# General Mandolin Topics > General Mandolin Discussions >  Reverb announces increase in fees

## Mandolin Cafe

... in order to "invest in their sellers."

https://guitar.com/news/industry-new...-fee-increase/

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Bill Kammerzell, 

darylcrisp, 

Mando Mort, 

William Smith

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## Ranger Bob

Puts an exclamation mark on our favorite website’s donation policy!!!

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Bill Kammerzell

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## BrianWilliam

I got that email. Adios Reverb!

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Bill Kammerzell

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## Sue Rieter

Following in the footsteps of Fee-Bay.

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Bill Kammerzell

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## William Smith

I've never tried to sell anything there but have bought a few interesting things on the cheap, I didn't see nothing for buyers increase prices?

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Bill Kammerzell

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## Mandobar

Etsy now has to regain some of the funds they spent on Reverb.......they probably don't have a lot of people to lay off, so now it's got to come out of the seller's pockets.  Some small shops have parked their websites on Reverb.  I know one of them is in the process of coming off of it, back onto their own website.

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## Loubrava

> Etsy now has to regain some of the funds they spent on Reverb.......they probably don't have a lot of people to lay off, so now it's got to come out of the seller's pockets.  Some small shops have parked their websites on Reverb.  I know one of them is in the process of coming off of it, back onto their own website.


Etsy owns or has controls Reveb I didn't know that, now I'm a bit pissed I received the email from Reverb & in the email they say Reverb was "founded and is run by musicians" maybe the Etsy folks play a little. I'm not pissed about the increase I'm pissed about the BS email. IMO 5% is pretty darn good for what you get on Reverb they control the sale and buyer and seller are very well protected. 
Lou

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## mandowilli

Etsy is a publicly traded corporation.

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## GeoMandoAlex

I don't see a problem with the increase (caveat: I am not a seller) if they do use the funds to make the website better for the sellers.  I never ran a website so I do not know the costs associated with running a website.  

Again, it they use the increase to fund the website to make a better experience and the sellers, then there should not be a problem.

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Mando Mort

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## Northwest Steve

I has become a triple whammy from my way of thinking. It's not just 5% but another almost 3% for what ever payment method the buyer pays. They are a business and bottom line they are there to make money. If you want them to be around they need to make enough profit to stay in business. As anyone knows who has owned or operated a business  there are a lot of costs associated to running a business. The other part to this is the fairly recent requirement to collect sales taxes. On a smaller purchase not a big deal, but the cost of a nice instrument really ads up. So the lower seller fee and not having to pay sales tax if dealing with an individual makes the Café the the preferred method of buying or selling.

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## Bill Kammerzell

> I've never tried to sell anything there but have bought a few interesting things on the cheap, I didn't see nothing for buyers increase prices?


There is the sales tax they charge.

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## Bill Kammerzell

Which makes selling right here even better. Even going thru PayPal there still isn't any sales tax. If I have the money in my checking or transfer it to my checking, I "send money to a friend" and the seller doesn't even have to pay the PayPal fees. It doesn't get any cheaper than the 2% voluntary contribution here. If I ever get tired of playing and sell a couple off, it will be here.

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William Smith

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## Mandobar

> Etsy owns or has controls Reveb I didn't know that, now I'm a bit pissed I received the email from Reverb & in the email they say Reverb was "founded and is run by musicians" maybe the Etsy folks play a little. I'm not pissed about the increase I'm pissed about the BS email. IMO 5% is pretty darn good for what you get on Reverb they control the sale and buyer and seller are very well protected. 
> Lou


There was a notice on the Reverb site last year when the deal was consummated.  Etsy is an on-line selling website, publicly traded or not, and they obviously convinced their board that the purchase can pay for itself (in its entirety or in part).  It's now time to make that happen.  The real issue will be whether they make Reverb look, run, and operate just like Etsy (think economies of scale).  The website it probably still run by musicians, but they work for Etsy, ultimately.

