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03-17-2009, 06:23 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Columbus, Ohio | | | Guitar Center just slapped me in the face!
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OMG...
So I am up there looking at 2 basses - a $659 Fender Jazz and a $279 Vintage Modified Jazz. I tell the guy - "look, I've got a 2002 MIM P-Bass, mint condition. I'm interested in trading in on one of these 2 basses..". Guy says "Bring it in" -
Now I've traded in guitars a GC before, a takamine acoustic got me $400! So I drive to my house (all this after working all day) and back with my bass. Takes me about an hour.
I get back, check the bass at the door with the guy and he says "let me go see what I can do on this, go ahead an pick which bass you want". So I go and play - I'm loving the Squire, but I really want the Fender Jazz. I'm playing and the guy comes over and guess what he says..
go ahead...guess...
"I can do $125 on your bass." - My mouth about fell to the ground...did he really just try to get my to trade my P-Bass for $125?? I immediately put the jazz back on the wall - guy must've figured I couldn't believe that low-ball because he says " but you can save 15% on this one...".
I said "no way - I can get $300 for this bass on CL, $250 at a minimum. I'll be sure to come back after I sell it."
I don't think I can shop there anymore...I mean, wow - that was a total slap in face IMO. Couldn't believe it. |
03-17-2009, 06:27 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: CT | | | yeah guitar center makes me mad too. I live in Connecticut and all the people that work there think there better than everyone else and think there god at playing. I no what you mean though i bought an ampeg 6x10 bass amp and it between 600-800 at the time i go to sell it and the guy says o i cam give you 200 dollars. I said are you kidding me walked right out. They do it to everyone man not just you so dont worry. |
03-17-2009, 06:27 PM
| | Banned
Endorsing Artist: MLaghus Custom Basses | | Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Boca Raton - FL | | | They need to make profit, you know... $125 is a little over what you'd get at a pawn shop. Ever brought your car to CarMax? |
03-17-2009, 06:30 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2007 Location: Nashville | | | :: sigh ::
Search for some other recent threads on Guitar Center and other retailers and why it's not FINANCIALLY VIABLE for them to give top dollar or anywhere close for trades.
Essentially, they're a business in the business of making money. You're trade-in is a liability to them rather then an asset. They're not guaranteed to sell it, so they have to give bottom dollar in order to turn a profit.
. |
03-17-2009, 06:31 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Columbus, Ohio | | Quote:
Originally Posted by allexcosta  They need to make profit, you know... $125 is a little over what you'd get at a pawn shop. Ever brought your car to CarMax? | Dude...$125 for a mint 2002 MIM P-bass? I don't know what you're smokin' but that freakin' rip-off!
Not to mention that if he gave me $300 I was going to buy the Jazz for $659! Instead they got a po'd person that might not be a customer anymore. |
03-17-2009, 06:31 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Virginia Beach, VA | | | Believe it. SOP. Sell your used gear on TB, CL, E-bay, bassgear.com, yard sales, flea markets, out of your trunk in a supermarket parking lot....anywhere but Guitar Center.
So spaketh the Riisman.
Riis
__________________
"20% of the money will buy you 90% of the sound..another 30% of the money will buy you another 5% of the sound..you can't buy the remaining 5% of the sound because nobody can agree about what it is." |
03-17-2009, 06:32 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Greensburg, Pa | | Quote:
Originally Posted by allexcosta They need to make profit, you know... $125 is a little over what you'd get at a pawn shop. Ever brought your car to CarMax? | Definitely, I mean they are a business after all. $125 really isn't terribly unreasonable as far as trade-in value goes. |
03-17-2009, 06:34 PM
|  | Modulus, Ampeg, and Boss oh my! | | Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Birmingham, AL | | | If they gave top $$ for used gear, you wouldn't be able to shop there next year. |
03-17-2009, 06:34 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: an ignore list near you | | | They are not going to buy it from you for what it is worth. If YOU can get $250-$300 for it...that's all THEY'RE going to get for it. There is no incentive to give you that amount as they would be losing money every time an employee touched it.
