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Selling Your Guitar

As the web's premier specialist in vintage archtop guitars, archtop.com is uniquely positioned to place your guitar with a qualified buyer who will truly appreciate its special value. Our highly targeted marketing and worldwide coverage can help optimize your return on your instrument quickly. Depending on your specific needs, we offer three ways to convert your guitar to cash or to upgrade to another vintage instrument of your choosing.

-Consignments: If you are interested in obtaining the highest return from the sale of your instrument, please contact us about placing it for sale on our site on a consignment basis. As the foremost vintege archtop specialists on the web, we match sellers with qualified buyers quickly and securely every week, all over the world. Consignment sales place unparalleled marketing resources at your service, as follows:

Advertising: As the web's foremost vintage archtop specialist, archtop.com rates at the top of the best search engines on the web, which are consistently bringing visitors to our instruments at the rate of more than 20,000 hits per day. In addition, listing with archtop.com puts pictures and descriptions of your instrument on the world's largest multi-dealer instrument databases, Reverb.com and gbase.com, at no extra charge.

Presentation: You've seen our Instrument pages, and the care with which we picture and describe the instruments we offer for sale. We also maintain the web's most extensive photo archive of Previously Sold instruments, the majority of which have been sold for our consignment clients. We use state of the art digital photo technology to highlight your instrument to maximum advantage. In addition, we supply additional photo details by email to customers on request. Our descriptions draw upon the resources of our extensive reference library, and the expertise developed over decades of experience in vintage fretted instruments. Before each sale is concluded, each instrument receives a detailed in-hand description to the buyer by phone, including phone auditions. It's a policy that has resulted in an exceptionally low rate of returns, and remarkably happy customers. (See our Friends section for some unsolicited testimonials.)We know of no other web resource that offers such in-depth information to both buyers and sellers alike.

Prep: As much effort as we commit to the presentation of your instrument, our greatest energies are devoted to ensuring that your guitar will be absolutely optimized for tone, playability and appearance. We have a full service restoration shop and peerless inventory of hard-to-find parts at your service. And unlike ordinary dealers, archtop.com will cover the cost of any needed repairs or restoration until the item is sold, with no out-of pocket cost to you. We know of no other dealer who offers a similar service anywhere.

Sales: To price your instrument competitively, we draw upon our worldwide information resources to assemble a profile of comparable sales figures for instruments like yours, and forward pricing recommendations for your approval. To expedite your sale, we handle toll-free customer queries, credit card processing, bank wire transfers, personal check clearance, customs and brokerage paperwork, and insured shipping and parcel tracking door to door, at no charge to you the consigner. Best of all, consignment sellers can take advantage of our private "want list" of pre-qualified customers, who purchase many prime instruments before they ever hit the website.

Confidence: The part that money can't buy. We're continually pleased to learn of the excellent word-of mouth referrals we receive on an ongoing basis from news groups, listservs, industry contacts, and satisfied customers. Unsolicited references like these are the kind of publicity that can't be purchased at any price, and we're very grateful for them indeed. We've been pleased to have been chosen by many successful sellers who have entrusted us to place their beloved instruments or entire collections in appreciative hands. And your prized instrument is fully insured in our secure showroom, our workshop, and in transit to its new owner. Some unsolicited letters from successful sellers may be found on our Consignments page. We'll be happy to provide contact information from consigners in your area on request.

Bottom Line: Our consignment sellers consistently receive the highest returns in the marketplace for quality archtop guitars. And we know of no other vintage seller who makes it easier for you. Photos, research, restoration, credit card processing, shipping, customs brokerage, and followup all under one roof. We work your guitar harder, to a more specialized audience, with customized sales pages, and personal in-hand descriptions and phone auditions on our toll free line. Our packing, shipping and followup are meticulous, and second to none. Those who follow the site know how quickly our instruments can move, often within hours of posting, and sometimes even before, to our extensive want list of ready buyers worldwide. Please inquire for the terms on your specific instrument or collection.

How do we do it? Check Selling Your Guitar...In Eighteen Easy Steps, here. For more specifics on consignment sales, please visit our Consignments page. For information on shipping your guitar, please check our Shipping page.

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-Spot Cash: For those interested primarily in a quick, hassle-free sale of an instrument, our specialized focus means we can offer significantly more for your instrument than your local music retailer. Your guitar does not have to be perfect. If we're interested in it, we'll accept it as a fixer-upper on an as-is basis. We pay overnight with secure funds. For more information, please contact Joe Vinikow at [email protected] or call 206-325-3737 between 9am and 7pm Pacific Time.

-Trades: If you see an instrument of interest on our site, and have an archtop guitar that you think might fit our sales criteria, we may be able to arrange for a trade-in. If we have someone on our want-list looking for your guitar, we can often offer attractive terms on an exchange.