How does it work?

General

What's Sounds Market?

Sounds Market is the secondhand specialized website for musical instruments and DJ gear. It's a community formed by thousands of musicians and DJ in Europe, founded by and for musicians in 2018 with the objective of offer the best service as possible for such an active secondhand market as the musical gear is.

To achieve this objective, Sounds Market counts on a totally secure online payment method, with the option of doing refunds, and a logistic and shipping service adapted to musical instruments and DJ gear, which could be really fragile and expensive items, and therefore they may require specialization. This is why we offer a tailored, personalized and proactive care with any doubt or concern that our buyers and sellers could have. Thanks to our excellent service, Sounds Market is the most secure secondhand platform with better reviews from their customers.

Sounds Market is much more than a secure and specialized secondhand with specific filters to search your dream gear or list an item for sale. We also offer the option of listing and looking for other services for the Musicians community, like lessons of any kind of musical instrument, rehearsal spaces, recording studios or gear renting (for now only available in Spain). We also count on a blog, also only in Spanish, where every week we publish new content for musicians and DJ.

How can I create a Sounds Market account?

To create a Sounds Market account, you only have to press the button “Login / Sign up”. It's for fee and it's a very fast and process, which lasts only a few seconds. You can do it through your email address, your Facebook account or your Apple ID.

To navigate through our website you don't need to have an account, but you'll need to create one in order to list items for sale, purchase items or chat with other users.

In which countries does Sounds Market work?

Sounds Market operates in all the countries from the European Union, including islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Nonetheless, shipping to islands may have an extra cost for the buyer as this kind of operations are more expensive for shipping companies.

Shipping from or to Canary Islands, Ceuta o Melilla won't be possible due to bureaucratic aspects and the high prices from logistic providers.

How can I be a PRO user?

If you want to be a Professional Sounds Market user, plase write us an email to info@soundsmarket.com and we'll review your case personally, because not everyone can be a PRO user in Sounds Market.

Can I buy or sell without using Sounds Market's secure payment method?

Sounds Market was created to be the most secure way to buy and sell second hand musical gear, so you can buy and sell without any concern. This is why we have the most secure way to pay online and ship musical instruments and DJ gear, offering the option of doing a refund if your purchase is in bad conditions when you receive it, and advising personally buyers and sellers if they have any doubt or need help.

Do not trust any buyer or seller who suggest you to use other payment and logistic method different from ours, because most probably he or she will be trying to scam you, and if that happens, as you won't have used our payment and logistic method, we won't be able to help you or to compensate you.

If you prefer to close your deal in person with the buyer or the seller without using our payment and logistics method, you won't have the option of asking for a refund. Please be aware of the risks of closing a deal by hand before choosing this option (for example: letting strangers come to your home to test the gear, counterfeit money...).

How does software licenses are transferred between buyers and sellers?

We are a second hand specialized platform for musicians, DJ and producers, and therefore, we also manage software license transferring between users. To transfer a software license to another user, please follow the instructions of the manufacturer, and in case of doubt, please write us to info@soundsmarket.com and we'll personally help you transfer the license.

Be aware that if you are the seller and you included the software license in your sell, until you have freed the license so the buyer can use it, we may not be able to transfer you the money for your sell.

For sellers

How can I list an item in Sounds Market?

Listing an item for sale in Sounds Market is really fast and simple. To do it, just press the button "Sell your gear" on the screen. If you don't have a Sound Market account or if you are not logged in, we'll ask you to sign up or log in before creating your listing.

Once you have signed up or logged in, you only need to follow the following steps we'll ask you in order to complete your listing:

