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