GUITAR CENTER Scheme's

[TWolf]

First of all, lol. Second, why the poll? Third, 20 bucks says OP won’t return to this thread for months.

Yeah, what are we voting for again?

 

[James Collins]

It’s possible you misheard, they give at most 60% of what they think they can sell it for, but it’ll be more likely closer to 40%.

^^^This.

When I Google this cabinet, I find one used one on sale for $600. You can probably expect to convince the seller to come down on that price. I feel like the $250 was a fair offer and the OP is mad because he thought he was going to sell it to them for $1000.

I'm guessing what the phone call discussion went something like this:
OP: I HAVE A BIG MESA CABINET I WANT TO SELL. HOW MUCH WILL YOU GIVE ME!
GC: Well it will depend on the condition, age, and desirability of the gear.
OP: USA MESAAAAAA!!!! DIESELLLLL!
GC: Again it depends on a lot of factors but like new gear might be as much as 60% of the new price or it could be worth nothing.
OP: I SEND PICTURES. YOU CAN SAY ITS LIKE NEW AND WORTH 60% BECAUSE I HAVE TO DRIVE SO FAR!!!
GC: Unfortunately, we cannot give quotes by telephone. You will have to bring the product in for evaluation in person.
OP: OK, I WILL COME NOW!!! GET YOUR MONEY READY!!!

 

[74hc]

Sweet Water has a customer satisfication policy. Guitar Center has a customer screw over policy. And finally my rant is over.
Has any one had a similar experience?

I tend to believe that if Sweetwater had a huge operation of buy/sell used gear, we'd hear the same about them. In the used gear business, it's the nature of the beast.

 

[bassstrangler]

Total BS that said they will pay 60% of new price. I don't think they would give you 60% on a mint, current model speaker. Other than that, nothing you wrote seems unusual or out of place.

Totally agree that the Diesels were awesome cabs, but they are really old and really heavy, so I don't find the low ball offer they made surprising. There are some Diesels on Reverb that were listed two months ago. Chances are they will still be there two months from now. Sometimes you can't even give old cabs away.

Maybe you can get more than $250 if you sell the cab yourself, but then you have to deal with the hassle and wait for a buyer to come along. The only reason to sell to Guitar Center IMHO is for the speed and convenience. It's the same thing when you trade in a car or truck. The dealer typically will pay you less than you can get on the open market. But it's fast and easy transaction.

Speed and convenience, have never been in the vocabulary of anyone at the GC I used to frequent.

I'm sorry the OP had to experience this. But, it's not the exception it's the rule at GC.

I don't buy, trade, sell or let alone walk in their doors.

I'm glad @pcake is treated fairly, unfortunately we can't all go to LA to deal.

 

[gln1955]

When you go in to deal like this you need to have information at your fingertips. Specifically know how much you item in the same condition has sold for recently, not two years ago. Then you can argue for 60% of that. It's all you can expect and you might not even get that if GC already has a ton of them that they can't sell.

 

[MIMike]

I think there was a misunderstanding. As Hamster said, there is no way you were going to get 60% of the “new” price. 50-60% of the current selling rate for the used gear is what they typically pay. They probably told you they pay 60% of what they will retail it for...not what it retails for new.
They most likely did a quick search for what the used market looked like, say listing for $500-$600 and made you an offer based on that.
How much were you expecting to get for it, enough to get your Markbass w/o having to add much cash?
Sorry, this is on you for making the trip with unrealistic expectations based on the current market for that cab.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

They lost a sale over $50, but they will sell the combo to someone else. You lost a full day and ~ $60 in gas on the round trip.

 

[James Collins]

They lost a sale over $50, but they will sell the combo to someone else. You lost a full day and ~ $60 in gas on the round trip.

