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Volume 29, No. 3 - March 2005
Anderson, Michael: Buying and Selling Trumpet Gear Online Mar05/70
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The Internet, with its vast resources, offers an unprecedented volume of information to trumpet players. ITG offers this column as an introduction to this exponentially expanding resource. ITG cannot guarantee that these locations are completely accurate, and that all copyright laws have been observed. For suggestions and/or comments, contact Michael Anderson, website@trumpetguild.org
Buying and Selling Trumpet Gear Online
THIS COLUMN IS DEDICATED to the buying and selling of trumpets and related equipment online through the Internet. There is an enormous amount of business being conducted online these days and the music business is no exception. It is much more convenient and safe to purchase new and used equipment of all kinds online than it used to be. This column is intended as a primer to those who are interested in getting started buying or selling online. It is geared toward trumpet equipment, but could be applied to just about anything.
There are three ways to buy or sell trumpet gear online: 1) Purchase from a known, reputable business through their online catalog and web store; 2) Purchase from or sell to a business or individual by participating in an online auction; or 3) Purchase from or sell directly to another individual not through an auction site.
Most musical instrument manufacturers have online catalogs, but the major companies often require purchasing through a dealer. Some dealers offer online stores where you can actually purchase the item from their web storefront. Several music stores offer online purchasing of new instruments and other gear. Most of them have trial periods for horns and will accept the instrument back if you are not happy with it. With some digging you can often find used instruments in stock on these sites as well. A few of the leading companies in this category are: The Woodwind & Brasswind (http://www.wwbw.com/Brass-d13.music), Wichita Band Instrument Company (http://www.wichitaband.com/), and Tulsa Band Instruments (http://www.tulsaband.com/).
There are several instrument resellers who specialize in marketing and reselling used instruments through their web sites. Most of these companies will also sell your horn for you on consignment for a reasonable fee. They use the Internet to market their instruments directly to customers and some also put items up for auction on eBay. The advantage of selling through or buying from one of these companies through an auction or from an individual is that they are established businesses with credible reputations, so there is much less risk that you will have a problem. They have great reputations because they make sure that customers are happy with the transaction. When purchasing an expensive instrument, this security is worth the extra dollars it might cost. Plus, you can use a credit card to make this purchase, which gives you another level of protection if there is a problem with the transaction.
The most established businesses that fall into this category are Dillon Music, Thompson Music, and The HornTrader. Dillon Music has a large catalog of used trumpets and other instruments on their web site. They have a store in Woodbridge, New Jersey that you can visit and they are great to deal with online, on the phone, or in person. (http://www.dillonmusic.com/) Thompson Music is located in Omaha, Nebraska and specializes in buying and selling used Monette trumpets and mouthpieces, but also offers other brands. If you have a horn to sell and don’t want to market it or auction it yourself online, you can have good luck in selling it through Thompson Music. They are also a dealer for Stomvi and Marcus Bona cases and mutes. Visit (http://www.thompsonmusic.com/) The HornTrader is located in Southern California and is owned and run by Steve Dillard. The HornTrader has a sizable catalog of used brass instruments and also sells some new horns. (http://www.horntrader.com/)
eBay. Participating in an online auction via eBay is a popular way to buy and sell trumpet gear. Thousands of trumpet transactions are occurring on eBay every month. It is fairly easy and convenient to use eBay, but it does take time to learn how to best use this phenomenal tool. Whether you are buying or selling, you must register for an account on eBay. Selling requires a credit card as a part of registration in order to pay eBay listing fees, which are small and reasonable. One of the biggest issues in using eBay to buy gear is finding what you are looking for because it has become a “needle in the haystack” situation. If you search for “Bach” you will get around 3,000 hits. If you search for “Yamaha” you will get 30,000 hits! So, you need to focus your search and to use the advanced search features to save time in browsing auctions. For instance, when I ran a search for “Bach Trumpet” I got 203 hits. I could browse all of these auctions and I would find several Bach trumpets, but I would also find mouthpieces, mutes, cases, care kits, and other items. There are many features in the “Advanced Search” area that help you to narrow your search, but be careful, you might miss an auction that has the item in which you are interested, but has not been listed in a typical manner by the seller. Advanced Search is very powerful, but it takes time to learn how to use it to its fullest. Auctions usually last six days, but the seller can set it for a shorter amount of time – one day or three days, so, if you are an active eBay shopper you need to search regularly. New items are listed every day. You can also have eBay track certain things for you automatically. You can set it up so that when an item you are looking for is listed, you receive an email showing you where it is. As you are browsing items you can click on “watch this item” to add it to your personal watch list. This makes it easy to go back to certain items without researching for them. eBay has a host of features that make it easier for buyers and sellers to use the site. You can find a comprehensive list of these at the following web address (http://pages.eBay.com/services/).
