Can I Talk GC Down From Their Price?

[dhagler]

My local GC has a Fender Mexican 70s Jazz Bass, ash body with maple neck and black blocks and binding, listed at either $849.99 or $899.99. I looked at the tag and saw that it became part of their inventory in April 2012. I also looked at the current Fender offerings and that bass is no longer listed in that color. So, I'm thinking to myself, "Self, you could offer them $600 cash and walk out with that bass."

Based on your experience, do you think GC will bite?

[P. Aaron]

By all means make an offer. What's the worse that can happen?

[ksandvik]

Don't they have a $100 discount just now for all Fender guitars/bass guitars?

[Bassist Jay]

Tell them you can get the same bass online from Musicians Friend with a 15% discount, free shipping and no tax. My GC always takes off 22% to match that as a result. That would leave you at $850.00 minus $187.00 to equal $663.00 for the bass plus tax. or if it is at $900.00 minus $198.00 equaling $702.00 for the bass plus tax. That will honestly probably be the best deal you can get. Sometimes they will move more but not often or unless you are a pretty big regular customer who always drops lots of coin at the store. Asking them to take 1/3 off of a popular brand bass though is probably not going to happen.

[steamthief]

Show up with $600 cash, put the paper stack on the counter and make your offer. Cash talks, worst thing that can happen is they say no.

[Not yet]

They will deal, always. Just make sure you get a hungry sales guy.... And use the 20% online deals as well as the e-bay discounts for leverage

[willsellout]

Considering they are 1.6 billion in debt, they should do whatever they can to make a sale.

[jwr]

I just bought a Dingwall from them and was able to talk them into waving the tax and shipping fees. Saved about 250 bucks.

On used items they will haggle if it's been sitting over two months, sometimes if it's been a month.

On new items, you can sometimes talk them into 10% off. I've had luck sometimes and then other times, they've said no. It really depends on the sales person.

[msaone]

1.6 billion? Which congressman does their books?

[Kmonk]

Originally Posted by Not yet

They will deal, always. Just make sure you get a hungry sales guy.... And use the 20% online deals as well as the e-bay discounts for leverage

Not anymore. I have a good friend who has been a manager with GC for more than 10 years. He told me that over a year ago they stopped negotiating prices. They use Ebay and other resources to decided prices on used gear and stick to it pretty firmly. The selling prices on new gear is often times dictated by the manufacturer. I also had managers at 2 other locations tell me the same thing. You might be able to get 10% off but there is no way they are going to take $300 off of a $900 bass. In fact, even if they try to give you a discount, their computer system limits how much of a discount a manager can approve. I returned a defective item that I purchased online for $129. The current price is $249. When the manager tried to sell me the replacement at a price of $129 the computer wouldn't let him take more than $45 off of the $249 price. I watched the entire process and saw a message pop up that stated that the maximum discount was $45. I had to call customer service and get them to do it. The reason GC put store level limits in place is because in the past many employees were giving deep discounts to friends and family members and sometimes giving discounts to other customers in order to make a sale and reach their sales goal.

[the art guy]

^ Yes, this. Things have changed. According to my local GC (as of a few weeks ago), they will no longer deal on new gear, only used. The marked prices are the prices.

[Got2SadowskyNYC]

GC doesn't haggle the price. They can offer a coupon, price match a competitor, use a competitor's coupon etc.

Price matching is not common because of a thing called "minimum advertised price" or MAP. This happens all the time. Notice that an Apple product is the same price where ever you go? Electronics, certain brands of clothing etc. are the same. The item is MAPed.

A company can not tell a retailer what they can sell something for. This is called price fixing and is illegal. They can tell a retailer what the MAP is. This is perfectly legal. It's in the store's best interest to sell at MAP because it keeps what is usually a very low profit margin intact. In Fender's case the store is generally making about 20% of the tagged price. (Tagged price and suggested retail price are different.)

They shouldn't match with sales tax included, because this is not part of the selling price. Blame your state and city for this. Some stores may do it but it is against the GC policy. People can get written up and possibly fired for it.

They can take freight into account, but this usually is not in the customer's favor because of MAP. For example let's say something is $100 less online but there's a $50 freight change. You'll only get a price match $50 discount.

Keep in mind that when you use a coupon, price match etc. that the sales guy is payed based on commission. Although some of the commission is based of the actually selling price, the bulk of the sales guy's pay is based off the profit (that 20% I mentioned above). Depending on when he was hired he's getting either 7% or 10% of the profit. So when you go for a deal you're actually taking money out of someones pocket. Someone you probably would call a "friend".

A note about Will's claim that they are $1.6 Billion in debt.

GC and it's sister companies are one of the largest PRIVATELY held companies in the USA. This information is either made up by him or someone else. If it's actually true, then someone has violated a confidentiality clauses in their employment contract and can be sued. Since there is rumor that GC is wanting to go public, this would be called insider information it's illegal to disclose at this time.

Just so you know, I worked for GC for almost 2 years. I recently quit. I will be happy to answer any questions about their policies. After my time there I refuse to do business with them. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

[Got2SadowskyNYC]

They generally will not do deals on used items until 90 days after the buy in date, but this is at the manger's discretion. If you want 10% off of something that's only been there for 10 days you're not gonna get it. Most things don't make it this long.