 

[FugaziBomb]

If someone calls Guitar Center with questions and you get a answer that you believe there sale reps are experienced and knowledgable in there department. I am not one to complain but after my trip to GC and experience, I am no longer a customer of Guitar Center. (Little Rock, AR). I called Guitar Center in Little Rock. I asked a rep about appraising my equipment. I was told they will pay cash to the seller at 60% of the price of new equipment, providing the equipment is in good to excellent, good condition.
I asked if I could take good quality pictures to send to GC for a close quote as to what I could expect for a quote.
He told me no, that I would have to bring it in. I explained I had a
2 hr:45 min trip to Little Rock with my Mesa Boggie Power House Desiel 2-15 EV road ready (anvil high quality) bass cab, and other equipment to sell. My in tensions were to purchase a 800W Mark Bass combo. $999.99/$1200.99 while I was there. Well I get there, we unloaded my cab. Two sales men right away made comments " wow this is the road read bad boy! They seem very interested. "First Scheme"
One sale rep said we need to test it!. So we headed to the bass section of the store. He placed a Ampeg SVT porta Bass 500 on top, plugged it in. I let him know this cab was in perfect working order and was a bad ass rig. He grabbed a bass but he seem to look for a certain one. He plugged it in and turned up the master full and the gain at 3. Right away it was distorting, I looked at all his knobs and adjusted to all straight up. It was still sounding distorted. Right away, he tells me me speakers were blown! .I told him no way. I asked him if it was a active bass. He said yep. I told him to use a passive bass to try because I told him it sounded like the battery was dead. He grabbed another to plug in, I seen he grabbed another active bass. I said dude, just try a passive bass so we know the battery is not dead. He picked out a passive bass, he plugged it in and it sounded totally awesome. At that point I had second thoughts about trading it in. I told him he should always use a passive to test. But I believe he was trying to use a bass he knew the battery was dead that would cause the speakers to sound blown.
Once he put it through the paces my cabs passed hands down. He rolled it back to the main room to get a price. Those cabs sold for $1800 + for the anvil road ready Desiel Power house model.
Can be biamped or full range. The sales man came to me and said he could only give me $250.00 for my Mesa Boggie hand made in the USA made of aircraft construction techniques. I was like man, you got to be kidding me!
He said he would sell it for $300/$400. He told me that they need to make a profit margin. I told him Guitar Center's profit margins has already took a lost, knowing it took 1 hr 30 minutes for both of them to do everything possible to cut my quote.
I explain to one of the reps that I seen other used equipment that was Chinese cheap built junk for more money compared to my American made Mesa Boggie 2-15 power house. He decided he would not even go up $50 to $300.00
I then replaced the front panel anvil case , locked it down and started to roll it back to my van. He said to me, " I thought you wanted to buy a bass rig?". I said yes, I was very interested in a $999.99 Mark Bass but that $50 you could not come up cost you a big time sale. I could see the look on his face.
I told him I'm done with Guitar Center.
Years ago, I once went to another music store that I had to drive 3 hours. The manager gave me a $30 cut on the price knowing I had to travel that far. Customers always look for deals knowing most of us are just weekend warriors and won't get rich.
Sweet Water has a customer satisfication policy. Guitar Center has a customer screw over policy. And finally my rant is over.
Has any one had a similar experience?

I am having a hard time making out a lot of this, or understanding why you included a poll or what the heck the poll is even trying to say (lol!). I'm not coming at you, though. Your experience at GC stunk - I totally agree with that. GC is just trying to turn a profit, though. The sales guy trying to grift you was really sleazy, though

I agree with what a lot of other people said here that your admittedly awesome bass rig probably wouldn't move as fast you think. Small, light, and portable is what people are buying in terms of amps and cabs these days. "Hand made in the USA" doesn't drive the price of used gear - demand does. If no one wants to buy it, it isn't worth $1,800.

There are a lot of factors concerning the economics of the value of your amp sitting on the sales floor for months and months. Storing your amp there and finding a place to display it costs money. That is a fraction of their rent for the storefront. That same spot on the floor could house whatever hot ticket item IS selling for GC at the moment. Think about it like this: Take the same spot your amp sits for 6 months and put something there that they will move 5 or 6 units of (like a practice amp or a mini SVT stack - something dumb that hobbyists will eat up). They have to figure by taking that space up with your amp instead, they lost 5 or 6 sales of the other item. That also factors into the cost of housing that amp at their store.

Sales floor space is expensive, it's certainly not free, and anything sitting there will factor into their overhead each month.

Then let's talk about that sale the employee missed out on. I can't speak for GC, but I know Sam Ash employees ONLY make commission. So you came in there, spent 45 minutes of that guy's time setting up your amp and making him pull basses off the wall, only to leave without spending a dime. That guy didn't get paid for any of that effort. No wonder he was bummed you didn't buy a new amp - he may have gone home empty handed that day.

