

Good luck, you can't be careful enough on eBay any more, there are people everywhere out to take advantage.

Jim