Reverb and eBay are the two largest markets for used guitars, and they serve meaningfully different buyers and sellers. Reverb is a music-specific marketplace with sellers who know gear vocabulary and pricing. eBay is a general marketplace with more listings, more price variation, and more unpredictable sellers.
On price: eBay typically runs 5-15% below Reverb for equivalent items, driven by a higher proportion of motivated sellers (estate sales, pawn shops, non-musicians offloading gear they received as gifts). The trade-off is seller expertise — a seller who describes a guitar as "vintage" on eBay may mean 1990s, while Reverb sellers generally use condition and era terminology more accurately.
Buyer protection: Both platforms offer buyer protection for items significantly not as described. eBay's Money Back Guarantee has a longer track record and often resolves disputes faster. Reverb's buyer protection is comparable but the resolution process is handled through Reverb's support team, which some buyers find slower for complex disputes.
For rare or vintage instruments: Reverb wins decisively. The collector community lives there, dealers maintain storefronts, and vintage pricing is more accurate. For common production models (current-era Fenders, Gibsons, Yamahas) where condition determines price more than rarity: eBay often has better deals, especially from non-musician sellers who don't know the model's street value.
The practical answer: use both. Set up saved searches on both platforms. Treblemakers searches them simultaneously, so you see everything in one view without maintaining separate accounts and alerts on each platform.