  1. Select the type of listing you want to publish:
  2. Select the family (for example: “String instruments”), the category (for example: “Guitars”) and kind of instrument (for example: “Electric guitars”). It's very important to categorize well your item so other user can find it easily, but be aware that some families don't have any category (for example: “Lighting and stage”) and some categories don't have any instrument (for example: “Pianos”).
  3. Title: it's very important to write correctly the brand and model of the item you are listing, because if you do any mistake (for example, you write “Pionner” instead of “Pioneer”, or “Denom” instead of “Denon”), maybe our search engine won't be able to list it when a potential buyer is looking for the item you're selling.
  4. Condition: Select the conservation condition of your item. Please, be honest, because if the buyer receives it in worst conditions than what you said when listing your item for sale, he or she will be able to ask for a refund, and therefore, we'll have to cancel your sell.
  5. Description and features: here you have to do a description of your item, specifying all the data that may be of interest for the potential buyer. The more information you write, the better!
  6. Marks of use or damage: if your item has any damage, even if it's really small and irrelevant, please explain it here. If your item is brand new and it doesn't have any damage, you can also explain it here.
  7. Extras included: if you are including accessories like jacks, deck savers, cases or flight cases, software plugins... or even the original packaging, you can explain it here.
  8. Price: it's one of the most important aspects of your listing, so we are giving you some advices:
    • The price must be much lower than what you paid when you purchased it brand new. Otherwise, the buyer can buy it new for a similar price with all the advantages of buying it from a shop, like warranties, free shipping... If your price is too expensive, you'll probably not sell it.
    • Take a look at Sounds Market or other secondhand platforms to see at what price does other sellers sell the exact same item you want to sale, so you can fix a similar price (or even cheaper if you want to sell it faster).
    • You have to fix a price for your item for sale, please do not put 0€ or 1€ as a price expecting to receive different pricing proposals, because someone could end up thinking that this is your final price and purchasing the item for only 1€.
  9. Images: use real images of your item, and be sure to have good light when taking photos of it. Try to show all the angles and sides of your item, and the marks of us it might have. The more and better images you submit, the more options of selling it faster!
  10. Location: show us where is your item for sale. Don't worry because we won't show the exact location to anyone. To indicate your location, your browser may ask you for permissions, only for this punctual matter when submitting your listing. When listing new items, your location will be saved and you'll be able to use it as many times as you want.
  11. After pressing the “Continue” button, we'll ask you for the size of your item, so we can calculate the shipping cost that the buyer is going to pay when purchasing your item. Please choose the correct option, otherwise there could be some issues with the logistic cost of your sale.

Once you have completed all those steps, after pressing the Publishing button, your listing will be automatically available in our webpage. You will be able to edit it, delete it or mark it as sold from your profile.

How does the shipping of my sales work in Sounds Market?

When you do a sell in Sounds Market, we'll ask you for your address and your Bank account number. We'll manage with all the logistics, and the buyer will take care of its costs.

Between 24h and 48h (labor hours) after you have fulfilled the form, we will send the shipping company to pick up the item in the address you shared us. Before that, we'll ask you at what day and schedule do you prefer them to come, and we'll send you a tracking link.

You'll have to correctly pack the item you're selling, protecting it from possible hits it may receive during the transportation. We'll send you another online form to be sure that the item is well packed before shipping it, and if it's not well packed, we'll personally help you and advise you pack it well.

When do I receive the money for my sale?

We'll transfer you the money 48h after the buyer received his purchase. Depending on the Bank firm, specially if it's an international transfer, the transfer may last up to 24h additional labor hours. But don't worry, you'll end up receiving your money!

Exceptionally, if the buyer confirms us that everything is ok before 48h since he received his purchase, we can transfer you the money before.

What if the buyer asks for a refund of the article I've sold him?

In first place, if you have been honest and followed all our recommendations when listing your item (explaining and showing all the marks of use or problems your listing may have...), you should not worry about it. If someone buys an item knowing that it could have some issues, then he or she can't ask for a refund because those known issues.

In the case that, certainly, the buyer finds some issues he or she wasn't expecting because you didn't list your item following our recommendations, we will have to send your item back to your address, and once you have receive it, we'll refund the money to the buyer.

What can I list in Sounds Market?

Sounds Market is a platform where you can sell:

  • Musical instruments and accessories
  • DJ and Studio gear and accessories
  • Light, stage and PA equipment
  • Vinyls, CDs and music sheets
  • Technological accessories related to music production and recording (like computers, graphic cards...)

More information:

  • All the items you list for sale must be clean. We recommend to clean each item in a proper way according to its material. The description of the item must include any issue it could have, if not, we can cancel your sell.
  • Be aware that if you have highlighted a listing that it's against our rules, we won't be able to refund you the price you paid for your highlighted ad in case you used a promotion to highlight it.

Why does my listing have been deleted?

We take really seriously the quality of the items listed in Sounds Market. If we consider that a listing is offensive, a scam or it's not related to music gear second hand, we will have to delete it.

Reasons why we could delete a listing:

  • The listed product is fake
  • The images of the product haven't been taken by the advertiser himself
  • It's not allowed to sell this kind of product in Sounds Market
  • The images of the listing have contact info from the seller (telephone number, email address...).
  • The images of the listing have poor quality, so we can't appreciate the product's conditions

More information:

  • We will explain you the reason why your listing has been deleted.
  • Once your listing has been deleted, you'll be able to improve it and list it again.
  • We will have to delete your account if you break our Terms and Conditions repeatedly.

