Reverb was sold by ETSY to Fender.

[itu]

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/etsy-sold-reverb-com.1172803/

[bassbloke]

Interesting.  You can only sell so many new guitars, so makes sense to get piece of the used market.

[ped]

2 minutes ago, bassbloke said:

Interesting.  You can only sell so many new guitars, so makes sense to get piece of the used market.

..or destroy it!

[Beedster]

As a buyer I won't use Reverb any more, their complaint handling was chaotic and ineffective. Given how seamless other selling sites are, and how well most protect the buyer ahead of the seller, the idea that half way through a complaint raised on their website they required me to start again via email because they had no way of my sending them a sound file of the problem - it's a site specialising in musical instruments FFS - and then requiring me to start the whole process again was reminiscent of the 1990s 😡

 

On the above basis probably a good place to sell however ..... 🤔

[kodiakblair]

Anyone read the replies ?

 

Post #1 says Reverb bought by Fender's owner's Servco r. What follows is a whole load of waffle where folk think Servco buying Reverb means they have FMIC running it, one eejit even says he's glad no generic private equity firms are in control.

 

Guess joined up thinking is a thing of the past 🤣

[itu]

50 minutes ago, kodiakblair said:

Post #1 says Reverb bought by Fender's owner's Servco r. What follows is a whole load of waffle where folk think Servco buying Reverb means they have FMIC running it...

True. Far more exact comment than I wrote.

[Hellzero]

That's good for Reverb as I really don't know how they really make money with all these overpriced items...

 

I've sold a very few items there and bought even less, as you have to be posh to buy as everything is overpriced all the time.

 

That said, I once lodge a complaint for a set of pickups I had bought that weren't new as mentioned and after a few photos and text exchanges with Reverb's service, I got the partial refund I had asked.

 

But I had no audio files to send that said @Beedster.

 

To me, eBay complaint management is way worse as they only protect the seller and have always done so.

[floFC]

Another article from Guitar World:

https://www.guitarworld.com/music-industry/reverb-is-sold-by-etsy-and-acquired-by-two-new-investors

[BassApprentice]

Hmmm interesting.

 

I can guarantee you will see "Certified Pre-Owned Fenders" for sale very soon. Bascially a second hand guitar with a warranty that costs less than new, but more than a private seller would charge. I've seen Mike Lull do it as well as Rolex. Basically a market control exercise.

Edited 11 hours ago by BassApprentice

[Burns-bass]

19 minutes ago, BassApprentice said:

Hmmm interesting.

 

I can guarantee you will see "Certified Pre-Owned Fenders" for sale very soon. Bascially a second hand guitar with a warranty that costs less than new, but more than a private seller would charge. I've seen Mike Lull do it as well as Rolex. Basically a market control exercise.

 

100% this.

[tegs07]

50 minutes ago, BassApprentice said:

Hmmm interesting.

 

I can guarantee you will see "Certified Pre-Owned Fenders" for sale very soon. Bascially a second hand guitar with a warranty that costs less than new, but more than a private seller would charge. I've seen Mike Lull do it as well as Rolex. Basically a market control exercise.

TBH for a used Fender this is not a bad idea. There are so many fakes out there buying online is becoming a gamble even for people who know what to look out for.

[Wolfram]

I won't use Reverb any more. A few years ago I bought a guitar and left a 4* review for the seller - one star knocked off because it arrived with a ding that wasn't disclosed (I asked the seller about condition and was told no scratches or dings) and the setup was so bad it was virtually unplayable.

 

The seller left me 1* feedback as a buyer, with the comment being the text of the email I sent explaining the issue... so I had 1* feedback and they made it look like I was the one at fault. 

 

I complained to Reverb and they sided with the seller. They supported the seller when he said they would remove the 1* feedback if I changed mine to 5*.

 

At that point I lost all confidence in the platform. Ratings are clearly fake. As a business I used to sell through Reverb, but stopped immediately - as a small business owner, integrity is central to everything I do and I refuse to support or be associated with a platform that endorses and supports bullying. 

 

It's great for searching for things. But I only buy them if they're from a dealer whose website I can visit - and usually pick it up a few hundred quid cheaper direct!

[kodiakblair]

1 hour ago, BassApprentice said:

Basically a market control exercise.

Can't be, quote from the Digital Music article

 

"Notwithstanding the buyers’ Fender holdings, Reverb went ahead and pledged not to provide preferential treatment to the instruments giant."

 

Of course they may well be lying 🤣

 

 Serious note though, if Servco/Creative have dropped $3-400 million just bolster FMIC then, even after dumping 300 staff to lower production numbers, sales must be really pi$$ poor.

[SteveXFR]

Will there be a cheaper and better quality Japanese version of Reverb?

[asingardenof]

6 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

Anyone read the replies ?

 

Post #1 says Reverb bought by Fender's owner's Servco r. What follows is a whole load of waffle where folk think Servco buying Reverb means they have FMIC running it, one eejit even says he's glad no generic private equity firms are in control.

 

Guess joined up thinking is a thing of the past 🤣

*gestures vaguely at Brexit, Trump, etc.*

[Reverb]

Oh hey — Reverb here. 👋 Just to clarify, Reverb is not being purchased by Fender. Two new investors—Creator Partners + Servco—have entered an agreement to purchase Reverb.

I think the confusion probably stems from the fact that Servco has a long history with Fender stretching back to the '50s, and is now a majority owner of Fender.

Once the deal closes, although we'll share a common investor with Fender, Reverb will be a privately-held, independently operated company.

 

You can read more on our blog. Cheers! 

[chriswareham]

The problem I had as a seller on Reverb is the US centric nature of it. For instance, I sold a Yamaha drum machine on there. The US buyer complained about the import taxes and then opened a return as the machine had a UK mains plug (there was a voltage selector on the unit and that was clearly stated in the description).

 

That was just one example of a few similar selling experiences. As a buyer, a synthesiser I bought arrived in a sack. Let me reiterate that, shipped internationally in a cloth bag. Unsurprisingly it arrived in bits, but the seller even had the gall to dispute my claim of a refund.

[Doctor J]

4 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

Will there be a cheaper and better quality Japanese version of Reverb?

 

Updates to the Reverb app will be exactly the same as the previous version, just with different colours.

[LeftyJ]

Will they be renaming it to Deluxe Reverb or Twin Reverb now? 

[SteveXFR]

44 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

 

Updates to the Reverb app will be exactly the same as the previous version, just with different colours.

 

I'm looking forward to the road worn Steve Jobs signature model app

[Grahambythesea]

Whilst there do seem to be a lot of optimistically priced guitars on Reverb, I’ve bought 2 on it at good prices both from private sellers who were excellent to deal with. The site is just another business so who owns it probably won’t make a jot of difference.

[RichT]

This is how I received a bass the last time I bought via Reverb almost 4 years ago, sold by some idiot who could only be bothered to post it 3 weeks after I'd paid for it. Once unwrapped ('unboxed' would be entirely inappropriate) I found it unpadded, dirty and covered end to end in flecks of white paint, with the worst setup I've ever seen.

 

As Wolfram said above, I've used the site to browse since but I've then tried to find the retailer's own website to buy direct. I'm extremely hesitant to ever buy privately off Reverb again. Awful experience. 

 

 

[Lozz196]

Hmmm, I suppose I’ve been lucky then. Admittedly only bought two items from Reverb, both basses, one collected the other posted. Both were good transactions, can’t remember how well the posted one was packaged which to me says must have been good as I’m sure I’d remember a clown-show.