[edbass]

Originally Posted by Kmonk

Not anymore. I have a good friend who has been a manager with GC for more than 10 years. He told me that over a year ago they stopped negotiating prices. They use Ebay and other resources to decided prices on used gear and stick to it pretty firmly. The selling prices on new gear is often times dictated by the manufacturer. I also had managers at 2 other locations tell me the same thing. You might be able to get 10% off but there is no way they are going to take $300 off of a $900 bass. In fact, even if they try to give you a discount, their computer system limits how much of a discount a manager can approve. I returned a defective item that I purchased online for $129. The current price is $249. When the manager tried to sell me the replacement at a price of $129 the computer wouldn't let him take more than $45 off of the $249 price. I watched the entire process and saw a message pop up that stated that the maximum discount was $45. I had to call customer service and get them to do it. The reason GC put store level limits in place is because in the past many employees were giving deep discounts to friends and family members and sometimes giving discounts to other customers in order to make a sale and reach their sales goal.

Originally Posted by the art guy

^ Yes, this. Things have changed. According to my local GC (as of a few weeks ago), they will no longer deal on new gear, only used. The marked prices are the prices.

It must depend on the actual store or maybe the region. Within the last few weeks I've gotten some deep discounts from the GM of one of my local GC's; including combining "non-combinable" discounts and using said discounts on brand name "excluded from sale" items.
It wasn't distressed merchandise either, some of the pieces were ordered in.
Granted it was a sizeable order, I've spent large amounts with GC in the past, and it took a couple of visits to land on a final price; but at least in this part of the country it is still pretty much "horse trading as usual" at GC.

Originally Posted by dhagler

My local GC has a Fender Mexican 70s Jazz Bass, ash body with maple neck and black blocks and binding, listed at either $849.99 or $899.99. I looked at the tag and saw that it became part of their inventory in April 2012. I also looked at the current Fender offerings and that bass is no longer listed in that color. So, I'm thinking to myself, "Self, you could offer them $600 cash and walk out with that bass."

Based on your experience, do you think GC will bite?

Why are you asking an internet forum?

If the bass is worth $600 to you, try them on! Who freekin' cares what a bunch of people on a forum think; they have absolutely no bearing on whether or not you can buy that bass for $600.
Put on your big boy pants and wave some cash (or plastic) at them!

[PDGood]

My local GC routinely runs 10% off ads and occasionally runs 15% ads. I usually just wait on the 15%ers, but one time I was in a hurry and asked them to make the deal at 15 even when it wasn't advertised. It took awhile and a manager or two had to get involved but they eventually did it. My selling point was - hey, you're going to advertise that price eventually, let's make the deal today. Why wait? Turning over inventory quickly is what you want to do.
That was this past summer. Not sure when policies changed.

[Handyman]

Originally Posted by Got2SadowskyNYC

Although some of the commission is based of the actually selling price, the bulk of the sales guy's pay is based off the profit (that 20% I mentioned above). Depending on when he was hired he's getting either 7% or 10% of the profit. So when you go for a deal you're actually taking money out of someones pocket. Someone you probably would call a "friend".

I certainly don't think of the local GC salesman as friends. They sure as hell don't think that about me.

[Kmonk]

Originally Posted by Got2SadowskyNYC

GC doesn't haggle the price. They can offer a coupon, price match a competitor, use a competitor's coupon etc.



A company can not tell a retailer what they can sell something for. This is called price fixing and is illegal.



.

This is partially true. It is perfectly legal for companies to tell retailers not to sell below a specified price. This is why when you look at gear on different websites, the retail price is almost always the same.

Price fixing is an agreement between participants on the same side in a market (such as retailers) to buy or sell a product, service, or commodity only at a fixed price, or maintain the market conditions such that the price is maintained at a given level by controlling supply and demand. In other words, if different retail companies agreed to sell a particular product at a set price this would constitute price fixing and be illegal.

The intent of price fixing may be to push the price of a product as high as possible, leading to profits for all sellers but may also have the goal to fix, peg, discount, or stabilize prices. The defining characteristic of price fixing is any agreement regarding price, whether expressed or implied.
Price fixing requires a conspiracy between sellers or buyers. The purpose is to coordinate pricing for mutual benefit of the traders.

[Got2SadowskyNYC]

edbass. The situation you described is BLATANTLY against policy and the manger can get in some major hot water with the district manager and corporate.

Allowing the use of a coupon on a brand that has specified that they want to be excluded can cost GC the vendor. They take this VERY seriously. Some stores have being put out of business getting caught doing this.

[Got2SadowskyNYC]

Handyman: NO, it has to do with MAP pricing. I explained this.

It is against the law for a company to say a store has to sell something at a given price.

About not seeing them as a "Friend", you're dead on. Never look at them as being your buddy. They are a commission based salesman and can be written up for not meeting the "fade point". Do this several months in a row and you're gone.

Ever wonder why they push the Pro Coverage so hard? If the sales guy does hit a certain "PC attachment rate" he looses 1% commission.

[1958Bassman]

Originally Posted by msaone

1.6 billion? Which congressman does their books?

Congress- all of them.