Once you find something that you wish to purchase on eBay, you bid on it or select “Buy It Now” if available. “Buy It Now” is an option the seller can select which enables a buyer to purchase something they want immediately without waiting for the auction to be completed. This usually means that they pay the premium price the seller expects to get for the item via the auction. If no one has bid on the item you can pay the set “Buy It Now” price set by the seller and the item is yours. Once someone bids on the item, the “Buy It Now” option goes away.
To bid on an item in the conventional manner, you input the maximum price you will pay. This does not mean you will pay this amount because if no one else outbids your highest bid, you will only have to pay a small amount over what the closest other bidder offered for the item. You can bid on an item as many times as you want within the auction time period, so if you are outbid and wish to bid more, that option is available to you. Savvy eBay bidders will often wait until the final seconds of an auction to bid in order to outbid others in a way that doesn’t give them an opportunity to bid again. This practice is called “sniping.” It’s risky, though, because it doesn’t always work. If you really want to purchase the item, bid high and hopefully you will outbid anyone else who is trying to snipe it at the end of the auction. If you win the auction, you send payment to the seller in the manner they require and they ship the item to you. If all goes well, you get the item in a timely manner and it is exactly how it was represented in the auction description. Problems can arise when the transaction doesn’t go well in one way or another. Unfortunately, the advantage is with the seller because they usually require payment before shipping the item. Although the risk rests primarily with the buyer, they can protect themselves in a variety of ways.
First, eBay has a rating system for each user called “Feedback.” A user’s feedback rating is a track record of their eBay transactions. Purchasing from someone with an excellent feedback rating and many transactions under their belt is much less risky than purchasing from someone with very few transactions or negative feedback in their rating. After an auction is complete, the buyer can leave feedback for the seller once they get the item and the seller can leave feedback for the buyer once they receive payment. You can leave a short message praising the other user and give them a positive, neutral, or negative rating. Regular eBay users are motivated to keep their records clean because it makes buying and selling more profitable. For instance, I have 70 entries on my feedback rating (some have thousands.) I have 100% positive feedback and glowing comments from those who have dealt with me in eBay auctions both as a seller and buyer. Maintaining this record is important to me because it indicates that I am trustworthy. So, if you are buying from someone with excellent feedback you will most likely have a fair transaction. If their feedback has a few scars on it, you might not want to bid on their items.
If you are still nervous about purchasing an item on eBay, especially if it is an expensive item over $500, you might want to consider using an auction escrow service. An escrow service is simply a third party that collects payment until the item is delivered and meets the expectation of the buyer. Once the buyer receives the item the escrow service releases the payment to the seller. Both parties must agree to use this service. Make sure you get this agreement from the seller in advance of bidding on the auction. The only downside to this is that sellers receive payment a bit slower than they would without using escrow. As a buyer, this offers you great protection, but you are responsible for the fee to the escrow company. For an expensive item this can be very valuable because it eliminates the financial risk to you. Also, if the seller will not agree to using an escrow service in advance of the close of the auction, perhaps you don’t want to do business with that individual. At the very least, this should throw up a red flag causing you to proceed with caution. I have participated in many eBay transactions without using escrow, and I have had no problems, but if I were purchasing an expensive item now, I would require it. Escrow.com, the leading escrow service, is affiliated with eBay and can be found at this web address (http://www.escrow.com).
