The best place to sell musical instruments?  

You know though, I've had an antique cornet that I sold before. And all these people kept telling me it was worth $800, but none would buy it. One collector told me he'd buy it if I shipped it to him, let him look at it, and then give me a quote and either buy it or send it back. I just don't trust people that much. Instead I sold it on eBay for a little over a hundred. It's all well and good to say it's worth $800, but no one could back that up by buying it from me.

My mandolin isn't decent at all, it's just a student mandolin. But the violin is very nice.

Where would I find violin collectors in my area? We don't have a lot of music shops that buy older instruments, just student models that are easily resold.

Yeah, a fair point, but there are others who will buy, on ebay and the net generally. Doesn't cost anything to set up an auction, and I think you can set a reserve price, so you have some figure to work with. From then on your main cost is shipping.

That said, if it looks like more trouble than it's worth, a quick flick through prices will give you a decent idea of what's selling and being sold.

I'm an Ebay seller and it does cost to list an item. From checking other auctions on old violins, that's not the place to sell them. The mandoline I bought on Ebay, new. Now that it's used (like 5 times), I'm not sure how much that will decrease the value. I don't see any like it up used.

Stand corrected. You got any place where you can just list it, like a web site, or something where it’s not going to be a pain to keep it running and follow up?

Thinking about it, ebay isn’t exactly a charity, either.

Actually, I could put it free on Ebay if I donate it to a charity. :D

But hmm, maybe I'll try Craigslist again. I sold a violin there and got pretty much everything I paid back for it. I'll try selling the mandolin there.