Pick an acoustic guitar model and see the lowest current prices on eBay, the largest used-guitar marketplace, with shipping, condition and seller rating side by side. Prices are pulled live, so what you see is what sellers are actually asking this minute.
Live from eBayLook at the bridge before anything else. Run a fingernail along the seam where the bridge meets the top. If it catches, or you can slide a sheet of paper under the back edge, the bridge is lifting. Re-gluing is routine work but it is shop work, and a bridge that has been pulling for years usually takes some of the top with it.
Then sight the top from the side. A slight dome behind the bridge is normal and by design. A visible ridge, or a top that has sunk in front of the bridge, means the braces underneath have let go. That is the fault most likely to be quietly expensive.
Check the action and work out why it is high. Measure the gap at the twelfth fret. If it is high and the saddle still stands proud, a setup fixes it for very little. If it is high and the saddle has already been filed almost flush with the bridge, somebody has run out of adjustment and the guitar needs a neck reset. On a dovetail neck a reset routinely costs more than the guitar is worth used, which is the single most useful thing to know before bidding.
Cracks matter less than people assume, if they are stable. A cleated and closed grain crack on the top or side is common on older instruments and barely affects tone or value. An open crack, or one running through the bridge plate, is another matter. Ask for a photo down the soundhole with a phone torch.
Solid top or laminate is the value question. Look at the edge of the soundhole: a solid top shows continuous grain through the thickness, a laminate shows thin layers like plywood. Solid tops open up as they age and hold their money. Budget laminates are perfectly good guitars and almost worthless secondhand, which is exactly why they are the bargains in the table above.
Value. Well-made solid-top acoustics from Martin, Taylor, Gibson and Guild depreciate very slowly and vintage examples appreciate, so buying used is low risk on the money. Laminate starter guitars lose most of their value the moment they leave the shop, so buy those used and never new.
Live eBay listings, the largest marketplace for used and new acoustic guitars. Pick a model and it fetches the current lowest-priced listings in real time.
For tone and for resale, yes. A solid top flexes as one piece and gets louder and warmer over years of playing; a laminate top stays roughly as it started. It matters far less for a first guitar than a good setup does, and a well set up laminate beats a badly set up solid top every time.
Usually 20-40% below new. Cheap laminate models fall furthest, often more than half, because there is little demand for them secondhand. Martin, Taylor and Gibson hold their value hardest, and the sought-after older ones sell for more than they cost new.
Over decades string tension slowly rotates the neck forward, raising the action past what the saddle can compensate for. Fixing it means removing and re-angling the neck. It is skilled work costing many hundreds, so on an inexpensive guitar it writes the instrument off, and on a good one it is simply part of owning it. Check the saddle height before you bid.
Yes. Favour high-feedback sellers, prefer listings with photos of the actual guitar and honest condition notes, and lean on eBay's Money Back Guarantee, which covers you if it arrives faulty or not as described. Ask for a photo of the bridge seam and the saddle before bidding on anything expensive.
A daily snapshot of the lowest genuine eBay price for every model we track, and how good that price is right now versus its usual level, updated automatically. Prices last refreshed 7 August 2026 . Tap a price to see that model's cheapest listings on eBay, or tap a model name for the full live list here.
Under each model is the actual listing that price came from, so you can see whether it is the thing you want or a bundle, a variant, or an accessory that happens to share the name.
| Model | Cheapest now | vs typical | This week |
|---|---|---|---|
Epiphone DR-100 Epiphone Songmaker Dr-100 acoustic guitar with a holding stand. | $235 | – | steady |
Seagull S6 Seagull S6 Original Acoustic Guitar Natural | $400 | – | steady |
Epiphone Hummingbird EPIPHONE HUMMINGBIRD STUDIO EC ACOUSTIC-ELECTRIC GUITAR - Natural - Near Mint | $429 | – | ▼ 4% |
Fender CD-60S Good condition Fender acoustic guitar guitar CD-60S | $460 | – | steady |
Yamaha FG800 YAMAHA Acoustic Guitar FG800 Steel String Japan Musical Instrument Vintage Ra… | $462 | – | steady |
Yamaha FG830 YAMAHA FG830 acoustic | $486 | – | steady |
Taylor GS Mini Taylor x MLB GS Mini Baltimore Orioles Acoustic Guitar - Black | $599 | – | steady |
Ovation Balladeer OVATION Balladeer Sp Guitar S771N | $794 | – | steady |
Martin LX1 Little Martin Very good conditionMartin Little Martin LX1 acoustic guitar | $813 | – | steady |
Taylor Big Baby [Good condition] Taylor Big Baby BBT acoustic guitar | $864 | – | steady |
Taylor 214ce Taylor electro acoustic Guitar Model 214ce DLX, mint condition. | $1,100 | – | steady |
Yamaha LL16 YAMAHA LL16 acoustic guitar | $1,108 | – | steady |
Martin DX1AE MARTIN DX1AE electric acoustic guitar | $1,129 | – | steady |
Taylor 414ce Taylor 414CE Studio Grand Auditorium - Torrefied Spruce Top - IndiZ (Z2) (353… | $1,849 | – | ▼ 24% |
Taylor 314ce Taylor 314ce-N Nylon Acoustic-electric Guitar - Natural Sitka Spruce | $2,000 | – | steady |
Gibson J-45 Used Gibson J-45 Vintage Sunburst w/Active PU 2006 S/N 01186040 Acoustic Guit… | $2,049 | – | steady |
Guild D-55 Guild D-55 1997 Westerly RI - Natural | $2,080 | – | steady |
Guild D-40 GUILD D-40 1972 Westerly Bluegrass Jubilee o11611 | $2,230 | – | steady |
Martin D-28 Whole book Martin D-28 Martin Vintage Guitar | $2,338 | – | steady |
Gibson Hummingbird Gibson Hummingbird Studio Rosewood Acoustic Electric Rosewood Burst #20715038 | $2,400 | – | steady |
Martin D-18 New MARTIN D-18 StreetLegend 820765 Acoustic Guitar | $2,919 | – | steady |
Taylor 814ce Taylor 814ce Spruce Top/Indian Rosewood Back & Sides, Expert Setup (E12) 31142 | $3,099 | – | steady |
Gibson J-200 Orville by Gibson J-200 1992 Terada Made | $3,319 | – | steady |
Martin 000-28 Martin 000-28 EC Natural Used | $4,280 | – | steady |
Martin HD-28 Martin Custom HD-28 Style - Adirondack Spruce/Cocobolo | $7,949 | – | steady |