A used guitar is listed at $800 plus $75 shipping. Your own label is $65. Reverb quotes $80 for Safe Shipping. You paid $450 for the guitar. If a shipment is damaged or lost without their protection, you eat that $450. You expect that on 2% of the labels you buy yourself. Reverb marketplace is entered at 5% of the item, payment at 3.19% + $0.49 on item plus shipping charged. These are starting points, not live schedules — overwrite them on the calculator.
Safe Shipping does not change the $875 checkout. It only changes the label you buy and whether you eat the claim. Expected keep subtracts $9.00 (2% of $450.00) from own-label profit. The extra $15.00 label is a sure cost; the claim is a maybe.
| Path | Label you pay | Expected claim | Expected net | vs own after claims |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Own label if nothing goes wrong | $65.00 | $0.00 | $281.60 | +$9.00 |
| Own label after expected claims | $65.00 | $9.00 | $272.60 | +$0.00 |
| Reverb Safe Shipping | $80.00 | $0.00 | $266.60 | −$6.00 |
On this example, your own label still leaves the most expected cash. Safe Shipping's extra $15.00 label is worth it only if you lose more than 3.33% of shipments at a $450.00 claim. At a 4% claim rate the expected claim becomes $18.00 and Safe Shipping would leave $266.60 versus $263.60 on your own label.
None of those sentences is advice to buy or skip their label — they are the arithmetic on the inputs above. Enter the quote from the Reverb shipping screen and the cash you would actually lose on an unprotected claim (often replacement cost, sometimes a refunded sale).
Change the Safe Shipping quote, the claim cost, or the claim rate on the calculator and the three paths update. Your numbers stay in the browser. Who pays postage is a different question — walk that on should I include shipping on Reverb. Comparing this guitar to eBay, Etsy, Amazon, or your own store? The where-to-sell calculator ranks Reverb against them with this item's price, shipping, and cost already filled in.
On the worked example — $800 list, $75 shipping charged, $65 own label, $80 Safe Shipping quote, $450 gear cost as the unprotected claim, 2% claim rate, 5% marketplace, 3.19%+$0.49 payment — your own label leaves $281.60 if nothing goes wrong and $272.60 after the $9.00 expected claim. Safe Shipping leaves $266.60. The extra $15.00 label is worth it only if you lose more than 3.33% of shipments at a $450.00 claim.
No. Safe Shipping changes the label you buy and whether you eat a damaged or lost shipment. Marketplace and payment fees stay the same when the buyer still pays the same shipping charged. Who pays postage — buyer, included, or pickup — is a different question.
When the expected unprotected claim (claim rate times cash you lose on a damaged or lost shipment) is larger than the extra label cost. On the worked example that crossover is 3.33%. A $0 Safe Shipping quote is illustrated at your own label plus $15.00 so the table is never empty.