Can anyone share their experiences with selling saddles? I have a high end [saddle] that no longer fits my horse or me. I’ve had it listed online for a few months with no serious interest. It’s in excellent shape, so I refuse to keep dropping the price. I had it appraised. I don’t want to take a huge loss on it as my future saddle purchase depends on this one selling first. Is there a legit consignor that someone can recommend or is there a better way? Success stories please! Thank you!
Following with interest. I have a gorgeous [saddle] that needs to go because I’m not jumping anymore.
Since a friend of mine is having a significant issue with Iselltack.com- I would avoid them like the plaque.
I have bought saddles off of eBay and from tack shops, specifically Charlotte’s Saddlery and Dallas Fort Worth saddlery, consigned saddles from both. I first found them on eBay also. All saddles were priced right for buyers. I’ve never sold a saddle. I bought one from another tack store, again a consignment, on eBay, but I forget the name of the tack store in California. I’ve also bought saddles from individuals on eBay, both from the USA and europe. All were great prices and great sellers.
I have bought and sold thru Pelham saddlery.
I don’t know if they still do it, they used to take saddles to shows and they sold there also, not just in the stores and on their web sites.
Some times it takes long for a saddle to sell, but that is because there is not much demand for that kind and that can’t be helped, other than practically give those away.
A few years ago I bought a used Pessoa monoflap from someone on Horse Clicks. Final sale - no returns. But I felt safe buying insofar as ‘horse fit’ goes because Pessoas can be easily adjusted. It was fitted to a particular horse of mine and it’s great. That being said…
… I’m now shopping for another monoflap for a different horse (hard to fit, short backed, can’t wear a Pessoa due to the gusseted panels) and I’m having a heck of a time because many of the high end saddles are customs, built to fit a certain horse & rider. These saddles often aren’t very adjustable; they are what they are.
In order for someone else’s ‘custom’ to work for a buyer and their horse, the saddle pretty much has to be an identical fit. And there’s no way to know that unless the buyer gets to trial the saddle; and a trial (more often than not) isn’t an option with ‘for sale by owner’ online adverts – understandable because I wouldn’t want my $$$$ saddle shipping all over the place being tried by people who might damage it, etc.
That being said…
… I looked at tons of high end monos (for sale by owner) on sites galore, and didn’t dare buy any of them because of the ‘box of chocolates’ factor – didn’t know what I was going ‘get’ in regards to fit. I also tried (through consignment shops) several customs and sent them all back because of bad fit.
So…it could be you’re not getting interest in your saddle because it’s a full custom? not adjustable without the saddle being taken apart and redone by manufacturer, etc. ?
Unfortunately I don’t have an answer to your exact question as to ‘where’ to sell or consign your saddle.
I can only say that ‘used’ saddle buyers like me have an equally hard time finding the right saddle. I know it’s out there somewhere! But somewhere is getting tiresome! I’m ready to just order a new custom or semi custom and dispense with the used saddle market altogether. Then…once this custom no longer fits my horse or horse retires or whatever, I’ll be in the same or simialr situation as you – trying to sell my high end saddle.
^^^^^ such an unhelpful post! :o
I think I’ve bought and sold enough saddles to be considered almost a hobbyist at it, mainly because I had one horse I thought was hard to fit, followed by another who was even harder. Ugh. So I buy, try, and sell. I keep finding myself longing for the good old days with eBay in which you could find good used equipment for reasonable prices and eBay’s cut was reasonable. It’s changed a lot, and the amount they take off the top really hurts. And yet it’s where I still seem to have the most success. So some pointers and info …
- Before you list it on any online site, make sure you have a box that will fit it. Heavier duty the better. There's nothing worse than having sold a saddle and feeling crunched for packing it up to go.
- Facebook is free, but you have fewer protections
- Craigslist is free, but you have fewer protections dealing long-distance. In-person deals can go well, but I'd recommend meeting someone in a public place.
- eBay is going to take about a 20% cut ... at least that's about how things have worked out for me.
- My preferred shipper for saddles is FedEx Ground. They take a little better care of their boxes than UPS (usually). It requires a real ship-to address, no PO boxes. They will do signature required if you say the box is worth more than a certain amount. They deliver Tuesday thru Saturday.