As a buyer or seller you can use PayPal to receive or send money electronically. This is the safest way to pay for an auction or to receive payment for an auction. Again, you must register with PayPal and you must have a credit card on file or have direct deposit/withdrawal set up for your bank account. PayPal is an extremely reliable and secure company that aggressively fights fraud and/or abuse. Some eBay sellers require PayPal for convenience and some will not accept PayPal as payment because there is a fee to receive money to your account based on the amount of the transaction. It’s a nominal fee and worth it to me to receive and send payment immediately. Another reason I prefer PayPal is that I can use a credit card when paying through PayPal which offers yet another level of protection for me as the seller.
Other online options. Another way to buy or sell gear online is to deal with an individual directly without using an auction service or site. Many people prefer this to all the other options because it can be one of the easiest ways to accomplish your goal as a buyer or seller. Buying and selling through an online community often enables you to deal with someone you know or with someone who can be recommended by a third party you know and trust. When buying or selling this way, I try to collect personal information…I ask for home and cell phone numbers, home address, and their work address and phone information. For an expensive item, I will call the person and speak with them on the phone, and this helps me to decide whether to deal with them or not. If they won’t give me their numbers and a little personal information I won’t deal with them.
The Trumpet Herald has a very active section called “The MarketPlace.” Users can place ads there in different categories that they know will reach a number of trumpet players. As a buyer you can easily search the ads in the marketplace or browse by category. The Trumpet Herald can be found at (http://www.trumpetherald.com). Hit the “MarketPlace” link to find the ads. Other trumpet communities such as the Trumpet Player’s International Network – TPIN – (http://www.tpin.org) and the newsgroup (rec.music.makers.trumpet) will regularly have posts from those selling their used trumpet gear. I highly recommend the use of PayPal and escrow.com for this type of transaction if the amount exceeds $500.
I’d like to offer some advice about safely shipping trumpets. First, the best way to pack a trumpet for shipping is to use a double wall cardboard rectangular box. Recommended inside dimensions are 28” x 12” x 12”. Do not ship a horn in the case if at all possible. Ship the case separately. The case will not require as much packing and no extra insurance, and should be inexpensive to ship. The trumpet should be wrapped liberally with bubble wrap all around the body of the horn. Use a separate piece to wrap the bell. Use the big bubbled wrap and masking tape to hold it all in place. Then use packing peanuts so that the wrapped horn is floating in the middle of the box. Pack the peanuts in tightly on all sides. The box can take quite a beating when packed like this and the horn is safe and sound. I have never heard of a horn being damaged when it is shipped in this manner. On the other hand, I have heard all sorts of ugly stories about horns damaged when shipped in the case. A horn in the case can move around when the box is jarred and the bell can be crushed inside the case. When wrapped in bubbles and floating in packing peanuts, the horn can move inside the box without hitting anything keeping it safe from damage. Be sure to insure the horn for its full replacement value and label it “Fragile.” There are several companies to use for shipping, but I have been told that Fed Ex is easier to collect from if the horn is damaged in shipping. As either buyer or seller, you should insist on this type of packing and insurance to avoid common problems in shipping. The buyer usually pays shipping costs, but sometimes that can be negotiated.
Buying and selling anything online takes time, but can be extremely rewarding. It is much easier to find what you are looking for than it was in the days before the Internet. Fortunately, online commerce is booming and has become much more reliable. There is effective protection from fraud, minimizing the risk. It’s not the same as walking into a store and play testing the item you want, but it is usually more convenient and makes available many more products to consider for purchase. For those who are avoiding online purchasing or selling, I encourage you to give it a try with something small – a mute, music, or a mouthpiece.
Addenda
I would like to add two companies to my list of online trumpet-related music publishers, which I neglected to include in my October 2004 column. Both are long-time online publishers with excellent catalogs of brass music. Hickey’s Music Online is located in Ithaca, New York and has an exceptional catalog of titles. (http://www.hickeys.com/) The Solid Brass Music Company is located in San Rafael, California and specializes in brass music. Their online catalog has over 4,000 titles and is easy to navigate. You can find some things there that are not readily available other places. (http://www.sldbrass.com/)
| About the author: Michael Anderson is Assistant Professor of Trumpet at Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He is the Executive Director of the ITG Web Site, a member of the ITG Board of Directors, the ITG Journal Editorial Committee and Chair of the Technology Committee. Anderson was also the project manager of the ITG Journal CD-ROM that was distributed to each member in the year 2000. |
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