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## Mark Gunter

> ... requirement to collect sales taxes. On a smaller purchase not a big deal ...


Sales tax is a PITA for small business owners whether the sales are large or small. When you go into business (for most businesses), you also become a _de facto_ tax collector, which means you have to "work for" and continually deal with a bureaucracy, that is, you become a bit of a bureaucrat yourself, as a tax collector who collects and remits taxes to the sale tax authorities. Nothing giddy wonderful about it no matter how small the sales.

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## William Smith

> There is the sales tax they charge.



Yes that I found out a little while back when I bought something very expensive through Elderly-I think they all got on that band wagon! I have sold a bunch through the Great Café that Scott started for us geeks and I donate to this cause whenever I can, hopefully we'll be able to buy and sell without fees here!

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## jesserules

Fifteen posts and nobody's figured out a way to blame Gibson for this?

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darylcrisp, 

Dave Sheets, 

GeoMandoAlex, 

Glassweb, 

j. condino, 

Northwest Steve

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## Mandobar

> Sales tax is a PITA for small business owners whether the sales are large or small. When you go into business (for most businesses), you also become a _de facto_ tax collector, which means you have to "work for" and continually deal with a bureaucracy, that is, you become a bit of a bureaucrat yourself, as a tax collector who collects and remits taxes to the sale tax authorities. Nothing giddy wonderful about it no matter how small the sales.


There are companies now who handle sales tax for small business.  Again, you pay for this service, but at least you dont have to open sales tax accounts for all 50 states.  A lot of music stores are using a company called Avalara.

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## darylcrisp

I've never used ebay or reverb-buying, trades, or for a sale. never used local sales methods either.  I've only ever used the Café classifieds and the AGF classifieds. always had quick sales and minus 1 guy, probably over 40 positive transactions(sales/trades/buys).

All this appears to make things more complicated and less financially rewarding for folks using these services.

d

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## Kevin Winn

> There are companies now who handle sales tax for small business.  Again, you pay for this service, but at least you don’t have to open sales tax accounts for all 50 states.  A lot of music stores are using a company called Avalara.


Umm, make that 45 sales tax accounts, says the guy from one of the states that doesn't have a sales tax....   :Smile:

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j. condino

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## pops1

In most states when you buy something and don't pay sales tax, because you are out of state, you are required to pay your state use tax. It is the same as sales tax, but paid by the consumer when you file your income tax. This has not been enforced over the years, hence the collection of tax on many more online sales these days.

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## Mando Mort

5% seems reasonable for what the format offers versus alternatives.  I have bought and sold on Reverb without complaint.

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## SolusAsh

I get better service on Reverb than I do on eBay, and so far better service than from some of the big-box shops. I'm yet to have a complaint, plus the level of buyer and seller protection they offer is pretty snazzy. 

*Assuming* the added fees go to what they say it does, and not to line corporate exec pockets, I see no problem with it.

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Mando Mort

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## lgibjones

It seems like reverb has dumped a ton of money into SEO.  Google anything instrument related and you get a million reverb ads.  

Reverb now requires you as a seller to link directly to your bank account.  This is a deal breaker for me.  They explained they did this to streamline their payroll and a/r processes.

I think the content on reverb is great, and like the platform, but am really concerned that they are making it difficult for private sellers and retailers to operate.

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j. condino

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## Loubrava

> It seems like reverb has dumped a ton of money into SEO.  Google anything instrument related and you get a million reverb ads.  
> 
> Reverb now requires you as a seller to link directly to your bank account.  This is a deal breaker for me.  They explained they did this to streamline their payroll and a/r processes.
> 
> I think the content on reverb is great, and like the platform, but am really concerned that they are making it difficult for private sellers and retailers to operate.


I'm with you on this one, I've  sold thousands of dollars of gear on Reverb from 40 buck pedals to 2.5K guitars but no way am I linking Reverb or any body to my bank account. I really liked buying & selling on Reverb too bad one good thing is I'm not selling or buying much these days.
Lou

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