Ok so I've never bought a brand new guitar before, I've always gotten them used.
I want to get one of those sweet 50's ri strats from guitar center tomorrow and I'm wondering what the story is with 'floor guitars'
Meaning, if by chance they don't have any in the back, should I get a discount off the one on the floor since it's been fucked around with by customers?
Do they usually not have any in the back and what you see is what you get?
Should I stfu and give them what they ask?
What about bargaining for a hardcase?
Thanks for any help
St. Jimmy wrote:i didn't put fuck-all in your mouth, other than a dick of truth.
hotrodperlmutter wrote:i wouldn't bang those chicks with gaybear's dick.
always ask for a deal. even if they won't budge tell them to throw in a free pack of strings, and a strap
sure its only $10.00 but its better then the "deal" they had it priced at
Depending on where you go ask them to cover the tax. I NEVER pay tax at Guitar Center.
What I do is go in knowing what I want, check out the gear with a sales rep "helping" me and when he asks if I want to ring it up I tell him thanks, but I'm going to go home and order it from their web site to avoid the tax. It never fails, the sales guy will cover it if you buy from him. At 10% tax in Chicago it adds up on bigger purchases.
And if it's a floor model you should absolutly get a discount.
It all depends how saleable the guitar is and how much profit they'll make selling it. Here's an example based on a more 'mom & pop' type of place...
Suppose they have had Guitar A for two years with little interest shown, and they paid £350 for it. It's marked up at £500 and has been for a long time now. Many shops would bite your arm off if you were willing to pay £500 as long as they included a hard case (£50 cost to them) and a couple of packs of strings (£5 to them). It means they're making £95 instead of £150 on it and no profit on the case or strings, but they'll be happy to have the shelf space back and be shot of it.
Now Guitar B costs them £350, and is marked up at £550. These things sell regularly at £550 and someone comes in to play them practically daily. You'll be lucky to get much more than a pack of strings and mid to low end strap with it.
I'm making that up completely, but I imagine the reality is very close to that. In chain stores like guitar centre they'll have guidelines for the staff to sell within and the staff will be on comission so they won't want to cut you that great a deal because it will cut into the comission. But, if they can guarantee making £10 comission from a sale that at retail price would give them £70, they're likely to take it if they believe that you won't offer them any better than that and also that no one else is going to be in soon to offer better either.
You need to make a judgement as to how likely they are to sell that guitar soon, and how much money they're going to make off it depending on your offer. You definitely need to ask though. If you're going to be paying sticker price anyway, you should ask and if they say no pay the sticker price. All you've risk is a few moments dignity with the type of chump who inhabits these shops and doesn't know anything about guitars. If you're after a hard case, you need to be very definite about the purchase. Money in your pocket, I'm leaving with the guitar and hardcase or leaving with nothing. IF they've made no comission all day and you're walking out the door having just disagreed with a sale that would have got them $20, there's a good chance they'll come after you. Which reminds me, try and go at the end of what is likely to be a slow day, so mid week rather than a Saturday.
Thanks for the advise, that's kinda what I was thinking rod.
Also James, this is the exact kind of 'reverse salesmanship' i had in mind.
James wrote:If you're after a hard case, you need to be very definite about the purchase. Money in your pocket, I'm leaving with the guitar and hardcase or leaving with nothing. IF they've made no comission all day and you're walking out the door having just disagreed with a sale that would have got them $20, there's a good chance they'll come after you.
If I let dude help me and walk to the register with like 800 bucks worth of shit and cash in hand.... demand a hardcase and threaten to walk if they don't give me one, my chances may be pretty decent at getting one. However, I always feel like a douche trying to bargain for shit and I'd probably just bitch out and pay for the case anyways.
St. Jimmy wrote:i didn't put fuck-all in your mouth, other than a dick of truth.
hotrodperlmutter wrote:i wouldn't bang those chicks with gaybear's dick.
with guitar center (in my experience) it depends alot on the product. SOme of the stuff they have less room to haggle. But here is my taek on it, and it has always worked for me.
Know beforehand how much the guitar SHOULD cost you with all the extras you want including tax. Walk in with about 15% less than that in cash. I have only been turned down at GC once for offering a price for something (with the exception of some items they can not contractually sell below price). For example.
