Web pricing for bass/amps

[Steve Clark]

Hi,

Why is it that many stores have the list price available and a "call for price" or something to the effect? If I shop I want to know the price or at least not work too hard to get the price. I know, I know, sending an email isn't that hard.

I used to race karts and dealers of parts would rarely list prices for items. Sometimes you wondered if you were getting the new guy price or the price that everyone esle gets. I wonder the same thing sometimes about prices for gear on the web.

I would just rather know the price.

Steve

[pilotjones]

In some cases, a store will do this for all prices. And I would have the same suspicions that you do, that they are trying to control who knows what.

Sometimes, with some small sellers, it seems they just want to get a phone call, and start a relationship.

However, in some cases, it has to do with the agreement between the manufacturer and the seller. For example, Rickenbacker does not allow online listing of new Ric prices on any site. I believe there are other instrument and amp manufacturers that do this also.

Related to this, it seemed to me that a few years ago Fender did not allow the listing of their instruments on the same page as those of other manufacturers.

[Steve Clark]

Pilot. Thanks for the reply. Certainly hadn't considered that there might be some manufacturers considerations rolled into that. Seems that a store could only go so low on a certain items and they should know what that is and post the price. I just don't like haggling. Tell me the price.

I priced out an item recently on a Canadian dealer site which had a really high USD price posted. I asked what the CDN price was and they were happy to give me a number substantially lower than the US posted price even with the $ exchange. Seems goofy to me since the US price would probably turn off a whole bunch of potential buyers who wouldn't bother calling.

Originally Posted by pilotjones

In some cases, a store will do this for all prices. And I would have the same suspicions that you do, that they are trying to control who knows what.

Sometimes, with some small sellers, it seems they just want to get a phone call, and start a relationship.

However, in some cases, it has to do with the agreement between the manufacturer and the seller. For example, Rickenbacker does not allow online listing of new Ric prices on any site. I believe there are other instrument and amp manufacturers that do this also.

Related to this, it seemed to me that a few years ago Fender did not allow the listing of their instruments on the same page as those of other manufacturers.

[fraublugher]

with us/can exchange rates fluctuating so much the price will vary with that.

from browsing these forums , the custom bass "list" price seems to be "around" $1000 USD above actual price generally.

with an emphasis on generally