Tips on How to Get the Best Deals Online

Planning on purchasing your next axe online? If you are, this guide might help you with the process, aid you in getting a good deal and save you a lot of money in the process as well!

Buying a guitar online is just a great option, and in so many ways: it’s convenient, easy, and you can find some very cool vintage guitars and other kickass axes on eBay, Amazon and other place online.

Use the following list of methods to learn about the process of buying a guitar online, and score some great deals whenever you buy on eBay for instance. Do chip in with your feedback in the comments at the end of the article!

1. Look at local auctions and sellers: With guitars, shipping and handling remains a big risk, which is why many sellers will list the guitar as a local pickup only. If the seller is from a small town, a place which is not too well known or a bit far off from a large city center (where there could be a higher competition for the guitar), you have a much higher chance of scoring a great deal because there will be significantly less competition for the guitar he’s selling. For instance I was once able to land a signature Epiphone Les Paul for less than $400 from a seller who was in a small town around 20 kilometers away, used it for a good 5 years and then sold it off for $500 because it was listed for sale in where I lived – the biggest city in the state.

2. Wait till the very end to bid: As a rule of thumb, when you purchase something online, never get into a bidding war, because bidding wars are good for the seller, but bad for you. Instead, bid at the last second, instead of bidding early, as the latter could see you start a bidding war.  If you wait for the very last second (place your bid in the final few minutes before the bid closes down), the person you out-bid will probably not have enough time to place a counter-offer. This process is called ‘sniping’ and could potentially get you a tremendous deal. Of course a lot depends on your luck as well. You could even use some of the widely-available sniping software available out there for the purpose.

3. Items listed in the incorrect category: A lot of times, you’ll end up seeing items which have been listed in incorrect categories. Electronics in sporting goods, cellphones in the antiques category, gaming consoles in the clothing sections and so on and so forth. Similarly, you will often come across guitars listed in incorrect categories, instead of the correct category which is musical instruments. Incorrectly listed items are a sure-shot way of landing a great deal, and even a downright bargain. Just a couple of months back, using this technique, I bought a Telecaster, complete with an Fender amp for half of what it should’ve gone for, one of the best bargains I’ve ever come across.

4. Completed items filter: A rather sneaky method of potentially landing a great deal, but totally legit. On eBay for instance, if you search for something, such as a guitar, scroll down a bit and keep your eye on the left-hand bar and look for a filter that says ‘completed listings’ (under ‘Show only). This lets you filter the search results by completed listings – auctions that have ended. Under this, any items which has its price highlighted in red indicates that it did not sell before the bid expired, and it could be for a multitude of reasons. Send the seller an email, give him/her an offer and maybe you’ll get lucky this way.

5. Buy outside eBay: eBay and other online merchants charge a FVF – which essentially means that they take a cut of whatever price an item sells for and charge the seller. It’s a really small percentage, usually not a lot, but on an expensive guitar, even 0.2% could mean a large sum of money. Provided that both the buyer and the seller have good feedback/rep, you could try closing the deal outside eBay, and offer them less than what they were selling the item for on eBay. You get your guitar on a cheaper price, and the seller’s still able to sell his guitar as the same price as he would’ve if he would’ve paid the FVF. Ditto for Paypal, which also charges the seller and takes a percentage of the deal. Ditch both services and you could save some money, however be careful about it.

6. Using other filters: Using filters such as sorting/filtering results by the ‘Buy It Now ‘and ‘newly listed’ to show only the latest Buy It Now results. Sellers often sell their guitars for great Buy It Now prices, in order to get a quick sale, so do keep an eye out for such deals. Alternatively, you could ask sellers if they would want to end the auction earlier by selling for a specific price or not.

So there we have it, 6 great methods of scoring a sweet deal when buying a guitar online. What methods and techniques do you use, when buying a guitar on eBay or any online merchant? If you’ve got any tips, or feedback on the article, do leave us your comment in the comments section!