- What I often do is list a saddle with my best guestimate for shipping, and do a flat-rate. An English saddle might cost as little as $40 to ship, but I ride big horses and have a big butt, so my boxes are usually big and a cross-country shipment might run as much as $80. So for an English I will usually charge $50-60 in shipping. Then if I'm super lucky the person lives within the same region as myself and the cost is lower. If not and I lose a little on shipping, then I'm OK with that. A couple of times it was drastically lower than I estimated so I refunded a little money which usually makes the buyer super happy.
- If you do eBay and you get the money by PayPal, personally I don't consider it actually fully sold until a week after the package delivered, so I leave the money in PayPal until then. Even tho I say no returns, weird stuff can happen, and it's easier to have the money in PayPal ready to refund if the need arises.
- If you do eBay and haven't read their protection policies recently, it might be worth a look before posting. The marketplace has become VERY skewed toward the buyer. So non-paying bidders are rampant and there's not much you can do about it. They don't even let you leave negative feedback anymore which is ridiculous. And yet they still seem to be the best place I've found for unloading my gear. (I usually do list on FB and CL at the same time, and for saddles in particular, eBay gets the sale most often.)
So, I have this problem … after I write something that was already long enough, I go back to re-read it, and re-read the original post. Ugh. So a few more tips regarding the actual ad.
- Pictures - I assume that's a given, but do make sure you get good pictures. The best ones will be taken in enough ambient light that you don't have to use a flash. In addition to getting all the usual angles (straight on, each side, under flaps, under the belly), get some with measuring tape showing key areas (gullet and seat size).
- People might be thinking about Christmas or winter holidays now - leverage that in the wording of your ad
- Trials - I don't like them, and have never offered one. But if you consider it, you might want to use an escrow service like www.escrow.com (I never have so can't offer feedback)
- Fittings - if you have them, then offer the saddle with and without
- Keywords - I hate hate hate it when I'm looking for draft items, and people will say in their ad something like "doesn't fit my draft horse." Because then of course this usless ad comes up in my search results. Ugh. But hey, from a seller's standpoint, um, use it. Don't abuse it by including long random words having nothing to do with your ad. But do include as many useful keywords as you can think of ... monoflap, fittings, wide, short flap, stirrup, [breed of horse you've used it on], etc.
I forgot to add, at Pelham you do get to try the saddle you are interested in, but of course will be out the shipping.
I have tried some that didn’t fit and had to send back, but it has always been very quick and simple to do so.
Maybe not worth for a very low end, cheap saddle, but for those higher priced ones, if you are where there are no English saddles at all, buying far away is the only way to find saddles, shipping costs worth paying to be sure a saddle will fit.
Timely thread, thanks! I just started trying to sell my [saddle] and it’s already stressing me out. I had a terrible experience with a non-paying bidder on eBay a few months back and swore I would never sell on there again. I’m not on Facebook so that’s out. I might try Pelham since they take a smaller cut than local consigners (though of course I have to pay to ship it so I need to do the math and see how it works out).
I also am am not sure how to price it, which is a whole other issue.
Will be watching this thread for more ideas!
I have a young friend who bought an older but very nicely maintained County dressage saddle for $600. She was thinking about selling it so we took a drive down to Pelham. She decided to keep it when they recommended $1000-1100. The Pelham store is stuffed with hundreds of saddles, so much so that they don’t have room to stock much else like clothing or other supplies anymore. I’ve always found their staff to be qualified, knowledgeable and very helpful when it comes to trying saddles, and their website is good. They will detail the saddle for $35 and there is also the trial-ride option. They may still make an appointment to haul a hard-to-fit horse in, which we did a number of years ago.
There are a few other consignment threads on COTH, and a number of members have complained about Trumbull Mountain, which apparently has changed hands and gone downhill.
Highline Tack & Apparel has sold two saddles for me in the last year. Susy was very easy to work with and kept me up-to-date on the status of the sales. I would highly recommend her. The first saddle I had at a consignment store for over two years and they did little to try to sell it. Susy sold that one in about two months. The second saddle sold in about a week.
Thank you all so much for the helpful advice, especially ladymcts! I think I’m going to try consigning it at a great tack shop in my area. They will keep 25%, but from talking with them yesterday, it sounded like they have a need for my type of saddle and seems much less painful than going the online route.
