I'm not going to get into the technicalities of listing your guitar or items of musical equipment here but thought I would go over some of the things I have learnt both as a customer and as a seller, all of which should help you get the best of deals for yourself. The packaging and delivery information relates to the UK, but I am sure a similar approach to that described may be useful elsewhere.

Timing For Buyers and Sellers
If you are selling don't set your auction to end during a weekday morning or afternoon since you will be missing out on many potential bidders who work normal hours and won't be available to make late bids end auctions after having pushed up the price, sometimes dramatically. By all means do some research on existing auctions selling items similar to those you wish to sell, but in the end you will probably find a weekday, or weekend, evening is the way to go. As to the actual ending time, well to check for the most active times try following eBay auctions which match the one you are about to start and then with that information in mind choose an ending time maybe a few minutes either side of any quarter hour period - for example 8:07pm etc - in an attempt to avoid clashing with the dominant ending times set by other eBay sellers. Obviously, the converse of all of may apply if you are looking to find the best deals!

Delivery for Auction Sellers

I think one of the biggest mistakes sellers of used guitars make on eBay is to offer Pick Up, or Collection, only. Guitars, for example, are bulky and somewhat at risk during shipment, but the difference in the final bidding price can far outweigh the trouble you have to go to in order to generate the highest level of interest. 

If you don't have the box your guitar came in you will need some stout cardboard, bubblewrap and some self-adhesive packaging tape. Rather than try to find a box of the right size I suggest you get hold of any used multiwall cardboard boxes from supermarkets or wherever - and the bigger the better. Alternatively, if you have a local cardboard packaging stockist try them first, you may get some free discarded material - or if you are really lucky your local music shop may give you delivery boxes they were just about to throw away. 

If you start with a box you will need to flatten it out and then use it to cut and tape together a new box large enough to take your guitar (with or without a bag/case) plus a couple of inches (50mm) all around to allow for the bubblewrap which you will use to protect and pad out the box so there are no voids. There are many bubblewrap suppliers on eBay, some offering material for less than £5.00/roll. When assembling your box try to make it to resemble a container with an obvious opening, or lid, like a large shoe box, so your buyer can easily get to the guitar once it arrives. It may help if you use a marker pen to draw arrows and write "open here" in the appropriate places - especially if you use a lot of tape to seal the box.

When you have everything ready you need to go on eBay and find a courier who will deliver your guitar, usually within 48 hours. At the time of writing there were a number of Buy-Now listings in the UK which offered mainland delivery for around £10.00 covering the size and weight of your guitar. If you are planning to deliver something heavy make sure you know the overall weight (including the box) and check its suitability and cost with your chosen courier company. You don't have to buy the service until your auction ends, but you may save time if you choose a courier before starting your auction and get answers to any questions you have at that time, e.g. insurance etc. You might also get a comparative quotation from a service like ParcelForce, but in my experience they can be more expensive than eBay sourced couriers.

So you will now know the total cost to ship your guitar/equipment. You can apply a markup to the total if you like but I prefer the idea of charging the actual cost which potential bidders will see is fair and therefore acceptable.

Delivery for Auction Buyers 

If you are looking to buy a used guitar on eBay you will often find that "pick up or collect only" deals get much poorer bids than items which offer nationwide delivery. But before you write off anything from an address which is beyond a short distance from your home consider the double-courier option. If you see something you would really like to have, even if it may ultimately cost you a little more using this method, it can be a viable option. Of course, it won't work for all collection-only auctions but having done it a few times myself I can say I have found it worthwhile. 

What you have to do is ask the seller, before the end of their auction, to agree that in the event you are the winning bidder you would courier an empty box (including some bubblewrap, packing tape and a return delivery label inside) into which the seller would place their equipment, seal the package and apply the delivery label, and then alert you when it is ready for courier collection (usually by e-mail) at which time you arrange for your courier to collect and deliver it to you.

Important. If you make up a box for this purpose bear in mind it has to be opened easily, will not fall apart during packing and can be easily re-sealed for the return journey back to you.

Sounds like a lot of work - but it can work extremely well. Apart from a few exceptions sellers are happy to go along with the arrangement. Obviously if a seller can't be available during weekdays when a courier might expect to collect an item they will tell you so, in which case look elsewhere.

Finally

Apart from including enough good quality photographs of your guitar consider making a short video as a demonstration, or you might also embed a YouTube video of your guitar being played if one already exists. 

Lastly, do respond to questions by potential bidders without delay and remember other visitors to your auction may also read the comments so as a sales tactic you might also think in terms of addressing them as well as the person asking the question.

If you have any suggestions based on your experience of buying or selling on eBay or other online auctions please share them by commenting on this article.