Mike |
03-17-2009, 06:34 PM
|  | OVNIFX
EXAR pedals rep for North & Central America | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: PDX, OR | | | That's totally normal for any business taking a trade-in. It's not even about GC, and it's certainly not a slap in your face. That's just how trade-ins work in the real world. You want a better price? Sell independently. Going in to a store with a trade-in and then crying on the internet about how little money they offered you is frankly a slap in the face of normal mature business. |
03-17-2009, 06:37 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: San Diego, CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by sleepy_monkey If they gave top $$ for used gear, you wouldn't be able to shop there next year. | Exactly. What were you really expecting? That you got $400 for an acoustic means nothing unless we know the MSRP of that piece - and it could be you got lucky with a slow sales manager on duty.
Trading *anything* into a retailer is always a bad idea for you. Sell you bass here, the CL or the 'Bay and you'll get mo money - then you can buy a better bass somewhere OTHER than GC, which sucks no matter what.
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SWEET ZOMBIE JESUS!
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03-17-2009, 06:37 PM
| | | | Guitar Center is hurtin as bad as everyone else in this economy. I'm not saying $125 is fair or not, but you can't sell your bass ANYWHERE for near what you could 6 months ago. It just sucks as a seller in this market. |
03-17-2009, 06:37 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: an ignore list near you | | Quote:
Originally Posted by progrmr Dude...$125 for a mint 2002 MIM P-bass? I don't know what you're smokin' but that freakin' rip-off!
Not to mention that if he gave me $300 I was going to buy the Jazz for $659! Instead they got a po'd person that might not be a customer anymore. | If he gave you $300, he'd make the profit on the Jazz and then NO profit on the MIM. No point from a business standpoint as the next guy will walk in and buy the jazz for $659 and not saddle them with a bass they have to sell but won't make money on.
Mike
Last edited by mike_v_s : 03-17-2009 at 06:43 PM.
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03-17-2009, 06:38 PM
| | Banned
Endorsing Artist: MLaghus Custom Basses | | Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Boca Raton - FL | | Quote:
Originally Posted by progrmr Dude...$125 for a mint 2002 MIM P-bass? I don't know what you're smokin' but that freakin' rip-off!
Not to mention that if he gave me $300 I was going to buy the Jazz for $659! Instead they got a po'd person that might not be a customer anymore. | Market price for your bass in the most serious economic crisis of the past 50 years = $250.00 (maybe)
ANY pawn shop (and GC acts as a pawn shop on trades) pays 1/3 of the market value for anything. That'd be 84 bucks...
Sorry if that makes you mad, but these are the facts...
And no, I don't smoke, thanks... |
03-17-2009, 06:38 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by progrmr Dude...$125 for a mint 2002 MIM P-bass? I don't know what you're smokin' but that freakin' rip-off!
| It's not a rip off. They gave you an offer that was in their best interest, you wanted something in your best interest and a deal wasn't made. If you know you can get more for it elsewhere, then sell it elsewhere. It's nothing personal, don't take it as such. It's business. |
03-17-2009, 06:39 PM
|  | User | | Join Date: May 2007 Location: East Coast | | | A few years back GC offered me $275 trade in value on a '77 Ric 4001.
THAT is a slap in the face.
__________________
Jim B - If you don't know which note to play, play them all.
LOG Roller, Fender Fan, a MusicMan, Rickenbacker-backer, Gib-son, Hay-man. http://www.jimmyleejames.com/ |
03-17-2009, 06:41 PM
|  | Will work for groove | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Middletown, OH | | | They'll tell you that they go look up used prices on Ebay and will give you half of that. I wouldn't be surprised at that offer they gave you at all.
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Ohio Bassist #6 | Sadowsky - #181 | Gallien-Krueger #369 | Avatar #61 | DR Strings #9 | Classic-Vibe #1 | Blue Bass #57 |
03-17-2009, 06:41 PM
| | Banned
Endorsing Artist: MLaghus Custom Basses | | Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Boca Raton - FL | | Quote:
Originally Posted by JimB52 A few years back GC offered me $275 trade in value on a '77 Ric 4001.
THAT is a slap in the face. | Tell me about it...
They offered me 1500 bucks for a Fodera Emperor...  |
03-17-2009, 06:43 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: CT | | | all these people not agreeing with you are probably the ones that i said work at guitar center and think there god! ha |
03-17-2009, 06:45 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Seattle, WA | | | Expecting top dollar or close on anything, be it a bass, a car or anything else is naive at best. | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
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