Would you or have you brought a saddle on line second hand

ebonyallen

ebonyallen

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I never have and to be honest I do not think I would, my new girl came with two ans neither of them fit, so have got to get her another one, but need to sell the others, before I can afford to get one. So do I try and online or do I take them to my saddle shop where they will sell them but they do take a huge chunk in commission. I am just not sure of the best route to take. What have you done or would do. Hope this is allowed not trying to advertise them on here. Any advise would be good thanks
 
Bought and sold via eBay and never had a problem. The saddle I bought for my horse was to replace a 3 month old one that was stolen so I knew size etc to buy. The horse I ride for my YO both her saddles were from eBay as the freelance saddler didn't have the sizes she needed so gave us the brands / sizes we needed.

Edited to add these are decent saddles, Albions etc. There are good bargains to be had.
 
Yes. I had a saddler out, bought a jump saddle from them, but mentioned I was looking for a dressage saddle on a smaller budget. They recommended a make/model/size to buy, went out and bought it, worked out great. Have since sold that one and bought a nicer one, but I had it a couple of years.

The second time it didn't work so well!! Absolutely did not fit and still haven't managed to sell it. It's an amerigo and wasn't cheap. Currently it is with a saddler to sell and has been since last September! :(
 
Thank you for that, its just so frustrating that she has two and both aren't any good, but you know the one do not have that amount of spare money till they have gone, just never sold on ebay and think something will go wrong
 
kzb said:
Yes. I had a saddler out, bought a jump saddle from them, but mentioned I was looking for a dressage saddle on a smaller budget. They recommended a make/model/size to buy, went out and bought it, worked out great. Have since sold that one and bought a nicer one, but I had it a couple of years.

The second time it didn't work so well!! Absolutely did not fit and still haven't managed to sell it. It's an amerigo and wasn't cheap. Currently it is with a saddler to sell and has been since last September! :(
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Thanks, that the trouble with the saddler, I have sold two with them before but I already had a saddle for my other girl so it was not a problem, I could afford to wait till they sold and then the money was a bonus, now I need the money to get the new saddle No shame in being poor is just inconvenient lol
 
Yes, though Im not sure I would in future - I just think I was lucky, as it is a fabulous saddle. I knew exactly the saddle I wanted as I had done lots of research into what would suit me and my horse, and borrowed some to try from my local saddlery. None fitted, but it gave me a good idea of the size and width I needed. So I started my search on Ebay and found one within an hours drive. As it happens, the seller on ebay had their own name as their user name, so I looked them up on FB, and her pics were of her showing some beautiful horses to what appeared to be possibly county level, and seemed to be well known in the showing world. So I bid, and won the saddle for a very good price - about a third of the new price, and the saddle was pretty much good as new. Went and collected it (and she was indeed a thoroughly nice person), brought it home, tried it on, and it nearly fitted a treat. Got my saddler out to fine tune it, and that was that. Bargain saddle off Ebay which fits like a glove, and is incredibly comfortable. Whats more is that I then lost that horse, now have a new one of a totally different breed, and never thought it would fit new horse. Had the saddler out and the tree fitted her fine and it just needed re-flocking. So here we are again, same saddle, new horse, happy rider !! :-)
 
I've bought and sold on ebay and facebook. My advice would be not to spend more than you can either a) afford to lose or b) know you can sell it on for
 
WelshD said:
I've bought and sold on ebay and facebook. My advice would be not to spend more than you can either a) afford to lose or b) know you can sell it on for
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^^good advice :) I've done the same though I only buy ones I can guarantee will fit exactly as I expect e.g. wow saddle parts. I always want to try non-adjustable saddles before committing. Have sold several online though.
 
I have sold on ebay. My advise for selling, though, is when you package up, package up videoing you doing so with the reciepeiemts address and name clearly visible.
The reason I say this is that a friend sold one, and the recipient claimed it was damaged when recieved. As they paid by PayPal, and friend didn't have any way to back up condition of saddle plus the way it was packaged, PayPal refunded the buyers money and my friend did receive the damaged saddle back. He believes the buyer damaged it as the box it was sent in was not ripped or torn. So, I now video every second of it being packaged up. And clearly show it going into the box too.
I think he was unlucky as touch wood I've sold many and had no issues,but does make you aware of how things can go wrong.
 
I've bought a saddle on e-bay, but it was a HM treeless so slightly different (less issues around fit etc.). Could never have afforded it new! It was posted to me and I paid via Paypal.