You see something that lists for 1200 (all totalled) but should sell for around 800 out the door. Tell them you have 700 in cash on hand right now. They will almost always give you the tax off anyways and if you are paying cash a manager will usually give you a little extra off since they are not paying CC fees. Unless it is a high demand item or they are under a contractual limit, they will take it. That would be 12.5% discount. Generally when I make larger purchases there, I end up at least 15% under what the normal asking price is.
They say great minds think alike....Sometimes we do too...
Last time I was in a GC, they were practically giving me a guitar. Everything I picked up or showed the slightest interest in they would offer me for at least $50 off.
every major thing i've ever bought new from a music store i've gotten some form of discount/freebie on. a good thing to do is find the cheapest price you can online, print the page off and take it in with you, then get them to match it. they'll normally do it without even blinking (if it's a chain store, that is).
James is pretty bang on there, especially concerning the average guitar shop.
My local shop has had this guitar in for around two years, i'm the only person that has ever shown interest (being an oddball as far as they are concerned) and they said to me in a roundabout way they would sell it me at cost. Just to get rid of it.
Different story with Strats, Teles, etc. They can sell them all day long.
I ended up getting a 93 mexi car strat from the chicago music exchange. I decided I didn't feel quite right about buying brand new.
The guys were pretty cool, they threw in a shirt and a new trem arm.
I guess I tend to like stuff from the 90's anyways for some reason... most of my gear is from that decade :p
St. Jimmy wrote:i didn't put fuck-all in your mouth, other than a dick of truth.
hotrodperlmutter wrote:i wouldn't bang those chicks with gaybear's dick.
I ended up getting a 93 mexi car strat from the chicago music exchange. I decided I didn't feel quite right about buying brand new.
The guys were pretty cool, they threw in a shirt and a new trem arm.
I guess I tend to like stuff from the 90's anyways for some reason... most of my gear is from that decade :p
Fran wrote:James is pretty bang on there, especially concerning the average guitar shop.
My local shop has had this guitar in for around two years, i'm the only person that has ever shown interest (being an oddball as far as they are concerned) and they said to me in a roundabout way they would sell it me at cost. Just to get rid of it.
Different story with Strats, Teles, etc. They can sell them all day long.
that in hardy smiths?
which guitar was it?
they had a dead nice gould sg junior in there a while ago.
Fender Classic Player 60’s Stratocaster>East Coast T1 Tele>
Epiphone Les Paul SL>Ovation 12 String acoustic>Peavey Strat DIY Relic
Marshall Origin 20H>James’s old purple 2x10
Marshall MG10 Combo
I think your best bet in any place is to target management. I know from experience that managers always have the most discretion. Especially in chain stores, they've got the experience that tells them to give the customer whatever they want, whenever they want it. If you know who's running the place, speak to them. After all, your average Joe on the shopfloor probably gets very few bonuses if his store meets high profit margins, and he might not be authorised to use his discretion so much. Of course, in an independent place it's different, but I imagine Guitar Center or somewhere is ran very much like any big store.
now that sloan said it, i feel safe riding his coattails and saying "yes, indeed, sloan."
its really hard for me to imagine paying for a new guitar. unless its a squier or something, or some kind of small builder, i e someone i feel like supporting.
i've only bought 1 new guitar from a shop and i was a noob at the time so i paid the sticker price like a twat.
i can proudly proclaim that every guitar i've bought since 2007 has been from the shortscale classifieds.
James pretty much nailed it. When I worked at GC I wouldn't budge (unless it was a price match) on stuff that just came out and was cool. I even sold some mxr carbon copies to some of my best customers/hardest grinders at full price, because I knew and they knew that they were sold out most of the time, and there's plenty of people willing to buy them at full price if they didn't.
I ended up getting a 93 mexi car strat from the chicago music exchange. I decided I didn't feel quite right about buying brand new.
The guys were pretty cool, they threw in a shirt and a new trem arm.
I guess I tend to like stuff from the 90's anyways for some reason... most of my gear is from that decade :p
I was actually about to put my 70's Classic Reissue Strat up for salez...might have been able to hook you up (probably more than the Music-x).
