How To Get More Money For Used DJ Gear

The lifecycle of a piece of DJ equipment often ends due to an upgrade to a new piece of gear – meaning lots of working-condition stuff sits around waiting for a new home. Today we’ve got tips on how to get more money when you sell used DJ gear on eBay, Craigslist, Facebook, etc.

Set A Smart Price For Your Used DJ Gear

One of the first things to consider when selling anything is the expected amount of money that you’ll get from the sale. It’s very important to set realistic expectations for your gear. List too high and you might end up having to re-list it multiple times and waste a lot of your time fielding lowball offers. List too low and you might end up wasting hundreds of dollars.

If you want to know how much people are willing to pay for your used gear, we recommend going on eBay, searching for your DJ equipment, and then selecting the “Sold Listings” option on the left hand column. This allows you to see, for instance, all the Kontrol S4s that have sold recently and how much money they sold for, if they were an auction or flat price, etc.

Once you’ve got a good range, choose a higher end price that you think will sell. If you’re on Craigslist, remember that your local market for used DJ gear might be much different from the eBay average. If you’ve got the time and patience for it, mark your listing as “Best Offer” and field offers – but especially on eBay, people commonly offer absurdly low prices in hopes that someone might say yes.

In An Urban Area? List On Craigslist First

One of the biggest advantages to Craigslist (or any local classifieds site) is that they’re only starting points for a sale. On eBay or other buy-than-ship sites, they take a percentage of the sale. Sometimes this can be up to 20% of the final sale price!

If you live in a place where there’s likely to be an active demand for used DJ gear, list it on your local sites first and do the deal in person.

Be Descriptive

Especially on Craigslist, there are many times that we see 3+ difference pieces of used DJ gear in one listing. The issue is that this means you won’t show up in search results or people scanning down the page as easily – so we recommend listing each unit individually.

As a bonus, be sure to write down everything about your gear that you might want to know if you were the buyer. A few things to think about:

  • Does it come in the original box?
  • Is there a power adapter? What country?
  • Are there stickers/skins/custom knobs?
  • Do you still have the manual?
  • Is there software included?
  • Any major scratches or damage?

Take Great Photos Of Your Used DJ Gear

A photo from the DJTT Used Gear page

For our own used gear section on the DJTT webstore, I found that one of the things that made a big difference in if it sold was paying careful attention to how the gear was pictured. Here’s a few simple suggestions for a great shot:

  • Clean It Up: Take a soft towel or microfiber cloth and wipe down your gear, particularly the surfaces that collect dust and smudges. If you need to, use a small amount of isopropyl alcohol on the cloth to remove any pesky marks or stains (make sure your gear is off when you do this)
  • Focus and Background: A clear shot of your gear from overhead often looks great and allows the buyer to see details easily. Make sure you have it focused on the controller – many listings have out-of-focus photos. A solid color background or simple texture (wood, concrete) looks great behind gear.
  • Use A Real Photo Of Your Gear: This should go without saying, but never sell your used gear without a photo of what it actually is. It’s bad karma, and people are less likely to take you seriously when looking through listings.
  • Turn It On: Want to make sure a buyer know your gear works? Show it turned on! (better yet, include a video)

Sell Your Gear For Credit Before You Upgrade

Many DJ stores that sell used gear are actually going to give you a much better deal in store credit (DJTT does this with some select pieces of gear- chat with one of our live chat team to find out more). This won’t always be as lucrative for you, but if you’re planning on upgrading your equipment anyway, it’s a good way to get a lot of value for something that might just be sitting around.

Thinking of selling your DJ equipment? DJTT has a buy/sell forum that is incredibly popular – you just have to take part in our forums for a bit to list something. 

 

craigslistebayselling dj gearused DJ gear
Comments (21)
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  • Dennis Parrott

    One thing I have learned about eBay auctions is that you need to do some research into the auctions of stuff like what you are selling to see what keywords the seller used in their successful auction. Often unsuccessful auctions simply didn’t get found by people looking to buy that particular thing.

    It would be even better if we could know what search terms the users entered to find what they were looking for or what they ended up bidding on but I haven’t figured that part out yet…

  • calkutta

    also,Only a few things Hold there Value…QFO’s…Vestax Controller Ones….ISP or Samurai series Mixer’s that still Work…a few more,but not man,like the PDX 2000MK2Pro…with the Silver ToneARm that the QFO and C1 have..these are Mad Rare and Barely even seen…the rest,truly holds Pawnshop value…10% of what one paid even as little as 2 yrs ago..so Craigslist or Facebook has been the best place for me to sell or Buy rare,actually Dope gear that lasts…

  • rwoody81

    I often look for used DJ gear since im just a bedroom DJ and have no real chances of becoming the next Tiesto. I found it hilarious when I got online and there’s some guy trying to sell his dual off-brand CD players on CL. They retailed brand new for $250 7 years ago, and now he’s asking $200 because all the stickers add “character” and the unit still works “okay” even though it’s missing a knob and a couple buttons are broken. He actually tried to tell me that all the stickers were like postcards of all the places he’s played gigs so they make the unit worth more than retail, but he’s giving the buyer a break. Ha! Price your gear realistically, people.

