Reverb, the firm that's revolutionised the pre-owned instrument market since its 2013 launch, has announced a rise in its sales cut, from 3.5% to 5% - the first ever change to its fees. The 'ebay for music gear' was acquired by giant e-comm marketplace Etsy for a reported $275m last summer.
The 1.5% rise, which will kick in from 4 August has been defended by the company, which says it intends to make "substantial" investments in customer support, marketing and selling tools, in order to attract more buyers, and make it easier for them to find your precious listing.
“As our community continues to expand and players of all levels increasingly shop for music gear online, we’ve heard our sellers loud and clear," said Reverb CEO David Mandelbrot.
"They want even more opportunities to connect with more buyers on Reverb. As a crucial partner to our sellers, we recognize that now is the time to make further investments on behalf of our sellers.”
Specifically, the firm says it will be upping its marketing spend by 30%, including initiatives to make sellers' posts more visible on google; Increasing its customer support capacity by a quarter; and boosting its product development team by 40% to improve the platform itself.
