Is GC flexible on used gear prices?

RichardCranium · #1 09-07-2011, 12:22 PM

Due to the Great Gear Divorce of '11 I'm in the market for a new rig. Nothing really fancy just solid and reliable I have a nice pedal board setup and IEM's so it's mostly a monitor.

Seen some good stuff on the used GC site and wondered if anyone has experience in haggling on prices with them. Are they willing to bargain or is it basically the price on the tag is what you pay.

There's a nice SWR combo at my local GC that's been there for ages and I was thinking about saying "ok this amp has been here for months obviously there's no interest in it I will offer you X amount to buy today or it can continue to sit here and not be sold for the price you're asking what do you say?"

Thoughts?

fenderhutz · #2 09-07-2011, 12:23 PM

Not really. Thank Bain Capital (Mitt Romney) for that one. They used to be. Worst case scenario is to call and ask. But once it's been sitting they automatically drop the price and usually will wait.

Call and speak to a manager and steer away from the sheeple that won't do it because of corporate policy.

**baba** · #3 09-07-2011, 02:01 PM

I've repeatedly asked, and the standard answer I get is no, unless it's been there for 90+ days.

**Old Joe** · #4 09-07-2011, 02:13 PM

I only have one experience with haggling at a GC and the salesperson came down on the price from $100 to $70. This was a broken combo amp so there was a lot of points in my favor when but I left with the impression that they'll lower the price on all used gear.

One thing I'll say is, talk to the guy in charge. Be that the main salesperson on the floor or the manager. Don't waste your time trying to haggle with the regular employees. They probably don't have the authority to lower the price on an item.

etechstan · #5 09-07-2011, 02:54 PM

If you watch regularly and stay with it you can get a bargain. I had a Peavey MKIV head and a matching 1x15 cabinet then one day I found a second cab at my local GC. It was pretty beat up and they wanted $180 for it. After it was there for quite a while, I offered $120 they countered with $150. It was pretty rough and I didn't go for it. 1 month later it was marked down to $99. I completed my stack.
Last month another local GC had a Peavey Fury V for $99. That was to good to be true so I drove out the 42 miles to look at it and couldn't find it. I asked the sales guy if it was gone and he said the tech had it, it quit working. I asked if they checked the battery and wiring and he said the tech did and said he'd be right back and walked away. Returned a few minutes later and told me that I can have it for $50. I bought it, took it home and put in a new battery and it works just fine.
Sometimes there's stuff there that isn't on line so occasional walk throughs can't do any harm.

mpdd · #6 09-07-2011, 07:33 PM

ime gc pays very little for used stuff and then they mark it up x 4 for resale, pretty good money if you can get it, a few times i talked to somebody who had common sense and or understood wholesale/retail and new/used and they would come down another 10 or 15 percent, but these were things that hadn't been there all that long to justify a bigger discount

runmikeyrun · #7 09-08-2011, 09:34 PM

It never hurts to ask. The sales people will tell you all kinds of crap. I wanted to trade some gear in on a piece of used gear and the sales kid said "I don't think we take gear on trade for used gear". I asked him to ask the manager and the manager gave him a dumb look and said yes, we do.

Make an offer on something, and if they say no then be prepared to either walk or pay what they want for it. Sometimes if you start walking they decide to make a counter offer. You just gotta know how to play the game.

Munjibunga · #8 09-08-2011, 10:52 PM

In the store, the marked price is double what they paid for it. Offer them something about halfway between. I paid $700 for a Fender RB5 that was marked at $1,000. It was in new condition. They have plenty of room to move on used gear.

I don't know about on-line used gear, though.

SoonerMatt · #9 09-08-2011, 10:57 PM

Selling? Not a chance in hell. They have a set price and will not move an inch, IME.

Buying? You can occasionally get them to go lower but I've also found instances where they flat out stonewall you and tell you to take it or leave it.

runmikeyrun · #10 09-09-2011, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoonerMatt

Selling? Not a chance in hell. They have a set price and will not move an inch, IME.

I got the sales manager to come up on a couple of my trades a month ago, about $25 total on $140 worth of gear that they were going to give me $115 on. That's fairly substantial. I had to speak to the sales manager though, not the kid I was dealing with.