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I just bought a new guitar (hey, NGD day!), but its more for rock and fusion. I paid $600.00 for it. I bought it off Musician's Friend as a result of one of those "Pop-up" ads that appear when you are web surfing. It was down from $700.00, which was down from its original $800.00. I bought it on Sunday and by Monday it was back up to $700.00.
I tried to support the local Guitar Center(s). Every time I tried to talk with salesmen about trading my Epiphone Flying V, they would not discuss it without first seeing the guitar.
I just wanted a ball-park figure, and was hoping to knock a couple of hundred dollars off. And mind you, there was also and 8% sales tax that I was willing to eat.
They would not talk so not only did I get the discount of MF, but it was also tax-free. I got the impression from one salesperson that it was unofficial guitar center policy to not discuss without having the instrument. Too bad - it cost them a sale.
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02-06-2016 06:51 PM
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From an outsider perspective, it seems to be on a perpetual downhill path.
The local store here is also part of a large scandinavian chain, BUT the stores make their own money. They have been very good to me. Got $500 off of list price on my Gibson (without any trade), 25% some midi equipment, a free Gibson truss rod key, "complimentary" plecs from time to time, 25% off of a bunch of daisy chains, $60 off of a $350 guitar, the list goes on and on. They also let you "try" things for days! My dad brought a stand from them to a gig! My buddy borrowed an entire PA/monitor/mix rig!
In turn, we're loyal customers. That's the important bit. Make a customer want to come back. You know, I've spent more than 3 hours at that place in one go just chatting and playing.
I guess that isn't really possible in GC's circumstances
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There's probably more than few things wrong with Guitar Center, but if this is their trade-in policy - and they stick to it, which it seems they do, good for them. From their standpoint, until they see your trade, everything is hypothetical. It just wastes your time and the salesperson's. And when they're trying to set policy for nationwide stores and not waste a lot of associates time on trades they'll never see, it should make sense.
Originally Posted by AlsoRan
The old car guys have a saying: ' A guy coming in and wanting a trade figure on a car he didn't bring with him, is like asking : " What's the lawn mower in my garage worth ? "
Congrats on the new guitar !
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not to say gc is not in big trouble...but, i get that they can't give $$#'s without seeing the guitar..especially where condition is such a primary factor in pricing
also gc took away the floor managers ability to cut deals..now everything has to be done through the capo in the office...and since they don't know you like the floor guys might..good luck!!
cheers
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A guy says he has a guitar at home in "mint" condition and is told it's worth $600 trade in. The guy shows up with it and it is a beater. "That salesman said it's worth $600 - he told me. I want you to honour his commitment."
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You guys make good points.
Personally, I would give a range from zero for a piece of crap, to whatever the high value could be. It seems you could do that without losing goodwill with the customer. And considering how dirty business and people can be about money and sales, I can definitely see your point.
I guess its all about getting a relationship with a salesman so they know your sales ethic.
I had one guy try that with me when I first started playing and he found out that I had money to spend and was very enthusiastic about playing. He told me he would take care of me if I came to him.
Thousands of dollars later I can see this was a wise young fellow. It's a shame I moved away shortly after meeting him.
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There's that, too. Some customers are the donkey's behind. Originally Posted by DRS
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If you were serious about dealing and doing the trade you would have brought the V with you. It is sort of like bargaining for the lowest price on a day when you have no intention of actually buying. Kind of a waste of everybody's time.
Getting that out of the way, it sounds like you got a great deal, and MF has a great return policy, which I think extends to you just not liking the guitar.
For me, on the lower end instruments, particularly, I am willing to pay a small premium to my local guitar center, to be able to try out the actual instrument I buy, as individual instruments can vary a lot.
another good strategy with MF, is to decide what you want and look at their used examples. With a coupon or discount, you can get a really good price on a basically new guitar. This works real well for me, as I live in eastern kansas, right next to the Missouri state line and they have a warehouse in Kansas City. Shipping is usually next day, and no sales tax cause out of state.
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I don't know about this statement. I was serious alright. The store was far from my house and I was in the area and popped in. I did not want to make another 40-minute drive just to have the salesman try to undercut me. Originally Posted by StanG
The great (not good) salesmen can look you in the eye, size you up, and get that gut feeling - at least that is what a long time car salesman relative of mine says. He did very, very well for himself. But that is an art in and of itself.
