Finding Gear Deals
Posted By Scott on October 16, 2009
I’ve accumulated a whole lot of equipment in the short several months I’ve been learning to play the keyboard. It happens there is a Guitar Center less than a ten minute drive from me. They always have a dozen or more keyboards set up to demo play so I love going in there and plunking around. They also of course have a lot of guitars, drums, amps, DJ equipment, speakers and pretty much you name it they got it in store or online at http://www.guitarcenter.com/.
Guitar Center does a lot of mail and email marketing. It seems every month I’m getting extra off in store coupons and a new sale catalog in the mail. Also I’ve found that if they don’t have what you need in store a clerk usually can order it for you online at the store and give you your coupon discount! Also around every major holiday GC usually has an extra big 3 day sale. I’ve found these holiday sales are the best time to purchase. At the online site they also have a page for rebates. However often the rebate is some extra piece of gear you’ll get for free with a new item which you don’t probably need. Also GC has a big list of used equipment from trade-in’s and you can search online by zip code and even see what is used gear is available at your local store. Being able to inspect and try used gear in a store before you buy is really nice.
The musical category on EBAY has tens of thousands of musical and audio items listed. I’ve been selling and buying all types of items using EBay for at least five years now. One thing to do is always check the feedback history of the seller. I don’t like to purchase from a person who has had only a couple transactions. The other thing to do is to study the listing description and pictures well then ask questions if you got them. Sometimes I’ll ask a question just to see if the seller is a good Ebayer that checks his Ebay messages daily.
Here are some examples of EBay deals I got on keyboard related equipment. I was able to purchase three like new Roland KC-60 amps (including shipping to me) for less than the price of one new amp. I got a like new hard shelled Gator keyboard case for 1/3 the cost new. I got a used Roland keyboard stand for 1/5 the cost new. I could go on but I think you get the picture. If you know what you want and are willing to wait a few weeks then chances are you’ll have a chance to bid on it on EBay and save yourself a bunch of money verses buying new.
Craigslist is another good way to find or sell used gear. Unlike EBay there is no expense involved to list items and technically Craigslist is easy to use. The first keyboard I owned I bought on EBay for $50 and paid another $35 for shipping. It came with some nice powered speakers. I used that keyboard for about 5 months then I sold it on Craigslist for $65 and kept the nice speakers that I’d value at over $80 new. Those speakers now are hooked to my PC.
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