If I was looking to buy a 2nd hand guitar (from Marketplace or similar) what sort of questions should I ask when initially responding to the advert (lets assume that the advert has minimal information) and then what should I be looking for if I decided to view?
Any help gratefully appreciated.
Hi @Stuartw
I would suggest asking the following questions:
If you then view the guitar, look for the following things:
Hope that helps.
For the questions before you view.
Iām with Dave. Seems like heās got it covered.
Also before a view, perhaps look up on the www the model guitar your looking at. Last time I got a used one I had no idea if it was a desirable guitar or not, so I looked it up on the www to see if anyone else had any comments on the particular guitar I was looking at.
As for a view, Daveās got it covered again pretty much.
When I viewed the used guitar I got
-I went top to bottom. Looking for any damage at all. If ya find damage, is it something ya can live with?
After your inspections and questions. fwiw, you should know whether itās what you want or not.
My last 2 guitars were both used. 15-20 min. into checking both out, I knew both were what I needed. Ya just know. It feels right. If it donāt feel right to you, perhaps procrastinate and think about it for a bit. See if ya can find some other guitars to try that may suit you better. That may sound like a weird way to test a guitar, but I have found it to be true. Yer just gonna know near right from picking it up if itās the one for you. The feel, the sound, the playability will all be right. If ya gotta think about it, that one may not be what you need.
Good hunting man.
Many thanks to both of you @Dave_Birnie & @HappyCat for your responses and help. Appreciated.
@Dave_Birnie @HappyCat Have sorted you Stuart only thing I would add is donāt kick the tyres cheers Hec
The price!
Donāt be afraid to haggle.
Almost every guitar is worth buying if you can get it at the right price 
Research what similar guitars (and in what condition) have been sold for on eBay, so you have a good idea of the second hand value. Point out all the flaws you can find using the criteria mentioned above.
Wear your poker face and donāt drool over it, even if itās exactly what you want.
Say your budget is only X (the price you would like to pay) and tell them about the alternative guitar within that budget that you are going to buy if they canāt reduce the price. Say you prefer their guitar, and can pay cash then and there, but canāt afford the asking price.
Be prepared to walk away 
(If they say no and you still really want it you can always pay the asking price)
It is this behavior why I stopped offering items on marktplaats Brianā¦ 
Trying to do everything he can for a lower price, I even left my local guitar shop a long time ago with a trade-in guitar, every rough spot/scratch was pointed out while I wanted to buy a quite expensive guitar thereā¦ I packed up my stuff and never went backā¦
Yes yes ,I`m 
and you describe exactly the lessons of how to haggleā¦ but it makes me itch, probably also that I prepare so well and know what I am asking for or willing to do for somethingā¦ I donāt know 
Donāt exaggerate with this Stuart 
Greetings , and have fun buying ,when it feels good in the hand without dents on the neck ā¦ and with the rest of the tips to test buzing you can hardly go wrong buying 2e hands
educate yourself how to identify a counterfeit of the brand youāre supposedly looking at. there are TONS of counterfeits out there of all kinds of stuff.
Iāve bought a number of used guitars off Facebook and one thing Iāve noticed is every single one needed new strings, thorough cleaning, and a setup. If you havenāt already, learn how to setup a guitar (Guitar Nomad has awesome kits and videos). Itās actually quite simple to do and really makes a difference in how a guitar sounds and plays.
As others have mentioned, plug it in and make sure the electronics work. Scratchy pots (āscratchyā noise when the volume or tone knobs are rotated) just need to be cleaned with contact cleaner and should not be a concern. Excessive fret buzzing can be an issue, but minor buzzing is most likely a setup issue or the nut needs replacing which is also simple and cheap to do.
Enjoy used guitar shopping! I may be an outlier, but I love finding a guitar the needs some TLC and spending the time to make it look and feel like new.
Haha, Iām not sure why 
I sell things on eBay too (although these days Iām more likely to donate items to charity shops). Items are worth what someone is willing to pay. If someone offers me less than Iām prepared to accept, I refuse or ignore them. No problem. I often say they can have it at the reduced price, but theyāll have to wait a couple of weeksā¦ 
Sometimes a seller needs a reason or āexcuseā to reduce the price. They wonāt sell it if they donāt want to.
Apart from anything else, haggling is a fun interaction and much more personal than simply handing over a card or cash 
Did I spend too much time in the Middle East?
Generally I donāt think there are too many things to be concerned about when buying used. Just look at the instrument and check if it invokes some sort of emotion in you. Check pictures for scratches and dings. But a guitar is a fairly simple piece of machinery, so I donāt think there are many faults that cannot be easily repaired. Perhaps except for neck breaks etc.
What I have trouble with with buyers (or buyers of ā¦ trade-in (?) ā¦ goods) is when they start pointing at things and then look for and name every spot of mini scratch (while there are 20) on the guitar and thus want to bring the price down, for example ā¦ the last thing I offered was a leather jacket of at least 400 euros new value that could be sold for a fixed 50 euros, and when someone says 25 ā¦grrrrrrr ā¦well I donāt feel like explaining it any further , but this weekend it will go to the thrift store. (charity) it was the last thing I ecer try to sell this way in life ā¦ and the most allready have been going there for years and will continue to do so ā¦
interaction is fun, but when people really playing " hard to get" ā¦ well no, not with me, then Iāll just give it away for free.
No, it is what is also taught here and I would also do it in a slightly lesser way if I could not afford to spend a little more money for a product ā¦ (I can really be sad about paying too much, but I do have a wide limit)ā¦
I worked in a store where there were more than 11 million customers in the time I worked there (of course I didnāt see or speak to all of them) but oofā¦brrr Iām damaged by thatā¦ (hey that explains a lot 
)
I think Stuart is being scared a little when all these things you read hereā¦ of course he has to pay attention to strings buzz en plug the gitaar in a amp if electric ā¦but well it is me maybeā¦
Pay attention but donāt exaggerate, you can hardly make a bad purchase on second hand guitars with a simple check (this will be different if you start buying top guitars in the top segment and + + but he probably doesnāt want that)
It seems to me that checking the neck is the most important thing. Most of the other parts can easily be changed if necessary (pots, pickups, basically any of the parts). However if the neck isnāt good then you can forget it. Checking for fret buzz is easy to do but if the guitar isnāt set up right when you try it then that doesnāt tell you much. Fret buzz or a strange feeling with the action etc might just be a bad set up, or
It might be itās like that because the necks not good and thatās the best setup the owner could manage. So itās not that straightforward and easy to check unless the setup is already good.
I bought one used guitar that had a terrible setup but the price was very low. It was impossible to know whether it was ok when I bought it. It was a risk that turned out ok in the end, but I had to do quite a bit of work myself to get it to a good state.