A week later, I bought the guitar so I was very serious. The $20,000 dollars or so that I have spent on guitar gear, over the last ten years, would have let him know - if he knew me.
Like one respondent posted earlier, its about having a customer sales relationship so one does not have to guess.
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I wouldn't quote a price for a guitar before I had it in my hand, so I find that part of it fair enough.
That said, living i Europe, I don't know about GC, but where I live, many chain stores (not only those selling musical instruments) owned by hedge funds exploits their employed and treats them as dirt. It's only about cutting corners and costs so the chain can be sold off with a profit within a short span of years. We saw the declining quality of both Gibson and Fender instruments when they were taken over by Norlin and CBS which was deeply demotivating for many of the employed. Those who don't quit, just show up in the morning and go home in the evening - until they can find a better job.
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Maybe you should ask that relative of yours what their dealership policy is. I'd bet they have a policy in place that prevents a lot of wasted time on everyone's part. And if he's been successful, he's learned what his time is worth, and with whom and where that time is best spent. Originally Posted by AlsoRan
You just have to understand that any company in any business that takes trade-ins has been down this road before. I'd be more concerned about a company that says it'll give trade figures -- and stick with them -- on equipment they don't know and /or have never seen.
That just doesn't work.
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I think the "zero for a piece of crap to whatever the high value could be" could easily be figured out by the owner without even calling a store. All an owner needs to do is look for "comps" on Ebay and reverb, check the selling prices and subtract say 20-30% from the average price and I think you would be in the ballpark.
I don't really deal with GC but, I don't think their policy is out of line.
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I recently had several GC's buy a few things from me because I didn't want the hassle of shipping via Ebay, Reverb, or Gbase. All GC does for pricing is look at those sites for sold items to price what you have. In fact I went to some stand alone stores and they did the same thing. For a boutique item, they may have some exotic catalogs, but I didn't see any of that happening. Some things (like a Boss multi-tracker) nobody wants to buy or trade because the technology is outdated. And the item has to work and be in "for sale" condition. I had an amp that was acting up and they didn't want it. Originally Posted by GNAPPI
GC gave me 2/3's of the comparable price and an additional 15% off in gift card purchase value if I used it for a purchase. Kinda makes the whole thing worthwhile even though I am also not a fan of GC.
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Alright. I give in. You have convinced me.
I will no longer expect a salesman to tell work with me without seeing the product I want to trade in.
I am obviously not the typical customer. I quickly tell all salespersons when I am "just looking" and when I seriously want to spend my money.
I have matured a little in this thread (even at 50 years of age). I am an outlier in that my word is my bond. I already knew that in business, people often love to exploit those with scruples and good old fashioned honesty- especially when a business (or salesperson) is trying to put food on the table or make the next month's rent.
Thanks for the reality check.
I am the fool that hates to tie up a salesperson's time or play a store's equipment for an extended duration, and then go order the same product online from a different source so I can save 20%. I realize everyone else does it all the time. Part of the game.
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In my experience, GC will give you half of what they hope to sell it for. My local hole-in-the-wall store will sell it on consignment for a 15% cut. So, what I do is 1st put it on Craigslist. If it doesn't sell in a week or two, I take it to the local store, agree on a price to set - he usually likes to start high - and wait a few weeks or even a few months for him to call me and tell me it's sold (though I do stop in from time to time to visit and check on whether there's been much interest.)
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You bring up fond memories. Originally Posted by Dennis D
He was the type that looked past how a person was dressed and what their race was when the came to the dealership. He was the one that would find the guy that looked like a bum who would turn around a pay cash for a car he was buying for his daughter.
Uncle Dommy was also the type to get the girls. Where others strike out and then say the hate women, he was the type that could get a woman's attention - despite not being the most handsome fellow.
He probably should have gotten into politics.
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the salesman at GC are generally either ignorant or more ignorant. For example, when I went there recently and asked about the boss SY-300, they had never heard of it. If I worked in a music store, I'd make sure to read all the online forums and read all the trade magazines.