  • akswun

    And don’t try to sell everything as one whole package. How many times do I see lazy sellers only wanting to sell everything as a whole for $5-10K. Are you serious? Who’s going to have $5-10K on hand to drop on your used equipment. I want your 1200’s, I don’t want that RCA only home theater AMP, I don’t want your 800 Country Vinyl, nor do I want that crappy Numark mixer. And $5-10K is your equipment cost when you bought it 15 years ago. SMH…….

  • djfreesoul

    Next week on DJTechtools: How To Buy Used DJ Gear Cheaper. 🙂

    Just kidding. Keep up the good work DJTT.

  • D-Jam

    I would tell anyone to stay away from Craigslist unless they like the battle of hagglers and such. I remember trying to sell a pair of Pioneer CDJ-1000 MK2’s. They were in pristine condition with flight cases, and I wanted $700 each.

    On Craigslist I had a bevy of pushy wannabes tell me how I would never get more than $600 for the pair, all annoying me to no end to get me to budge.

    So I go on Ebay…and sold them to a kid in Spain for the $1400 I wanted. He also paid all shipping and duty. Granted there were fees for Ebay and Paypal, but I still did waaaay better than I would have on Craigslist. Since then I never touch CL and have sold off plenty of gear for good money on Ebay.

    I’ve also encountered a site called Reverb.com which seems promising to buy or sell gear.

    • here_comes_the_sheik

      I love how these guys want a cheaper price and aren’t even nice. I gave some good discounts to people who showed that they would really love to have the gear and were really nice. But these guys writing you an email for a 500€ product with nothing but: “100€ incl, shipping ok?” get ignored right away.

  • Oddie O'Phyle

    If my daughter isn’t interested in my hand me downs, I usually use it as a trade in against the upgrade at my local gear shop. If I purchased the item that I’m using as a trade in from them, they tend to give me up to 80% back in credit.

  • here_comes_the_sheik

    I once bought a pair of technics 1210 headphones on ebay.
    Described as ‘near new’ only a few weeks used, perfect condition.
    They came in a box without padding, the cable was completely messed up, the whole unit smelled (and feeled) as if it was dipped in wodka-energy drink and then in an ashtray.

    I contacted the guy and he told me that he sent them in perfect condition and I must have done the damage myself. He said he never even used them.

    Did some research, found pictures of him DJing with these headphones from 3 years ago.

    He still didn’t react. So I printed everything out, went to the cops. Et voila… asshole got convicted for fraud payed a fine got his big account banned from ebay.

    I never got my money back but I took some time to properly clean and desinfect them and they still work fine.

    I figured out that proper cleaning and presenting your stuff is really really important when selling. I would say that a good photo, nice description, proper testing possibilities make the price 20% higher

    • Rasp Haunt

      word man..i have has similar experiences,even if the seller has 100% feed back,,,I now ALWAYS email the old buyers and ask about the experience…especially how was it packaged?…was it done properly,or in New paper,lol…I bought an Axion 25 from a so-called 100% feedback buyer…once it arrived,the key didnt work,the Pads did,but the rest was broken…so i emailed him,he said that it was fully functional when he sent it out…so,same thing,printed out the info,reported him,got him shut down,but like u,never got my money back…so I re-wrote him..Told him how if I didnt get a refund,I had Family that lived near buy that would like to speak with him…That is ‘Not an Actually Threat,since I only said ‘Speak’….well…10 days later he sent me my Money and an Apology…Moral of the story….100% feedback is good,but they still try to get over..I HIGHLY recommend just emailing whatever seller tried this fuck shit and say what I said-…I had no family there,I didnt even know where lived…but because he knew was fucked…his inner ” I wanna not get Dealt with” voice made him correct his error ways….just a Tip-
      JKTTA
      MSTRMND RASP HAUNT
      TRNTBLST

      • Owen

        Similar nightmare. I bought a designer jacket off eBay years ago. 100% positive feedback. When it arrived it was fake. The buttons were cheap plastic and the fabric was like the felt off a pool table. The guy kept avoiding me so I couldn’t get it returned. Eventually I tracked down where he worked and started calling there asking for him by name and explained why I was trying to reach him. Got my refund in no time. It was years before I used eBay again for anything.

  • Ztronical

    Also don’t bother selling to friends, it is a pain they all want help or eventually break something.
    I found that no matter what the price you sell electronics and especially anything that depends on software and some knowledge of computers, they will ultimately either blame you or need countless amounts of help.
    As well anyone else will always say and bother you saying they would have paid more.
    Point is if selling anything or buying anything causes more work than enjoyment, I would easily forget the money and get my time and happiness back.
    I don’t use craigslist anymore, too many people I don’t know coming to my house.

    • here_comes_the_sheik

      True story!
      This applies partly to craigslist (or other local selling) too.
      I had a guy who figured out that I have quite some knowledge in DJ & Soundequipment and this guy blatantly told me that he was going to save my number in case he ever needs help with his stuff.

      I gladly agreed asked him for his number and saved it directly to the blacklist!

  • Tarekith

    Also make sure to unregistered any software that came with the device, traktor with an S4 for instance. Have proof that it was unregistered to show the buyer (NI will send you a confirmation email), and state that in the auction too. Often the included software is one of the reasons someone wants to buy what you’re selling, do your best to put their mind at ease that it’s ready to be re-registered in their name.