I just have to ask. I see cbgs on Etsy for sale. The first time I looked (months ago) I was considering trying to sell some on there. I saw nice ones on there with legit prices, but I saw a ton that were sad looking and the prices were about the same as I considered posting mine at. Based on what I saw, I decided that Etsy was not the right place to sell. So I'm wondering....does anyone on here sell through Etsy and what kind of luck do you have? I see some of the same cbgs on there today that I saw months ago.
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This is a 3 year late reply, since I just saw this while noodling around. I sell all my cbgs on Etsy except a few that I sell on Reverb (a parallel universe for selling guitar gear) and a rare local direct sale. I make 1-2 a week and I have sold them all. I get rave reviews so I guess they are OK guitars :). Sometimes I wonder if I worked harder could I sell more? Especially at Christmas. For sure, many of the cbgs for sale on Etsy are priced too high and are probably not that good (and don't sell; buyers are not stupid) but yes you can definitely sell cbgs on Etsy. BTW, I love the "ca-ching" sound on my phone when I get a sale. It's the best!
Never too late. It's good to hear that 3 years later, Etsy is still a good selling place for CBGs. I still dont have a ton under my belt...40 or more...and have sold them all locally, word of mouth type sales.
I sell on Etsy, and I currently have more demand than I can currently deal with on there. I work full time and make CBGs in my spare time. Since opening in October I've sold quite a few on Etsy, and I currently have an empty shop while I fulfil 6 custom orders.
The usual common sense stuff applies I think. A link to you playing the guitar is a must, good pictures, and pricing is important. I see a lot of suspiciously cheap CBGs on there.
1) you don't have to be a "musician" to sell your gits, just competent at demonstrating them. 3-5 little riffs, campfire songs, something you can pick and talk about the gits at the same time. in fact being a full blown and awesome musician could even be counter productive, if you are too good and impressive a lot of potential customers may be self conscious and/or intimidated about approaching you. Just good enough for possible customers to realize it's a REAL INSTRUMNET is probably best.
2) if you don't play your own gits some, than I have to ask "how do you know if they are any good?" I agree with the comments about what some folks put on the market as being more of a craft project to hang on the wall, some I saw up for consignment in a local mom-and-pop guitar store were unplayable.
3) speaking of which, guitar stores are to wrong place to sell a CBG. Be somewhere that folks are expecting to spend money but not expecting to guitar shop. Farmer's market, flea market, wine festival, etc.
JL, your point #2 is something I think about. I don't know music but I did a lot of research on building guitars and it seems there is always more to learn. I guess the only thing I can say about my cbgs is that the intonation is set and plays proper on all the frets without buzz. Im sure there's more to it that I haven't learned yet. I've only built about 18 and I was proud of my first. But after 18, I look back at the first and realize, although it had a good sound to it, it really was not playable. I'll have to build one just for me and learn to play. Not only to help me sell, but just for fun around the camp fire.
My biggest turn off on etsy was that there were some really bad ones on there....I mean really bad...and they were asking top dollar. I can imagine it made cbgs look bad in general to people that don't know them.
I've seen some others in my area. Not too many. But they're usually very basic. I haven't built any for a month or so. Need to get back into it. The guy that does my taxes claims to know Bret Michaels and wants to buy one to give to Bret as a gift. I didn't take him very serous. Bret is actually playing at a place 10 minutes from my house in about a month. I'm tempted to test my tax guys story and get one built and see if he can get oe in his hands so he can show it on stage. That would be pretty cool.
Grandpa > Angry Rooster GuitarsMay 5, 2016 at 7:40pm
I'm with you Bob. I saw a lot of quality looking gits and recognized a few sellers by name from here in CB Nation (Wayfinder's Flatpups among them). And yes, there were some sad offerings as well. I thought that there were more sellers than I wanted to compete with. Lots of good info from Etsy on how to market was freely available. I have decided that for now local craft and "artwalk" events are more my speed. Less exposure, but a place to play the gits, demo the amps, and talk to folks. A few buy, but they all leave with a card and a flier, so potential future sales. This is a hobby for me. I've built @ 35 or so, sold about 15 or thereabouts. I'm looking at 14 completed in my garage right now, two in process. Also have given away four or five to deserving folks and kids. I also found some success at fundraising events that incorporate craft vendors who also donate to the event raffles. I don't know how it is around your area, but I still seem to be the only one around my town (a large place) that offers cbg's. Don't forget to have pics on your phone and a git in your truck! When you bring it up lots of folks just might get interested. Good luck, but most of all, enjoy.
Replies
This is a 3 year late reply, since I just saw this while noodling around. I sell all my cbgs on Etsy except a few that I sell on Reverb (a parallel universe for selling guitar gear) and a rare local direct sale. I make 1-2 a week and I have sold them all. I get rave reviews so I guess they are OK guitars :). Sometimes I wonder if I worked harder could I sell more? Especially at Christmas. For sure, many of the cbgs for sale on Etsy are priced too high and are probably not that good (and don't sell; buyers are not stupid) but yes you can definitely sell cbgs on Etsy. BTW, I love the "ca-ching" sound on my phone when I get a sale. It's the best!
Never too late. It's good to hear that 3 years later, Etsy is still a good selling place for CBGs. I still dont have a ton under my belt...40 or more...and have sold them all locally, word of mouth type sales.
I have tried to sell there for about 2 years, I have never sold not one guitar!
I have sold my cigar box music cds and dvds, very few, about 15 in 2 years, so its very limited, to be honest ebay is much better.
The usual common sense stuff applies I think. A link to you playing the guitar is a must, good pictures, and pricing is important. I see a lot of suspiciously cheap CBGs on there.
1) you don't have to be a "musician" to sell your gits, just competent at demonstrating them. 3-5 little riffs, campfire songs, something you can pick and talk about the gits at the same time. in fact being a full blown and awesome musician could even be counter productive, if you are too good and impressive a lot of potential customers may be self conscious and/or intimidated about approaching you. Just good enough for possible customers to realize it's a REAL INSTRUMNET is probably best.
2) if you don't play your own gits some, than I have to ask "how do you know if they are any good?" I agree with the comments about what some folks put on the market as being more of a craft project to hang on the wall, some I saw up for consignment in a local mom-and-pop guitar store were unplayable.
3) speaking of which, guitar stores are to wrong place to sell a CBG. Be somewhere that folks are expecting to spend money but not expecting to guitar shop. Farmer's market, flea market, wine festival, etc.
I'm with you Bob. I saw a lot of quality looking gits and recognized a few sellers by name from here in CB Nation (Wayfinder's Flatpups among them). And yes, there were some sad offerings as well. I thought that there were more sellers than I wanted to compete with. Lots of good info from Etsy on how to market was freely available. I have decided that for now local craft and "artwalk" events are more my speed. Less exposure, but a place to play the gits, demo the amps, and talk to folks. A few buy, but they all leave with a card and a flier, so potential future sales. This is a hobby for me. I've built @ 35 or so, sold about 15 or thereabouts. I'm looking at 14 completed in my garage right now, two in process. Also have given away four or five to deserving folks and kids. I also found some success at fundraising events that incorporate craft vendors who also donate to the event raffles. I don't know how it is around your area, but I still seem to be the only one around my town (a large place) that offers cbg's. Don't forget to have pics on your phone and a git in your truck! When you bring it up lots of folks just might get interested. Good luck, but most of all, enjoy.