Recently, I bought a carvin holdsworth from GC. I found that in my humidity controlled room (continuous 40%) I had to adjust the neck 2 or 3 times in a 2 week period. Additionally, it would drift flat up to a whole step in the course of 2 days if I didn't play it. When I returned the instrument to GC and told them, the salesman told me "some guitars just do that, there's nothing wrong with it". Then he told me it was probably the humidity. I told him it was in a humidity controlled room and that my hand carved archtop doesn't drift like that and he told me that solid bodies are different than archtops and they will drift more.
This wasn't a young kid. He's 45 and has been there for almost 20 years. I wish this was atypical but it's not.
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GC got your money anyway, AlsoRan.
Guitar Center owns Music & Arts, Musician's Friend, LMI, Giardinelli, Private Reserve Guitars, Woodwind and Brasswind, Music 123 and Harmony Central.
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How about going to a privately owned store to sell some old unwanted gear?
There was nothing I wanted to trade for, just wanted some room.
I sold 1 left handed 5 string student banjo, 1 student fretless acoustic bass and 2 hollow Korean made hollow bodied semi-pro jazz guitars. All of which are very hard to shift on ebay for good money.
How much did I get?
£400/$578/€517 FFS.
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Ha! ha! Originally Posted by monk
That's probably exactly what the executives are saying. But my concern was with the sales staff, and trying to make it a win-win situation for them.
I actually did a term paper on the Guitar Center conglomerate for an economics class I took in 2008. It was very eye-opening how they were structured and how their policies, such as the liberal returns for guitars, affected their inventory and their debt.
Of course, the company has made many changes since then.
It has been quite a ride for them.
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This
Originally Posted by neatomic
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GC is right on this one.
---A guy says he has a guitar at home in "mint" condition and is told it's worth $600 trade in. The guy shows up with it and it is a beater. "That salesman said it's worth $600 - he told me. I want you to honour his commitment."---
...sums it up exactly, besides, they give you the rough estimate when they give you the Ebay final sale - 30% or something in that ballpark so you can figure it out yourself.
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I think the OP's example doesn't really speak to what's wrong with GC. I doubt any music store would give you a quote on an instrument they haven't seen.
That said, my goofy GC anecdote of the week -- I went in yesterday. They had a vintage L7 with a McCarty pick-up on the wall. I asked to try it. Sounded fantastic acoustically; couldn't plug it in because it has some sort of oddball connector/cable, which the sales guy couldn't find. Tried an L5 WesMo. After a fairly short interval, the sales guy asks me if I've heard of the new D'Angelico's. Yup, they're great, own one, not looking for that right now. He takes the L5 out of my hands and insists I try a D'A EXL-1. Huh?
John
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Originally Posted by John A.
Back in Texas, I've seen men shot for less than that
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The sales guy that knows better can be a blessing or a hindrance.
I was trying out a Jazzmaster at a UK guitar company chain and looking closely at it I realised the neck was off centre (center, US). An easy cure. I pointed this out to the sales guy while I was playing it through an amp.
He then leant over me, strummed the strings and said 'It sounds all right to me'.
In the UK we call this type of sales person a 'Twat'.
I prefer the smaller type shop (store, US), much better. Actually the proper music shop is a far better proposition. At the moment both my wife (clarinet player) and I spend a delightful hour or two at Forsythes in Manchester. Ground floor (1st floor, US) is selected Classical and Jazz CD's plus music books. First floor (2nd floor, US) is totally devoted to piano's and the top floor (!) consists of guitars, brass, string and wind instruments.
The decor harps back to the late 80's and there is a 'worn in' feel to the whole place.
All the staff are pro musicians and very knowlegeable. For us tho' the guitars are mid priced to top shelf and not tied to the G and F. They're one of the very few places in the UK that carry a variety of Rickenbackers. They have very few second hand instruments but what they have are super fine condition. It's not wholly stocked out like a supermarket which I like.
My wife bought a new clarinet from them. She was given a bunch to try out. This is unusual as the act of playing a wind instrument leaves it in an unhygienic state but the staff disinfect the instruments after. The guy who helped my wife even gave her a few pointers on her embouchure (ooer).
In the UK we call this type of sales person a 'Good bloke'.
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