Trading instruments in shops? Advice?

Creed_Clicks

Hi all. I've never traded stuff into a shop before, so I am not sure if I will be screwed or not, or if it's worth it. My hope, if possible, is to trade 2 guitars, which would be sought after, though not high end at all, and a discontinued good acoustic amp towards a higher end guitar. It would be a good way to offload gear (sounds like "get rid of") to a shop who could sell it on then themselves and who have a good selection of used instruments already.
Let's say I sold the 3 items in question and got what I wanted.  Would be the bones of 800 pounds. A shop is obviously going to want to make it worth their while too, in order to make some money on the resale...

timmypix

If they're worth £800 combined used, that's what the shop will need to be able to sell them for. So in able to make a mark up on them, it's unlikely they'd offer you more than £400–500 on the lot. Compared to selling them yourself, you take a hit, but if it gets you the specific guitar you want and you can't be arsed with the hassle of selling privately, then it might be worth it.

Strangefan

They need to factor in tax as well, also all overheads and wages etc, you won't get a good deal,  but if you're OK with that alla good 

Creed_Clicks

@timmypix yeah, I see what you mean. In relation to the guitar I spotted yes, it could be worth the hit. But I suppose cash is king, and if I walked in with a ball of money and tried to haggle maybe it might be a better option!! 

AlbertC

Not only will the shop offer you far less than you could sell the items for yourself, but they're also far less likely to give you any (i.e. none) discount on the guitar your buying
You lose out twice

Creed_Clicks

Excellent points all. It would really then depend on the guitar in question!

EricTheWeary

I did look at trading with GG and their price was pretty much what I’d hope for in a private sale but then I would also be giving them cash. For just a sale to GG that wouldn’t have been worth it as they knocked another £100 off. 

You can only try and be prepared to walk away. 

CE1

No harm in asking, you might be pleasantly surprised and if not you haven’t lost anything.

Musicwolf

You may also find that shops are reluctant to take multiple items in part exchange for a single instrument.

Work out what you could accept as a minimum, ask them for their best offer and don't be offended if it's too low - but be prepared to walk away if it falls below where you can afford to trade.

Creed_Clicks

Good advice here folks. My thoughts as well is that it looks like I am dumping my tat on the shop to sort out...

downbytheriver

Expectations should also be tempered by what the shop can buy a new one for. You have very little chance of matching that in a trade

TTony

Creed_Clicks said:

My hope, if possible, is to trade 2 guitars, which would be sought after, though not high end at all, and a discontinued good acoustic amp towards a higher end guitar.

If the guitars are "sought after" and not high end, I'd expect them to sell here and to sell here quite quickly if you priced them right.

You'd get more from a sale than as a trade-in, and still sell them quickly.   Then you've got a chance of a better cash deal on the guitar you want to buy.

Selling an amp is more difficult, just because of the shipping logistics.

Creed_Clicks

@TTony "sought after" is probably the wrong word to use. Regular sellers might be the better word. I don't have them for sale here, as I'm not in the UK.

Funkfingers

Do you have enough disposable cash to put down a substantial deposit on the new guitar so that the shop holds it for you while you sell your "rejects" privately?

Creed_Clicks

@Funkfingers yes in theory, I could also potentially buy the guitar, see if I can get a few quid knocked off, and then sell my own stuff, or hope it sells quickly to offset the spend!  

RaymondLin

If an item goes for £500 used on the market all day long, the store will probably offer you £250-300.

You are much better off selling it for £400 yourself, yes you lose £100 but it will be sold very quickly.

Rocky1991

Amps work better selling to shops, can be an absolute arse selling anything big privately

mark123

Sell when e bay have the 80% selling fees on,you will save a few hundred,or if you can't be bothered sell to a shop and if you think you coukd get £800 prepare to get offered £350

prlgmnr

They'll offer you vastly less than you could get for it privately in order to sell it for more than you could sell it for privately to the same people who wouldn't buy it off you when you tried to sell it privately.

aconitethrill

Musicwolf said:

You may also find that shops are reluctant to take multiple items in part exchange for a single instrument.

This has been my experience in the dim and distant past, but things may vary! It may also work against you overall - I'd expect a single guitar worth £800 to attract a better price overall than three guitars worth £260 each. 

I will say that it's absolutely worth asking the question - so many places now have easy online forms for filling out details and getting a quote or estimate so it's easy enough to do and you're not under any obligations.

Unless you're looking to trade for something very specific that's only available in one place, you should also absolutely ask around because strangely the prices you'll get offered do seem to vary quite a bit - I've had several quotes in 2022 and GG are hands-down the lowest every single time - in my experience they offer about 65 - 75% of what other big traders will offer... the flip side being that they tend to have the best stock, so if that's what you need then so be it! Conversely, I've had very good experiences with GAK and A&C Hamilton, and more-than-reasonable offers from Sound Affects and even the dreaded Sell-Us-Your-Guitar... so definitely check around.

Lastly, a lot of places will offer a collection service with trading in, so look out for that as well - obviously you lose out on one of the best bits of buying a new guitar* but it's handy if the thing you're after is miles away!

* ie trying loads of things and deciding at the last minute you want something completely different to the thing you came in for... amirite?

Teacherphil

The shops I've dealt with generally offer you 2/3 of the price they'll sell them for. Some will sell on your behalf. Then offer you something at full price. It's easy to think that they are part of some kind of community where they are your friend and doing some kind of favour but they're not. Personally I'll never do it again