buying music gear online

I bought a '60s Harmony Rocket hollowbody off Reverb - it wasn't the cheapest on there but had lots of pictures and the seller didn't try to talk it up as the platonic embodiment of a guitar, etc.. Arrived safe and sound, I'm very happy with it.

Proceed with caution - what is it? I'd be happy to take a look/tell you what questions you need to ask.

there's a specific guitar model i'm looking at but there are several listings on reverb plus one on craigslist if i want to drive to detroit to save a couple hundred bucks, so it's not so much one listing i'm trying to figure out but more just trying to assess the risks in general. i mean, there's the risk that someone's scamming you and trying to sell you a broken guitar, and there's the risk that you won't like how the guitar feels or sounds once you get it.

i've bought and sold a bunch of guitars on reverb and ebay over the last 18 months and never had a problem with any of them after following the basics of buying online - don't buy from people with little or no feedback, ask questions whenever you think you need to, bail if you get the slightest hint of anything untoward going on, and if you can help it don't spend more than you'll get back for it if you don't bond with it when it arrives and you want to sell it on again

I was offered a gift certificate to an online shopping site of my choice. I want a music gear site, maybe to use toward a new microphone. What's the best bet?

does it even matter? are they all the same?

Is reverb.com any good? Are their prices inflated?

Reverb is basically ebay for musical gear. If that fits into the requirements for the gift certificate it’s definitely your best bet - a few things are “reverb” products but most of the stuff on there is stores and private sellers using it as a pass through. We’ve sold some things on there and it’s been great.

Uh hopefully you did not get a gift certificate from Pro Guitar Shop.

Because:

https://proguitarshop.reverbsites.com

FYI, this is a big deal.

Saw that on my instagram feed a few days ago and was immediately bummed.