I have also sold two saddles on e-bay, one knackered old one which went to an Alexander Technique practitioner for a few quid, and one reasonably decent synthetic which went for less than I had hoped but still good to get it gone in a week with no messing about. Both I sold collection only and cash on collection.
 
I've brought and sold on ebay but always when buying I've known the size needed so less chance assuming measurements are correct of getting one that doesn't fit. I have one to sell now as well but debating whether to sell on ebay for alot less than it's worth (you're definitely better off buying than selling) or if to put it on facebook and see if it goes that way.
 
I have bought and sold on the NZ version of ebay, which is TradeMe.

Buying - no problem, I knew exactly what I wanted (I'd borrowed one to try) so it was just a matter of waiting for what I wanted to come up for sale.

Selling - how to go a bit nuts! Twice I have sold saddles, with a full description and what type of horse they will fit, only to have the buyers get in touch and ask if I will take them back as they don't fit. No.

I then had an old dressage saddle to sell - I listed it for NZ$50.00. The number of people who expected me to drive an hour so they could try it, but couldn't/wouldn't bring the horse to me, was stunning. Seriously. I sold it to a charity for NZ$51.00 and sent a whole lot of other bits and pieces with it.

I have another saddle to sell, but it will be going to a saddlery to sell on behalf. I figure they earn their commission!
 
I've bought and sold through Ebay. However what I was buying was a 'project' saddle for £30, if I were buying a more expensive saddle I would want to view it first. When I sold the saddle the buyer collected it so there wasn't the risk of posting.

If I were buying a saddle for use I would consult a saddle fitter first to get their opinion.
 
Bought and sold off ebay and Preloved - never had any problems. I think if the make is well known it makes the process much easier. Ebay is obviously much quicker but I find Preloved tends to get more local people interested. I think the majority of people are honest but you do hear some horror stories. If you are cautious I would try Preloved or Gumtree first and see if you have any local interest.
 
I only sold one. It was an unused foreign one, so both cheap and new... perfect ebay material. I posted it, the buyer paid by paypal and all went well.

I've bought several, all below 30 pounds and requiring work. Not much to lose at that end of the market. One turned out to have a damaged tree, but I doubt the seller knew, as I only found it after splitting the saddle.
 
I've bought a couple and sold one on ebay. The one I sold went swimmingly with no issues whatsoever. One that I bought was creaky so it didn't go near my horse until the saddler had seen it. He confirmed that the tree was broken so it was sent off to Ideal for a new tree of the correct width. Expensive at £350 for the new tree, but still only £550 including purchase so I now have a lovely solid saddle that fits my horse well. I didn't advise the seller that the tree was broken, I wanted that saddle so I took the punt.
 
I think it depends what they are, if they are a name which is fairly popular and tend to be consistent in fit then plenty of people will be on the look out for one 2nd hand. I'd do preloved first.

iirc saddlesdirect take 40% commission??
 
Thank you all so very much for your advise. One is a very good make and the other is unknown, I have had the local saddler advise me of what they think they are worth, but really they are worth as much as someone is prepared to pay I think will try the local one first collection and cash on delivery as some of you know I am disabled so not that easy to post etc Watch this space need to sell so can get started with new girl. Once again thank you for all your help and taking the time to read,
 
I have bought more online off facebook and ebay. I ask for lots of measurements and then get my saddler to look at it once I get it. He is reliable, and I know my sizes should be somewhere near. I pretty much always buy barnsby so they are always a simmilar fit. Recently bought an heritage saddle company monoflap just waiting for a girth cant wait to try.
 
I bought one off facebook, and I know I was lucky to receive it as there are so many scammers on facebook, I wouldn't do it again knowing how many people have had their fingers burned. Anyway, it was a Bates Caprilli with changeable gullet system so it was a calculated risk. I had my saddle fitter out to have a look at it, and he said the fit was good but it needed a narrower gullet, which he didn't sell as he is a traditional fitter, but he said he would fit the gullet for me if I bought one. So I got the gullet, but fitted it myself from a You Tube video, job done, and it's a lovely well fitting saddle. I was lucky in hindsight, but I could have got my money back as Bates saddles sell well secondhand.
 
I've sold 2 through ebay in the last 3 weeks and have bought and sold dozens!

Be sensible, take good pictures and write a good description, pack it well and insure it. I only ever send via Parcelforce as they have always been reliable.
 
I always thought I would never buy online, but I have tried the saddle that I want when the saddler came out (Ideal Impala Professional), and now I know the size I need so I am now just hoping to find a second hand one online.

I am trying to sell my Barnsby GP and it seems I wont lose as much if I sell it online (rather than paying commission for someone to sell it for me). Fingers crossed!
 
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