How can I edit or mark as sold my listing?

In the “Active listings” section on your profile, you'll see all the listings you have available to be sold. If you press at the pencil icon, you'll be able to edit any aspect from your listing. If you press at the banknotes, you'll be able to mark it as sold.

How to sell faster in Sounds Market?

Depending on what kind of musical instrument or DJ equipment and its price, you could sell it in just a few hours, or it could last few months until you sell it.

The most important when it comes to sell faster is, in first place, fill well all the aspects of your listings as we explained in the previous question “How can I list an item in Sounds Market?” It's important to give as much information as possible and its conditions, as well as add as maximum images as possible with the greatest quality you can achieve.

Being aware about the value of your product so you can fix the right price it's also really important. If you hesitate about the price you should fix, you can email us (info@soundsmarket.com) and, depending on the type of product, maybe we could help you fixing the right price.

If your item has a good description and an attractive price, we offer you different ways to boost your listing so it can have more views, and therefore you can sell it faster (it's explained in the following question “How can my listings have more views?”.

We recommend, once you've listed your item, sharing it on your Social Media profiles and through messaging apps like Whatsapp. You never know who's the one who's going to buy it!

How can my listings have more views?

There are different ways to increase the number of visits of your listings in Sounds Market:

  • Featured listing: your listings can have a privileged position in-between our featured listings and by this way it will have much more visibility through the payment of 1,99€ (two days of featuring), 4,99€ (seven days of featuring) or 8,99€ (two weeks of featuring).
  • Renewed listing (free option): if you press the “Renew” button on your listing, your listing will automatically be in the top position of all the listings ranking. Renewing your listings has no cost and you can renew your listing as many times as you want.

Is there any fee for selling on Sounds Market?

No, there isn't any fee or commission for selling in Sounds Market. The price you fix when listing an item for sale (or the price you accept from an offer) is what you'll receive on your bank account once the deal is closed.

How do I accept or refuse an offer?

Every time you receive an offer, you'll receive an email from where you'll be able to accept the offer, refuse the offer or send a counter-offer. If your listing is no longer available when you receive an offer, please mark it as sold from your Profile.

Offers are accepted or refused from the email itself. Please take into consideration that accepting an offer doesn't mean that the person who have sent you the offer is going to purchase your item 100% sure. If he or she does, you'll receive a new email whit a form where we'll ask you for your address and the bank account where you want to receive the money from your sell.

During the first 7 days since your listing is available, everyone can purchase it directly for the same price you fixed, without having to send you an offer and wait until you accept it, through the button “Buy now”. When this happens, you'll receive an email with a form you'll have to fill with your address and bank account.

How can I reply to the messages I receive?

Every time that someone writes you a message, you'll be notified through email. You'll be able to see and reply messages from the “Messages” section in your Profile.

In any chase, always remember to use our secure payment and logistics method to sell your items, because by this way you'll be assured in chase of possible issues, we'll help you with the packaging and there's no fee nor commission for selling in Sounds Market.

Can I publish a listing not related to musical gear or musical services?

All listings in Sounds Market must be related to music. If you have any doubt, please visit our previous question “What can I list in Sounds Market?”

If we consider that your listing doesn't fit our criteria because, as we explain in our previous question “Why does my listing have been deleted?”, we can delete your listing from our platform.

For buyers

How to buy on Sounds Market?

There are two ways of buying second hand musical instruments, DJ and Studio equipment on Sounds Market: direct purchase ("Buy now" button: only appears for PRO sellers listings and for secondhand listings published by particular users during the last week) or by sending an offer.

By using the Direct Purchase, you'll be paying the exact same price that the seller fixed on his listing, plus the insurance, plus the shipping costs. Once you've completed the payment, you'll have to wait until the seller introduce his data so we can manage the shipping of your purchase.

If you send an offer, it could be for the price of the listed item or for a different price of your choice during the process of sending an offer. Once you've sent your offer, the seller can accept it, refuse it or send you counteroffer. You'll be notified about it by email, and if the seller has accepted the offer, you'll receive an online form where to add your address and do the payment. Once you've done the payment, we'll ask the seller to introduce his data so we can ship your purchase to your place.

In both cases (Direct Purchase or sending an offer), once you've been charged, we'll safely keep your money. If the seller doesn't introduce his data, we'll refund you, and if the seller does introduce his data, your money will continue being safely kept until 48h after you received your purchase. If you notify us any issue with your purchase or shipping we'll personally look into it to see if we have to do a refund. Otherwise, if everything is ok, we'll transfer your money to the seller bank's account.

