Everything You Need to Know About Selling Used Snowboard Gear

The details may change, but it’s a story as old as time: you’re joining a close-knit team of long-term coworkers from your new job this weekend on one of their regular alpine excursions. It’ll be a great opportunity to break the ice, they say, ha ha. The whole day Saturday is set aside for snowboarding, they say. They hope that won’t be a problem; they know you’re an avid skier because you included it in your résumé under Skills, but they suspect that snowboarding, like this office culture, is a little bit new to you. 

How different could it be, you think as you buy yourself a pair of top-of-the-line new boards (“wide skis,” your Pa called ‘em), each of which has what appears to be an extra binding mounted on top. Strange, but not a deal-breaker for sure. 

Come Saturday, you’ve made it up the mountain, and everyone’s gathered with their gear, but they laugh at you as you snap each of your boots into its own snowboard. You’ve fallen
victim to one of the classic blunders of snow activities: having twice as much gear as you need. 

Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. Instead of trying to make it work, you can simply sell the surplus snowboard. There’s a good reason your résumé says Outdoor Gear Resale Know-How in the Education section. You know everything you need to know about selling used snowboard gear. Here’s what you know:

WHEN Should I Sell My Snowboard Gear?

You know that when winter ends, everyone’s going to be looking for hot deals on the cold season’s old gear. Retailers will have massive discounts to move their unsold products, but certain items may be in short supply. You’ll have the easiest time selling equipment right after winter, but you can likely fetch a higher price by waiting to sell used boots or a snowboard until the end of the next fall when shoppers are expecting to pay more. 

HOW Do I Sell My Used Snowboard Gear?

You remember the basic steps for selling secondhand gear from the existing literature: 

Clean each item so that it looks appealing to shoppers, and so you can determine wear and tear. 

Inspect the gear for damage. Noting wear and tear in your description will help you sell gear that isn’t perfect, but is still perfectly usable. For boards, check the edges for cracks and splitting. Check for gaps where water could have entered the board. Feel the board’s surface for inconsistencies, especially near the ends and around the bindings. For boots, distinguish aesthetic damage, like minor scuffs and scrapes, from functional damage, i.e. anything that might affect use. Remember Pa’s saying: boots are like dogs; it’s fine if they’re old, but it’s weird if they don’t have a tongue!

Photograph each item, ideally in bright, natural lighting. A photo is the easiest way to let potential buyers know exactly what they’re getting and should capture the whole board or boots in focus. 

Research the brand and year of the gear you’re selling. The more expensive the snowboard at retail, the more it will be worth used. However, like all gear, snowboards and boots still depreciate. You could expect to get back around half of the original price on this year’s top-of-the-line snowboard. If your gear is more than a year old, it is still worth a lot: reliable models from well-known brands tend to keep some value for years. 

List the gear online at Rerouted! When in doubt, you can browse for similar gear to get an idea of how to sell your own. 

WHERE Can I Sell My Used Snowboard Gear?

You know that rerouted.co is a hub for buying and selling used outdoor gear. You can enter your information on their easy-to-use Sell Your Gear page by simply entering a few details, uploading the pictures you took, and adding a description based on your inspection and research. 

That’s it! Your brief embarrassment during the team-buildings trip is now an embarrassment of riches to put toward your next adventure.