As a guitarist, chances are you’ve spent way too many late nights scrolling for eBay guitar deals. Your eyes glazed over, heart racing at the sight of a vintage pedal or a beat-up Strat begging for a second life.
Let’s be real: the hunt for gear is half the fun. But the real magic? That moment when you snag a killer piece of kit for way less than it should cost. That’s what this article’s about. Whether you’re chasing rare guitars, exotic pedals, or a practice amp that won’t wake the neighbors, there are ways to game the system without being shady—just smart.
So grab your favorite beverage, mute your Reverb alerts for a sec, and let’s talk strategy. eBay is still one of the best places to find deals if you know where (and when) to look—and I’m about to let you in on the good stuff.
How to Get the Best eBay Guitar Deals
1. Learn To Search SMART
The truth is that a good proportion of sellers fail to correctly categorise their eBay listings. This means that using the numerous filters on the site could actually be eliminating the guitars that you are looking for!
Look at this example on eBay to see the insane number of left-handed electric guitars mis-categorised as right-handed models!
A much better method of using the site is to utilise clever search queries to make sure you aren’t missing potential bargains. Using the search bar alone, eBay allows us to use AND, OR, and NOT operators to laser-target exactly what we are looking for.
Luckily, I have just such a guide on exactly how to craft these magical queries! Check out my article on How to Uncover All Of The Hidden Guitars on eBay.
2. Check For Misspelled Listings
If you are searching for a brand or guitar model that is commonly misspelled, make sure to also search for these. Listings with incorrect titles are always going to attract less attention.
For example, Squier is often incorrectly labelled Squire by sellers. Similarly, literally every day I get shown an advert on my Instagram feed for Fender Startocasters rather than Stratocasters.
Example – Click here to see the crazy number of Fender Startocasters currently on eBay!
3. Bidding At The Last Second (Sniping)
This tip will only work on auction-style listings. If you bid on an auction early and show your interest in the item, you are likely to start a bidding war between yourself and the other trigger-happy eBayers. This is generally great for the seller, but not too great for you.
By bidding in the last few seconds (sniping), the hope is that the current highest bidder won’t have time to retaliate and place an additional higher bid. eBay provides a countdown timer on all auctions, so it is very easy to make sure that you get your bid in right before the listing ends.
However, if you can’t be there at the right time, there are apps that can do the bidding for you. For example, Gixen is completely free for up to 4 winning snipes per month!
4. Antisocial Auctions
Another great tip for finding the best eBay guitar deals is to search for auctions that end when most people will be alseep. An item that ends at 3am is clearly going to have far less people bidding on it at the last minute, if any at all.
Sort your search results by Time: Ending Soonest in the evenings to find auctions that are ending in the dead of night.
Follow Along – This Link will show you all of the left-handed guitar auctions that will end soon.
Similarly, auctions that end during work hours, or even on public holidays, will attract slightly less attention.
5. Use The Completed Items Filter
One sneaky method for finding the best eBay guitar deals is to use the completed listings filter to discover listings that have ended without any bids.
Once checked, this filter will show you the recently ended auctions from the past few months. If you spot an item that has its end time highlighted in red, this means that it did not sell. Maybe the price was too high, perhaps they listed it incorrectly, or they could have only offered local pickup.
Here’s a live search example you can check out. Look out for the red text above the auction titles.
If you find a guitar you are interested in that did not sell, shoot the seller a message. Offer them a price you are happy with, and you may just get lucky! Alternatively, if the item had previously been listed for local pickup only, see if they could be talked into offering shipping.
You can also use the completed listings filter to see what the item you are interested in has sold for previously. This can help to ensure that you aren’t overpaying on a current listing.
6. Local Pickup Only Auctions
Many sellers do not have the means or know-how to ship larger items like guitars, and so will often list them as ‘local pickup only’. Depending on where the item is located, you can get some fantastic deals on these types of auctions.
Listings that have to be collected locally will naturally have less interest in them. This is because buyers who live further away are not going to want to travel a long way to collect their item.
Check the Local Pickup box, then enter your zip code in the Item Location filter. This will show all of the juicy items within 25 miles of your location (the default). It’s not obvious, but if you click the Within 25 Miles box, you can actually change the distance to whatever you’d be willing to travel.
Follow along – this link will show you all of the left-handed guitars within 25 miles of Beverly Hills. Fire in your own zip code for a personalised result.
Even if you don’t live near the seller, you may be able to convince them to ship it to you if you explain how to do it. So don’t just automatically disregard local pickup items – try your luck!
7. Check Newly Listed Buy It Now Auctions
Periodically sort your search results by ‘Time: Newly Listed’ and check the ‘Buy It Now’ (BIN) tab to show only the most recent BIN auctions.
Buyers will often list items for a great BIN price in the hopes of a quick sale, so some really great deals can be had here as well. You can try a similar idea with auction format listings by asking the seller if they’d end the auction early for a specific price.
Follow along – this live eBay example will show you all of the left-handed guitar BIN listings ending soon.
8. Use Best Offer If It’s Available
On Buy It Now style auctions, make use of the ‘Best Offer’ feature if the seller is offering it. This allows you to send the seller an offer below the current BIN price.
Even if you propose a silly price, the seller may come back with a counter-offer at a price they would be happy with. They wouldn’t enable this option if they weren’t open to accepting lower offers.
9. Use eBay Alerts
If you are looking for a specific guitar, you can have eBay send you an email whenever a product matching your description is listed. This will save you from manually checking in every day. It also means you will be one of the first to get the chance to buy when something does pop up.
To do this, simply fill out the search bar with the item name and use the filters relevant to your needs. Now all you need to do is click ‘Save This Search‘ to be alerted whenever something new pops up.
Key Takeaways
At the end of the day, finding great eBay guitar deals isn’t rocket science. It’s more like thrift shopping with a sixth sense. A little patience, a little hustle, and a healthy dose of curiosity can go a long way. You don’t need a massive budget. You just need to know how to spot a deal when it shows up at 2 am with blurry photos and a suspiciously low price.
So keep your searches saved, your offers respectful, and your eyes peeled for those dusty gems. And hey—if you score something wild, brag about it. Post it. Share it. We guitarists live for that stuff.
Now go forth with your newfound eBay guitar shopping tips. And if you haven’t already, make sure to read my article on How to Uncover All Of The Hidden Guitars on eBay.
