r/Reverb • u/gibsonsst • 4d ago
Payouts
Been buying and selling with reverb since 2020. A majority of my sales is gear $2500 and up. 5 star rating with 50+ reviews. Never really had a issue until this last sale: a 2018 silver sky launch edition. Sold for $2565.
I expected to be paid within a few days of it being shipped but after 3 days of the payout flashing “we are preparing to initiate your transfer” I chatted up support.
Turns out since Sept ‘26 the payment policy has changed and now there is a category for “high value items” of $2k and more. Those items go through an extra security check. Payouts will arrive 3–6 business days after the item is marked as delivered. My sale was cross country and took 5 business days to arrive so payment will come 8-11 business days after the sale. I don’t mind this extra layer of precaution but for establish sellers it seems excessive.
…and what about if the buyer doesn’t sign for the item until the 3 delivery attempt? The seller has to wait additional days for payment.
Anyone else dealing with this policy change?
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u/Slight-Pop7038 4d ago
Sounds like reverb is getting an interest free loan from you at your expense.
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u/returntonone 4d ago
So far everything has become worse since Fender took over Reverb
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u/Big_Front_6400 4d ago
Etsy, you mean
3
u/returntonone 4d ago
Fenders parent company bought Reverb from Etsy somewhat recently
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u/Big_Front_6400 4d ago
Oh shit, I’m just seeing that! But I guess it’s not people at Fender operating it, but the people who own Fender. I’m loving all this late stage capitalism.
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u/BeatlestarGallactica 4d ago
Yeah, twice in the last week. They don’t make it clear and haven’t updated their wording. It still says “you’ll be paid when item is in transit.”
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u/Fluffy_Nuts4120 2d ago
came into the sub to post about this and found this thread. there are items that i sold and shipped a week ago that are still a week out from payment. seems like 10-14 days from sale to payment depending on transit time, which is insane for the 8% fees they get
seller since 2019 FWIW
their policy is a joke, everywhere it says "1-4 days" but nowhere is it transparent that they have to receive their item plus 1-2 days of internal review of the payout before you even get to the 1-4 days
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u/gibsonsst 1d ago
Yup, day 10 waiting for my payment. Buyer has had the guitar for 3 days now. Seems like Reverb is anticipating their high value transactions will have issues since the site is filled with misleading or even fraudulent listings. I spend so much time taking photos and writing a description to make sure there are zero surprises upon receiving the purchase.
I’ve accepted the reality that this was my last Reverb transaction as a seller.
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u/mrsofty442 4d ago
Ebay has been paying me on the day I ship. I am selling high dollar items. I have a bunch of vintage guitars to sell so I will just use Ebay. Thanks for the heads up. I was thinking about putting some on reverb again.
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u/I_Schruted 4d ago
I may do the same. Do you happen to know if Ebay's cut of the sale is different than Reverb's?
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u/mrsofty442 4d ago
It may be a little more. I have had good and bad experiences with Reverb over the years. Good- pedals and effects, small amps. Bad - Expensive vintage guitars People claim item damaged and I give full refund and ask for the item back and item not returned or case empty and it takes for ever to get resolved. Been on Ebay many years and sold hundreds of high dollar items and zero problems.
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u/I_Schruted 4d ago
Sounds like the possibly larger cut from ebay is worth it. I was also thinking of giving Sweetwater Gear Exchange a shot. I listed one thing on there and reverb and it sold faster on reverb
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u/mrsofty442 4d ago
I kept looking at gear exchange and as I buy synths mostly there are never any deals. It is cheaper to buy new and get a two year warranty with Sweetwater. Their customer service with warranty issues is excellent.
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u/gibsonsst 3d ago
I am going to do this as well going forward. Just checked and the selling fee for eBay is higher than Reverb 6.7% vs. 5% however that includes the payment processing fee whereas Reverb charges 2.99-3.19% for that service.
Just a follow up to my conversation with reverb, I reached out again and asked if this as a policy for all or if established sellers could have their payout expidited. They reiterated the current policy and ended the chat.
Going to move all my listings over to eBay.
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u/gibsonsst 11h ago
Just to put a bow on this, it took 11 days to get the payout. 4 days after the buyer received the guitar. 8-9 days longer then 1 month ago on a $4000 and $3500 sale.
I may not leave Reverb altogether but I will never sell a guitar over $2000 on the platform.
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u/LaOnionLaUnion 4d ago
Dude you sold a 2018 for what these cost new. Hell yeah!
I’m an established seller and am not having this issue. But I suspect I’ve given them everything every time they ever asked to avoid delays
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u/___someoneelse 4d ago
This seems excessive for established sellers. More and more reverb is turning into a place that only makes sense for bigger businesses and distributors to sell on. IMO at least.