Sell Your Used Classical Guitar — 0% Fees

A used classical guitar typically sells for £40 to £180, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Classical guitars are bought on top construction and action, so say whether the top is solid cedar or spruce or a laminate, and give the string height at the twelfth fret.

The short version

Typical range: £40 – £180 — see the full classical guitar value guide
What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
Category: Music & Instruments

Before you photograph it

Ten minutes here is worth more than anything else you will do. Buyers are deciding between your listing and someone else’s, and preparation is what visibly separates the two.

Establish whether the top is solid wood or laminate by looking at the grain at the soundhole edge.
Measure the action at the twelfth fret and sight the neck for relief.
Check the bridge for lifting and the top for cracks, and fit fresh nylon strings if the current ones are dead.

The photographs that sell a classical guitar

Four photographs do almost all the work. Shoot in daylight, near a window, with the item against something plain — and do not use the flash, which flattens texture and hides exactly what buyers are trying to see.

The full guitar front on, plain background
The soundhole edge, showing whether the top is solid or laminate
The bridge and soundboard, showing any lifting or crack
The neck sighted down its length, plus the headstock

Photograph the flaws too. It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover. Buyers who can see the damage stop imagining something worse.

Writing the title and description

Size, top and brand: “Yamaha C40 Full Size Classical Guitar, Solid Spruce Top”. Size matters — full, three-quarter and half are separate searches for students of different ages. Solid top versus laminate is the main price driver.

Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:

Size: full, three-quarter or half
Whether the top is solid wood or laminate, and which wood
Action height at the twelfth fret and neck relief
Any cracks, bridge lifting, and whether a case is included

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about a classical guitar. Answering them in the listing itself removes the back-and-forth, and answering them well when they do arrive is what turns an enquiry into a sale.

“Is the top solid?”

Look at the grain at the soundhole edge: solid tops show continuous grain through the thickness, laminates show layers. It is the main price factor.

“What is the action like?”

Measure the string height at the twelfth fret. High action on a student guitar makes it unplayable and is the commonest complaint.

“What size is it?”

Say full, three-quarter or half. Parents buying for a child filter on this before anything else.

Pricing it so it actually sells

Start from the honest condition grade rather than the price you hope for. WishThrift listings use five grades — New with Tags, Like New, Good, Fair and For Parts — and what each grade means is worth reading before you choose, because grading up is the most expensive mistake sellers make. It does not raise the price; it produces a buyer who arrives expecting something else.

The classical guitar value guide prices all five grades for this item. Pick your grade, take the figure, and if you sit between two grades price toward the lower one. Items priced honestly sell faster than items priced hopefully, and on a free platform there is no fee eating the difference anyway.

What you keep, compared

On a £110 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a classical guitar — here is what the commission-charging platforms would take, and what you would keep on each:

Where you sell it	Fee	You keep
WishThrift	£0	£110
Poshmark	−£22	£88
eBay	−£15	£95
Mercari	−£11	£99
Etsy	−£7	£103

Seller-side rates verified 26 Jul 2026 — Poshmark: 20% commission on sales of $15 and above; eBay: 13.6% final value fee, plus a per-order fee; Mercari: flat 10% selling fee; Etsy: 6.5% transaction fee, plus a listing fee and payment processing. Percentages are applied to the sterling figure above; the fixed per-order and processing charges those platforms add are quoted in their own currency and are not included here, so the real deductions are slightly larger. Full breakdown: marketplace selling fees compared.

Timing and getting it to the buyer

Lifts in September as lessons start and before Christmas. Student sizes sell fastest in those windows.

Post only in a hard case with the strings slackened and the headstock padded. Collection lets the buyer play it, which sells a guitar better than any photograph.

WishThrift does not process payments or arrange delivery — you and the buyer agree both directly — so confirm payment has cleared before the item leaves your hands, and keep the conversation on the site so there is a record of what was agreed.

Ready to list it? It takes about two minutes, costs nothing, and there is no commission when it sells — create a free account or see how selling works.

Frequently asked questions

What is a used classical guitar worth?

Typically £40 to £180, with solid-top instruments from recognised makers above. See the classical guitar value guide.

Solid top or laminate: how do I tell?

Look at the edge of the soundhole. A solid top shows the same grain running through the full thickness; a laminate shows a thin decorative layer over plies. Solid tops sound better and are worth considerably more.

Should I restring before selling?

Yes. A fresh set of nylon strings costs very little, makes the guitar sound immediately better to anyone trying it, and signals the instrument has been cared for.