All that being said, GC sucks and I don't shop there either, but you really need to be aware of what is happening on both sides of the board before getting too annoyed with GC.

 

[Bander]

Phone appraisals are worthless. That's why knowledgeable estimators won't do it. Isn't the majority of traded used gear to a large anonymous retail store, either to ditch defective gear, or desperation (code for willing to take a lot less)? Also, its more than common knowledge by now that GC offers 60% of THEIR expected USED retail price on used gear. A lot of folks confuse this policy with NEW prices, which don't factor into any used pricing - anywhere.

 

[DoctorZee]

I have only sold gear to GC once, but I was able to negotiate the price up, and get a discount on the new gear I was buying that day. Your attitude as a customer goes a long way.

 

[bassplayer9512]

Only two shops I have sold gear to where Music Go Round and a local shop called Waddells. It was more trading than outright sale.

GC should have given you the $300 no question asked knowing you were more than likely leaving with an amp. The local stores always gave an increase of 15% if trading in rather than selling.

That being said GC used section can be a gold mine if you take the time to hunt. I've gotten two Mesa amps from GC. Both were labeled as broken.

First was a mint D-180 in a road case I got for $400 because they didn't know hownthe volume and gain interacted on either channel. Bought it over the phone. From a South Carolina store.

Just a few months ago I purchased a Prodigy 4:88 for less that a quarter of what the sell for new. Tech said it was returned non functioning and he couldnt get it to fail. Worked great for me for a months then failed. $90 fix from one of Mesa's top techs and the amp is working like a champ. Only issue with it is the top handle and retaining collar need replaced.

I've made money off of GC more than they have from me. I would have sold your cab locally then tried to take the cash and flip gear the morons that work there are clueless about. I've seen an american lakland on there more than once listed as a skyline. Same goes for US G&L basses.

I made enough money flipping gear a couple years go I bought myself a Ric 4003SW from an initial investment of $350 on a pawnshop reverse Jaguar I ended up selling when they were going for $650-700 then found a couple Japan Squier guitars and basses that I flipped to make up the rest.

 

[Joelc73]

The poll is puzzling... I'm not sure I understand either the question nor the response choices!

In any case, the experience isn't surprising. Old, heavy gear isn't desirable anymore.

 

[sonic 7]

If you’re at the point where you are selling a piece used gear to GC , it’s usually because you haven’t had any luck selling it otherwise. I’m not a big fan of GC but they are a business and not a dump for unwanted obsolete gear. High end guitars ( $2000.00 +) tend to hold their value fairly well depending on the brand but just about everything else purchased new loses most of its $$ value as soon as you walk out the door.

 

[Kipp Harrington]

Try FB Market Place. I've sold a few of my guitar items on there. Yeah, it took a while but I know I got more money than trading it in at GC... been there, done that and I might do it again depending on what item(s) I'm trying to sell (get rid of).

 

[outoftune]

Guitar Center give 60% of what they are going to sell it for. I take things to Guitar Center as a last resort because I know I will not get anywhere near what I could get if I sold it myself.
Look up the going rate of your gear on the GC used site and you will get a good idea what you will be getting. if there are none on there then check ebay and what they have sold for.
The guys at my local GC are really good fellas. They explain the rules right in the front and understand that you will feel like you are not getting what you want and selling it outright will get you the best money.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

What's with the bold text?

 

[joker820]

Like others have pointed out, cabinet technology and design have changed. Your 2x15 is built like a tank but weighs 130 lbs. The current Mesa Subway 2x15 weighs 60 lbs. Try listing on Reverb for local pickup. I had a combo amp and cab sit on there for about 8 months and people messaged me out of the blue. Hopefully you have room to store it for a bit.

 

[Joe Nerve]

I think the trouble started with the idea of going to trade (or sell) gear at Guitar Center.

If I walked into GC with gear thinking I was going to walk out happy about my transaction, that's on me - not them.

 

[JohnnyChatter]

There are still a hand full of us that would grab that big ol’ Cab up in a heart beat if you posted it on CL at a good deal. That being said don’t expect a bunch from guitar center. The customers they rely on are random weekend warriors or people who just play for hobby. The offer they gave you was pretty fair. Here locally a person has had that same cab with non original speakers for wayyyyy more than anyone would pay. It’s best to look online for what they are selling for and take 100-150 bucks off that and get a quick sale.