I've been trying to sell a tube head for months through craigslist. I get tones of scam emails asking to send checks and have some pickup service, and only a single serious buyer who ended up backing out. Im curious if anyone has used GC's trade-in service and how good it is? I only ask because the closed GC is a couple hours away and my car gets bad mileage and has no A/C. If I'm going to take the time to do it, I want it to be worth the journey
The head went for like $700 new and ive been asking $250 for it. Any ideas how GC will calculate the value? Will they give you cash or just store credit? How selective are they for what they take? I did check their site but it really only says you'll get an extra 10% off if you put the credit towards something new, and that they do take power amps. If there's any GC employees that could give an estimate, its a B52 ST100A in decent condition with no bad tubes.
EDIT: if anyone knows of other good music-oriented classified sites besides craigslist, let me know!
I've done it before. It's an ok solution for getting rid of gear that you can't move on CL.
Here's the thing--you should get between 40-60% of new price for your gear IF it's fairly popular and they think they can sell it for a good price in a reasonable amount of time.
For instance, I traded in a like-new Peavey Valveking 100 head and got almost nothing for it. They already had 2 used ones in that store, and they hadn't moved them very quickly.
In contrast, I received $400 or so for a Phantom Guitarworks Teardrop guitar (which I paid $350 for used), because it was in great shape, well-built, and somewhat of a rarity.
Vintage gear tends to do ok too--you may have to wait a bit if you're on the East Coast and show up in the morning, because they need to check with their vintage appraisal team located in CA.
The problem with your B-52 is that it's not a particularly popular amp. They've had plenty of durability/QC issues in the past, and don't have a particularly good reputation. If I was to venture a guess, you'd likely get around $150 for it (possibly more, if they feel generous), based on what I'm seeing used ones priced at on the web (the appear to be going for around $230 or so).
From my experience, you'll always get super lowballed.
[GEAR] Guitar Center/ Sam ash: Trade in Value
Anyone go through the Guitar Center trade-in process?
I've done it before. It's an ok solution for getting rid of gear that you can't move on CL.
Here's the thing--you should get between 40-60% of new price for your gear IF it's fairly popular and they think they can sell it for a good price in a reasonable amount of time.
For instance, I traded in a like-new Peavey Valveking 100 head and got almost nothing for it. They already had 2 used ones in that store, and they hadn't moved them very quickly.
In contrast, I received $400 or so for a Phantom Guitarworks Teardrop guitar (which I paid $350 for used), because it was in great shape, well-built, and somewhat of a rarity.
Vintage gear tends to do ok too--you may have to wait a bit if you're on the East Coast and show up in the morning, because they need to check with their vintage appraisal team located in CA.
The problem with your B-52 is that it's not a particularly popular amp. They've had plenty of durability/QC issues in the past, and don't have a particularly good reputation. If I was to venture a guess, you'd likely get around $150 for it (possibly more, if they feel generous), based on what I'm seeing used ones priced at on the web (the appear to be going for around $230 or so).
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