How to Sell on Reverb in 2026: Fees, Price Guide, Offers & Shipping Gear

Reverb is a marketplace built for one category: musical instruments and audio gear. Its buyers know exactly what they want — a specific pedal, a specific year of Stratocaster, a specific synth — and they search by make and model. That makes it one of the best places to sell gear at full price, and one of the least forgiving if your description or packing is sloppy.

What sells on Reverb

Reverb is for anything a musician, producer or home-studio owner buys: electric, acoustic and bass guitars, effects pedals, amplifiers and cabinets, synthesizers and drum machines, keyboards, drums and cymbals, microphones, interfaces, studio monitors, and parts like pickups and tuners. Band and orchestral instruments and DJ gear have buyers too.

Experience, not Reverb data: the easiest wins for resellers are name-brand pedals and small synths (light, easy to ship, identifiable by model), mid-priced guitars from Fender, Gibson, PRS, Ibanez and similar, and vintage or discontinued gear with a following. Low-value, no-name gear struggles because the fees and shipping eat it, and very heavy amps and cabinets often sell faster locally.

Listing your first item, step by step

Before you list, add a billing card (Reverb requires one on file) and a bank account for payouts, and decide on your return policy in Shop Policies.

1. Start with the catalog. Click Sell Your Gear (or Sell in the app) and type the brand and model. Choose the exact product and select Sell One Like This; make, model, year and specs fill in automatically. Only start from scratch if your item isn’t in the catalog.
2. Photograph everything. Up to 25 photos, at least 620×620 pixels. The first photo is the one in search results, so show the whole instrument in good light. Then shoot the serial number, headstock, back of the neck, frets, electronics cavity or back panel, and every ding.
3. Pick the condition honestly. Used gear is graded Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair or Poor, judged on cosmetic wear first and then on whether it works. Pick marks are Excellent; finish dings and buckle rash are Very Good; a broken switch is Fair. If it arrives in a worse condition than listed, you may have to take a return.
4. Write an objective description. Reverb’s own “good” example lists ownership history, modifications, what’s original and what isn’t, playability (action measurements if you can), cosmetic wear and exactly what’s included — case, paperwork, power supply. Disclose smoke or pet odors. Don’t just repeat the model name.
5. Set shipping. Choose calculated USPS or UPS rates, a flat rate or free shipping — or Local Pickup only. Weigh and measure the packed box before you list if you use calculated shipping.
6. Price it and decide on offers. The pricing step shows Reverb’s guidance and an estimate of the fees taken from your earnings (not including shipping labels or Bump). Turn offers on unless the price is truly firm.
7. Review and publish. Afterwards Reverb offers to Bump the listing — you can skip that for now.

Pricing with the Reverb Price Guide

Reverb’s Price Guide is built from past sales on Reverb, not asking prices, and it’s what powers the price range you see while listing. Two more checks are worth a minute: search the item and filter Show Only → Sold Listings to see real sold listings with their condition and photos, and compare your price against live listings in the same condition. Once you’re live, the Priced above average insight on your Listings page flags listings Reverb thinks are overpriced. For cameras and consumer electronics that don’t belong on Reverb, use our price guide instead. For the method in general, see how to price used items.

Reverb fees

Reverb charges two fees on every US sale, both taken out of your payout:

• Selling fee: 5% of the total sale, including the shipping the buyer pays. Minimum $0.50, maximum $500 (the cap kicks in on a $10,000 sale).
• Payment processing: 3.19% + $0.49 on the full order, including sales tax. Reverb Preferred Sellers pay 2.99% + $0.49.

Optional extras: Bump (promoted placement, 0.5%–30% of the item price plus shipping, charged only if it sells), shipping labels you buy through Reverb, a 1% cross-border fee when the bank accounts are in different countries, and a 2.5% currency conversion fee if you list in a currency other than your payout currency. UK sellers are on a different model: an all-in 5% fee with no separate processing fee. Since May 13, 2026, fees on PayPal-paid orders are also deducted from the payout rather than billed at month end.

Worked example: a guitar with tax

You sell a guitar for $800 and charge $60 shipping. The buyer’s state adds, say, $64 sales tax, so the order total is $924.

