What's going on with the music shops these days?

karpathion

karpathion

New member
I just took a Krank Rev Jr pro, and an Ibanez SZR 520, to the music shop to see if I could trade in on a used Valveking 2x12. They wanted $399 for Valveking.

Now keep in mind, this is a shop that likes to trade around on used gear.

The guy goes in the back, stays there for 10 minutes, then comes out with a big smile on his face. He looks at me and says, " I'll give you $200 trade for the both of 'em."

I understand trying to make money, and how a buisness has to run, but this is getting stupid.

Hell, the pawn shop I was in 20 minutes before offered $550 in trade, they just had nothing I liked.

Sorry for the rant. I just thought this was pretty ridiculous. I'll never buy new again.

Edit: Oops, I thought this was going in the sound room.
 
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Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

weak.

Out of curiosity, why the Valveking?
 
Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

I'm about to start jammin with some guys, here in town. I need a little more power, and the Valveking has enough gain for my needs.

Plus, I just don't have the money to drop on a new amp right now.
 
Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

have you considered a title loan? :joke:
 
Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

The little shop probably was short on space for new items and doesn't want them.

That will make the amount of money they are willing to fork out down. This is completely invisible to you so it might look odd.

It's still bad salesmanship. If he had told you that he can't really use your items you might still sell them on craigslist and buy his amp. Now you are pissed off.
 
Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

I would sell stuff on CL, or here, and then get somewhat near actual value and then plunk down on an amp.
 
Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

I'm not sure if I would have laughed in the dude's face, or just turned around and walked out without saying anything.
 
Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

I remember going into a local boutique store and I got offered something like $300 for my Gibson Les Paul Standard. Needless to say, I never bought a single thing from that store again.
 
Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

What's going on with Music Shops: Guitar Center has literally chased most of the good ones right out of business, and put so many more on the ropes. The problem is that independent shops are barely hanging on by way of retail sales. If they are doing well, it is because they have a thriving and well-managed lesson and horn rental business, not because they are selling instruments and accessories.
 
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Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

ItsaBass said:
What's going on with Music Shops: Guitar Center has literally chased most of the good ones right out of business, and put so many more on the ropes.
Click to expand...

Which, BTW, Guitar Center didn't achieve on their own.

It is the contracts between large supplies -say Gibson- and GC. Have you ever seen what kind of trouble a small shop has to go through to offer new Gibsons with warranty? There have been some protests but alas all the small shops are so short on cash they can't sue :)
 
Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

ericmeyer4 said:
Sounds like the shop guy has been watching too much pawn stars.
Click to expand...

I hear people rag on that show all the time and granted, I don't like it, but people are retarded.

Guy brings in object 'x' and wants to see what it's worth. They call in an 'expert'.

Expert: This could bring 5k at auction.
Dude who runs the place: Ok, so what are you looking to get for it?
Guy: 5k.

The guy is a moron. It's a business. I'm not saying they don't do stupid **** to some of the things they buy, but...seriously...
 
Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

it's a matter of competition

a retail store is buying wholesale from big companies...they buy gear for a lot less than they sell it for.

when you take your gear to a store to sell, you're not selling the gear to a person who's going to use it. you're playing the part of a distributor and asking somebody else to do the actual work of finding an end-user for the product.

if you could buy a brand new widget for $300 and sell it for $500, why would you give more than $200 for a used one that you'd have to sell for $350?
 
Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

Empty Pockets said:
it's a matter of competition

a retail store is buying wholesale from big companies...they buy gear for a lot less than they sell it for.

when you take your gear to a store to sell, you're not selling the gear to a person who's going to use it. you're playing the part of a distributor and asking somebody else to do the actual work of finding an end-user for the product.

if you could buy a brand new widget for $300 and sell it for $500, why would you give more than $200 for a used one that you'd have to sell for $350?
Click to expand...

Yeah I understand that, but I was trying to trade in on used gear, that they had in the store.. I'm sure they had very little in the amp I wanted. It would have been an upgrade for them, no matter how you look ot it.
 
Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

They're not gona make a deal in which they make no profit...i mean do you ever work for free?
 
Re: What's going on with the music shops these days?

*wonder rant powers... activate*



Gestapo Center is the worst... like the Borg, they are.

perfectly good independent shops pushed out of business. there's a locally based small chain that's managed to hang on, but they're are diversified more into pianos and school band gear without much in the way of guitars and the like.

and just try to gargain with GC these days. the last I looked a local store has a USED DiMartin snakeskin Charvel asking $2500. it had been there since at least the first of this year. talked to them a few times about it and they just will not budge. it's taking up space and getting sweaty hand prints all over it while they won't let it move for a reasonable offer. it looks as if they paid too much for it or they don't have a realistic sense of the value of a USED instrument.

they have those events where they'll give you a % off a new instrument when you bring in something to trade, but not a cent off a USED on. I took a PRS in for a sale/trade last year. I didn't know it beforehand, but they used ebay to check on the prices they were going for to give me an offer. geez. wouldn't surprise me if they checked CL while they were at it.

AND... if you go in expecting a guitar to be ready to play, guess again. at the ones around here, you're lucky if you can even find a salesguy that has musical knowledge outside of winning a 'name that tune' radio contest. might as well forget about expecting to pickup a guitar that's tuned, set up, and ready to play... you know, so that you can at least have a better idea of how it will be prior to not being able to make an offer.

about 2 years ago, I wanted to buy a Kramer Pacer Classic. the closest place to here is 4-5 hours away... and I live in a major city. I didn't want to go through GC, so I check around to one of the few better-known independent shops. the shops said they'd be happy to let me buy it through them, but when they call Gibson, they can't work it out. meanwhile, Gibson says they can't get stores to buy back in to the Kramer name after the MusicYo era. what?!? I just offered up a store that wanted to deal and Gibson wouldn't play.

GCs have been in this area since the late 80s. in all that time, I think there have been 2 GC staff members that I've dealt with that I would go back to and deal with again. one of them worked up to corporate and the other got tired of the baloney.



*wonder rant powers... de-activate*
 
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