Getting back to the OP, no, Guitar Center won't discount Mesa gear, but you can get them to give you a bunch of crap to go with it, speaker cables, instrument cables, straps, strings, gig bags, cases, etc.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
GC and Mesa
- Thread starter jamfree
- Start date
- Nov 7, 2006
- 751
- 19
- Disclosures
- Endorsing-Trace Elliot,Peavey Basses,PedalTrain,Starkey inears
Monster Cable is price locked by Monster Cable...Legal or not, not even a GC store Manager can change the price on a Boogie,Monster Cable and several other items even if its damaged floor stuff....sucks but they do it.
I have.
I was looking for a cheap 300 watt amp, and I spied a used Mesa Bass 400, and decide to try it because of my hero at the time, Paul D'Amour..
Asking price - 850.00
I paid - 650.00+ tax
There is a disclaimer at the end of the info page stating that "Anti-competitive agreements will not be prohibited under all circumstances." It seems there is most certainly a loop-hole. Is there not a GC employee who can chime in and shed a little light?
There must be some way around pricing on Boogies. At Labor Day's "List Sale", I saw a Stiletto guitar head for (IIRC) 30% off List. I was thinking of buying it to resell, but some one else was a couple steps ahead of me and grabbed it.
Good point, or tell them you'll buy it if they don't charge sales tax (this has worked for me in the past). Not charging the consumer extra for sales tax is not illegal - the seller still has to pay it. It's just customary for it to be added to the price of goods sold. They're still selling it for retail price - basically a loophole.
I know Mesa has been doing this since at least 1989. Smith and Sadowsky are other examples in the music industry. There are also other industries having nothing to do with music that work the same way. These are big companies and they have been doing it for a long time. If it were illegal, it obviously wouldn't be happening anymore.
GC won't charge sales tax anyway if you complete the tax exemption stating you are basically a professionnal musician or producer.
Now, for get small fry like Mesa, let's talk large fry. I worked for Home Depot for a long time, and price locking is both common, and legal, using the clause about anti-competitive agreements. This includes many name brand appliances, and John Deere tractors. If you buy a John Deere, you pay the same price. Home Depot cannot mark down many manufacturers' products. In fact, the sales of John Deeres are linked to JD, and if Home Depot marks one down, JD pulls all their product from the store.
Talking them down on used gear is a different story.
Now, for get small fry like Mesa, let's talk large fry. I worked for Home Depot for a long time, and price locking is both common, and legal, using the clause about anti-competitive agreements. This includes many name brand appliances, and John Deere tractors. If you buy a John Deere, you pay the same price. Home Depot cannot mark down many manufacturers' products. In fact, the sales of John Deeres are linked to JD, and if Home Depot marks one down, JD pulls all their product from the store.
Talking them down on used gear is a different story.
rockstarbassist
Inactive
No deals unless it's used or not NIB. Ask how pissed off the Manager is and how quickly the sales rep got fired who discounted the Mesa gear and got their line pulled from that G.C. They don't like to talk about it when you have that big of a store with that much traffic, so many of who's customers WANT to buy Mesa stuff and they go elsewhere.
And yeah, if this were at all even sort of illegal, the mulit-platinum worldwide artists who don't get discounts from Mesa would have sued them a LONG time ago before your wannabe weekend warrior, sorry.
I had a guy at a G.C. tell me once "Hey man, if Eddie Van Halen can't get a Mesa discount, YOU ain't gettin' a Mesa discount! Why do you think he went with Peavey to make all his free stuff?"
Some of their stuff is overpriced IMO, but when you can score their gear used, it lasts forever.
And yeah, if this were at all even sort of illegal, the mulit-platinum worldwide artists who don't get discounts from Mesa would have sued them a LONG time ago before your wannabe weekend warrior, sorry.
I had a guy at a G.C. tell me once "Hey man, if Eddie Van Halen can't get a Mesa discount, YOU ain't gettin' a Mesa discount! Why do you think he went with Peavey to make all his free stuff?"
Some of their stuff is overpriced IMO, but when you can score their gear used, it lasts forever.
Peavey, Crate, Fender, etc. all have a very large mark-up on their products- roughly 50%, then the prices are 'discounted' to the consumer. That's normally referred to as an 'A' mark. So, a Peavey head that retails for $1000 probably costs the retailer about $500. Of course this is without shipping and other taxes that retailers pay. A Mesa head that retails for $1000 probably costs the retailer about $900. That protects all Mesa retailers and also allows Mesa to retain some prestige, by making it impossible to discount while amking any sort of profit. You will also notice that Mesa isn't featured in mail-order catalogs and also won't allow their retailers to ship to a consumer if they are near another Mesa retailer-their territories are protected. Their business plan has helped make them a very desirable product to retailers-being a Mesa dealer gives your store a certain amount of mystique.
BTW-Peavey didn't use to be in catalogs either, and had all of their products made in the USA until a few years ago.
BTW-Peavey didn't use to be in catalogs either, and had all of their products made in the USA until a few years ago.
Hookus is right, used is a different story, Mesa already made their money on the original sale.
But as far as not paying tax because you're a pro, GC isn't that formal. I haven't paid tax on anything at Guitar Center that cost more than $100, ever. You just tell whoevers working there, "I'll take this, if you give me some cables, etc, and I don't want to pay tax" and they go for it.
On a related note, a friend of mine just started working for GC, so I'm gonna get to find out just how low GC can go on some stuff.