• Selling fee: 5% × ($800 + $60) = $43.00.
• Processing: 3.19% × $924 + $0.49 = $29.48 + $0.49 = $29.97 (tax is included here).
• Total fees: $72.97 — about 8.5% of the $860 you actually receive before tax.
• Payout: $860 − $72.97 = $787.03. Reverb handles the $64 of tax.
• Then subtract the label and Safe Shipping you buy. If that comes to $55, you net $732.03 — so the $60 you charged for shipping mattered.

Offers and price drops

When a buyer makes an offer, you have 24 hours to accept, decline or counter before it expires; an accepted offer gives the buyer 24 hours to pay. Other buyers can still buy at full price while an offer is pending. You can set rules to respond to offers automatically. You can also send Direct Offers to people who saved your listing or put it in their cart; those last 48 hours. And if you drop your price by at least 5%, Reverb notifies everyone who saved it or has it in their cart.

Experience, not Reverb data: Reverb buyers expect to negotiate on used gear. Pricing 5–10% above your floor leaves room to accept a reasonable offer without feeling like you lost.

Shipping guitars, amps and pedals

You must ship and upload tracking within 3 business days of the order being approved (one business day for 2-day shipping orders). US sellers can buy discounted USPS, UPS, FedEx or DHL labels on the order page.

Safe Shipping and insurance

Add Safe Shipping when you buy a Reverb label and loss or damage (reported within 7 days of delivery) goes to Reverb’s team instead of a carrier claim. It’s required on Reverb labels for sales between $1,500 and $10,000, a signature is required on Safe Shipping labels for orders over $100, and Reverb labels aren’t available at all for items selling for $10,000 or more. Decline it and you carry the risk yourself. Neither Safe Shipping nor carrier insurance pays out for damage caused by poor packing, and Reverb says a flight case or hard case alone doesn’t count as adequate packaging.

Packing a guitar

• Box: 2 inches of padding on every side. Keep guitars under 48 inches long to avoid oversize charges; basses up to about 52 inches.
• Prep: loosen the strings, put paper between strings and fretboard, remove the whammy bar and wrap it separately.
• Headstock: pad around it, never jam padding under an angled headstock (Gibsons especially) — it acts as a lever and can snap the neck in a drop.
• Never ship a case without an outer box. Use kraft paper, not newspaper (ink stains finishes) or bubble wrap in hot weather.
• Shake test and photos: nothing should move. Photograph the packing, the scale reading and the tape measure, since carriers bill corrections if your weight or dimensions are off.

Amps and pedals

Experience, not Reverb data: for tube amps, remove the tubes, wrap and label them, and pack them separately (or at least pad the chassis so they can’t move); double-box heavy combos with rigid foam or cardboard on the corners. Pedals ship easily in a small box — wrap the knobs and footswitch so nothing presses on them.

Local pickup

Enable local pickup on a listing and buyers can check out with it as the shipping option. Payment still runs through Reverb, so the normal fees apply and you keep Reverb’s protection. You’re paid once the buyer taps Mark as Received, so ask them to do it before they leave with the gear. Keep all messages on Reverb, meet somewhere public, and let the buyer test the item. Standalone PayPal and Affirm orders can’t use local pickup.

Returns and getting paid

By default your shop uses the Reverb Recommended Return Policy: buyers can return used gear within 7 days for any reason. You can set a custom window or No Returns, and you can mark individual listings as sold As-Described. Either way, a buyer can still return an item that isn’t as described if they report it within 7 days of delivery with documentation. For preference returns, the buyer pays return shipping, and you can keep the original shipping and a restocking fee if your policy said so at the time of purchase.

With Reverb Payments, your first sale pays out 1–2 business days after delivery; after that, funds are available 1 business day after tracking shows the package moving, then 1–4 business days to reach your bank.

Common mistakes

• Listing from scratch instead of the catalog. You lose the autofilled specs, the pricing guidance and the product page where buyers compare listings.
• Over-grading. “Excellent” with fret wear and a pot swap is a not-as-described return waiting to happen.
• Guessing box size and weight. Carrier corrections come out of your pocket after the sale.
• Skipping Safe Shipping to save a few dollars on a guitar that can be destroyed by one drop.
• Taking the deal off-platform. You lose Seller Protection, which only covers sales paid and shipped through Reverb.