How to sell a drum set

[John Coloccia]

Has anyone ever sold a drum set? I have a fairly high end set (Yamaha Maple Absolute Nouveous, Anton Fig snare, Sabian/Zildjain cymbals, lots of DW hardware) that I just need to sell. I'm an OK drummer but I'm not a great drummer, and I'll never be a great drummer. I play mostly guitar, piano and bass. It's a relatively big set w/5 toms. Frankly, I need the $$$ and space more than I need a loud toy to further aggravate my tinnitus.

Putting it on consignment is not an option around here. Everyone seems to want 40% commission. I've got way too much money in this thing for that.

What have people done? Does Craigslist work? Should I split it up and start selling cymbals, and then maybe sell the snare seperately, shell pack seperate, etc? I'm having trouble even pricing the thing because it looks like set is no longer made.

Just looking for suggestions. I'm not really a drummer so I'm not in the drummer community and I don't really know how drummers typically go about buying things.

Thanks for any help.

[David Weaver]

It never hurts to put it on craigslist. I had a very undesirable common solid state amp that I put on craigslist a couple of years ago for 2/3rds of what I bought it (new). I was sure I'd be holding it for a long time, but there was a guy at my door before noon the same day I posted the amp, with cash in his hand saying "I've been waiting for an amp like this to turn up on craigslist for a long time".

Not a drumset, but like your drums, it was just a common (line 6) past model amp, and I didn't know what else to do with it because of the size and the value. What's the markup on drums, is it about 100% like it is (used to be?) on a lot of common guitars? I found at my shop near home that I was always paying about 60-62% of retail on common guitars before the MAP and price maintenance stuff from Gibson, and I always felt like half of retail was a good place to start when I was selling them used. That's about what I got, too.

I'd split off all of the accessories (if you have them) and sell them separately. I never had good luck with people selling bits off with the guitars, stuff that I thought was valuable to go along with it. Sometimes I think people would shy away from the deal because they didn't want the extra stuff, even though I was essentially charging $0 for it.

[harry hood]

That's a nice set, just put it on Craigslist and ask what you think it's worth. This isn't a low end starter kit and will make somebody moving up from very happy. It's no different than selling a piece of machinery except that it's easier to move.

Be sure your pictures show that the shells aren't delaminating (unless they are of course ;)) and make a point of stating that you measured them and they are round if they are.

I regret selling my kit years ago although I bought my son a low end Alesis electronic kit which he loves and it's been a blast playing on it. You might want to consider offering to trade for a nice electronic kit (e.g. a Roland) if noise is your main concern.