What payment methods can I use?

For now, on Sounds Market you can pay through your debit or credit card. We are working on adding new payment methods on the future. If you have any doubt about payments, please do not hesitate to email us at info@soundsmarket.com.

How can I contact the sellers?

On every listed item you can find the "Send message" button, where to send a private message with the seller and start a chat with him.

From the Messages and Profile sections you'll be able to check all your private conversations. To avoid fraud or any possible issue with the seller, please remember to use always our secure payment and shipping method.

How do the shipping work in Sounds Market?

Sounds Market shipments are door to door between buyers and sellers. When fulfilling the form when you do a purchase you'll see that we ask you for the address where you want to receive your purchase.

Our shipments are totally safe. We personally check the packaging prepared by the seller, and advise him if needed, so we can be sure that your item will be protected during the transportation. We don't pick the package until it's correctly prepared.

We use different logistics companies depending on the country. During the whole transportation process you'll have a tracking link that will allaw you to see where's your purchase at any time.

In the chase that you purchased an item listed by a PRO user (a shop), the PRO user, and not Sounds Market, will be on charge of the shipping, warranty, refund policy and sending you the tracking link. We personally select our PRO users, so you don't have to worry about scams or issues with them.

How does our insurance work?

Our insurance is the mechanism that allows our totally secure secondhand purchases in Sounds Market, that includes the option of doing refunds.

How does it work exactly? We safely keep the money that the buyer paid until he/she receives his purchase and checks if everything is working properly according what the seller explained on his/her listing. During 48h since the buyer receives the purchase, he/she can ask us for a refund; after those 48h, we'll transfer the money to the seller and it won't be possible to ask for a refund anymore.

Without this purchasing insurance, we won't be able to safely keep the money and the buyer won't have the option of asking for a refund in the case, for example, that something when wrong with his/her purchase (for example: the item is different from the listing, it has some issues, the listing was a scam...).

How to send an offer in Sounds Market?

If you press the button "Send an offer", you'll arrive to the "Purchase request" screen, where we'll explain you how does our online payments and shipping work, you'll see the shipping cost and you'll have the option of sending an offer with another price different from the price fixed by the seller.

Once you have sent an offer, you'll receive an email detailing the next steps. If the seller accepts your offer (or if he/she send you a counteroffer and you accept it), you'll receive a new email with the online payment and address form.

If the seller rejects your offer, you'll also be notified by email. If the seller doesn't react to your offer after few days, we'll consider that the listing is no longer available and we'll end up deleting it.

Why do some listings have the "Buy now" button?

As it's explained in the "How to buy on Sounds Market" question, listings from PRO users or from particular sellers published during the last seven days can be directly purchased by the price fixed by the seller without having to send an offer and wait until the seller accepts it.

The "Buy now" button also appears in PRO users (they are shops we trust) listings and in our certified secondhand listings that we sell.

If the seller doesn't introduce his/her data to close the deal after purchasing through the "Buy now" button, don't worry because you'll be totally refunded.

Why are there some listed items that require personal care?

Those are big items or sets (for example, an acoustic piano, a counter bass or an acoustic drum set), which may need a different shipping budget and a personal logistic attention from our self and our shipping partners.

There might be some very expensive listed items who require personal care because the buyer wants to use a different payment method.

How can I use discount coupons?

When fulfilling the paying form (not when sending an offer), you'll see a blank where to add a discount code, if you have one.

When and how can I ask for a refund?

Once you've received your purchase, you have 48 hours to ask for a refund. You can't ask for a refund before receiving your purchase, nor after those 48 hours (because the seller will have received his/her money).

Please note that those 48 hours are for safely checking your purchase at your home or studio, not for performing or transporting it to other places.

The refund will proceed only if the seller agrees with it or if you can show us that the item you've received is different compared to the listing, or it has some issues that weren't explained on the listing. If the refund succeeds, we'll send the shipping company to your address to pick up the item and return it to the seller address; once the seller receives his item and confirms us that everything is ok, we'll refund you your money.

To avoid possible frauds when it comes to ask for refunds, be aware that we not only have the pictures of the listing, but also we ask to the seller for some pictures of the packaging process of the sold item.

Be also aware that if this is a secondhand purchase, the generic refund policies from other ecommerces where to buy brand new products are not the same, because the legislation is different and the seller might not be a business but a particular user.

Why is there an extra cost when shipping to islands?

Shipping companies tend to have high prices for shipments to islands, so if you live in an island, or if your purchase comes from an island, we could ask you for a mandatory extra cost.