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GUITAR CENTER Scheme's

If someone callsGuitar Center, and asked I question about

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#41
1) I didn't see anything in the OP about doing any homework to find out what it would sell for today. I might have paid a lot for a 200 year old hand made Persian rug 30 years ago but, in the last ten years, the bottom has completely dropped out of the market for Persian rugs. I'll never get anything close to what I paid for it because no one is buying them and those who are aren't paying top prices. What I paid for a high quality, hand made item doesn't matter because, if the demand isn't there, then I can't demand a high price. Well, I can demand anything I want, but odds are really low that I'll get it. And, no, I'm not some rich, out-to-screw-the-little-guy snob who has fancy Persian rugs all over my mansion. I simply read an article about that in the newspaper while having breakfast this morning.

2) Just because store employees said it's a cool rig DOES NOT imply that you'll get what you wanted for trade in. It's a cool rig, and they recognized that. And they might have been genuinely interested on behalf of the store in taking such a cool rig on trade. I don't see any evidence that them pointing out that it's a cool rig is part of a scam/scheme?

3) You weren't satisfied with the offer and you walked out. That was a good response.

4) An even better response might have been, "Here is a page of links I saved to the same item selling in this general region over the last <pick a time frame, one year? two?> and here are printouts of those pages. Let's go take a look at these links to verify that they're legitimate. Based on this current market data, I think the price should be <a figure that is based on a reasonable calculation, like 50-60% of what they currently sell for in your area>. I think 60% is fair given that I'm also buying a new amp from you today."

5) A lack of understanding of the current market, a lack of understanding of the trade-in process, and a bad attitude make a bad combination that you can count on working against you.
 
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#42
cbassman55 said:
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?
Click to expand...


Guitar center is not the best sale, but definitely the easiest quick sale. Best plan of action....

Look on their site for a similar used item. They'll give you ~60% of that price. Usually not worth the effort. However, they also usually drop a new item 10-15% in conjunction with that trade. Sometimes it's worth it, sometimes it's not. But that's the gist of what will go down.
 
#44
cbassman55 said:
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?
Click to expand...
You’re obviously upset but here’s the truth. They only give 50% of what they can sell it for not 50% of new. My guess is you heard what you wanted or hoped to hear. Next time look and see if they’re selling what you have anywhere on their used site then cut that in half. If you’re not ok with that then you’re wasting your time and theirs. You not understanding how it works isn’t their fault.
 
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#46
One quintessential fact of life is that anything being sold is only worth whatever potential buyer is willing to pay and whatever the seller is willing to accept. Unfortunately (for you), the market for your Mesa Boogie Power House Diesel 2-15 EV is extremely small and getting smaller.
 
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#48
OP, knowing what to expect on the offer before you even head out is the informed way to go.

This took me about 30 seconds to figure out. I went to Reverb, put in Mesa Diesel, clicked on "sold" items, and voila - one of the first items to come up is a Mesa Boogie 2x15 Diesel cab in that fantastic road case. It sold for....drumroll....$399.99. Mesa Boogie 2X15 Diesel Bass Cab | Sam Ash- Nashville

$399.99*.60 = $239.99. It's not smoke and mirrors.
 
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#49
I agree with the comments about GC taking a risk on used gear. Also - your gear is OLD. List it for sale here and see what kinds of offers you get from players who know and appreciate what it is. Probably about the same. I remember very specifically my GC selling a guy a Diesel combo 4X10 and 1X15 cab stack brand new for $500. At the time which was 10 years ago(!) I wished I had jumped in sooner. I have some glorious Eden cabs that I can't give away. I had a fantastic LDS that took months to sell for $150. Big & heavy = worthless in today's market. The GC guys baited and switched you indirectly. They may or may not have tried to dupe you with a jinky bass test. Boo to them for that. But at the end of the day, I think they were spot on with their offer in the context of that selling environment.

Also know that GC isn't the only place not wanting to pay top dollar for used gear anymore. While shopping my Mesa WD-800 rig, I asked my local authorized Mesa distributors about trading my gear in towards said rig. Both were of the 'we can offer you chump change - you're better off listing it on CL / FB for more money'. Polite way of saying no thanks we don't want your old junk that we have to warehouse for 6 months till we give it away to cut our losses. I get it.
 
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#50
You don't go to a box store to get top dollar, or even anything close to market value. It's essentially like going to a pawn shop. They know you're not making the effort to sell the equipment. You're pawning it. Looking to offload it quickly.
 
#51
Talk bass is becoming nextdoor?
Poll:
() is it
() Becoming

IMG_20200216_082014.jpg
 
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#52
cbassman55 said:
Those cabs sold for $1800 + for the anvil road ready Desiel Power house model.The sales man came to me and said he could only give me $250.00. He said he would sell it for $300/$400.
Click to expand...

Actually they would probably sell it for $500, twice what they paid for it. Who cares that it cost $1800? It is used after all and 2-15s are out of favor. On top of that, it weighs two tons in an era of lightweight cabs and it won't fit in a sedan. A touring pro might snatch it up, but not your typical weekend warrior that walks into GC. $500 is about what I would expect to pay for a used one myself...I almost bought a Road Ready cab back in the late 80s but went for an EAW cab instead...so I'm real familiar with them.

I will agree that GC telling you they will give you 60% of the new price is raving B.S. They will only give you 25-35% percent of new at most because they will sell at 50-70% of new...but only if it's in demand.
 
#53
Cannot judge one as all as unfortunate of an experience you may of had. I actually have had good luck and experiences when dealing with GC in the past. Sure he may of been playing a game with you and also places like this are known to undercut...just what happens but remember they are in business to make money and also they take over all further risks of your gear and also have to store it and try to sell it and like many have said, bigger cabs and gear just does not sell as well these days. Remember as well you're not obligated to sell your gear to them. I personally always try to sell locally on my own before having to resort to trading/selling to a chain music store.
 
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#56
After a year of selling junk on Craigslist and Facebook, I recently took some pedals to Music Go Round. They gave me $60 credit for a pedal they priced at $79, and $30 for a pedal they priced at $40. I left with the stuff I wanted with nothing out of pocket, and I was back home within 3 hours.
 
#59
it's possible the GC guy didn't look it up during the phone call - he might have just heard the magic words "mesa boogie" and not realized it was a lead sled.

brianrost said:
Actually they would probably sell it for $500, twice what they paid for it. Who cares that it cost $1800? It is used after all and 2-15s are out of favor. On top of that, it weighs two tons in an era of lightweight cabs and it won't fit in a sedan. A touring pro might snatch it up, but not your typical weekend warrior that walks into GC. $500 is about what I would expect to pay for a used one myself...I almost bought a Road Ready cab back in the late 80s but went for an EAW cab instead...so I'm real familiar with them.

I will agree that GC telling you they will give you 60% of the new price is raving B.S. They will only give you 25-35% percent of new at most because they will sell at 50-70% of new...but only if it's in demand.
Click to expand...

don't be so sure they could sell it for $500. west l.a. guitar center had one sitting for $599, then marked down to $499, and it sat at that price for almost a year. i didn't buy it because it weighed a metric ton, and i'm sure that's why no one else bought it, either, and keep in mind it was also listed online. they finally sent it to another store to try and sell.

btw, my husband just got 50% of new for what he paid new for a 1998 7-string guitar. it's a rare guitar, but almost no one has ever heard of it. listed on CL we only heard from 2 people. one tried it and didn't like it, the other didn't realize it was an upgrade on the lower end model and offered the going rate for that model. i got just over 50% of new value on a cort curbow from them
 
#60
This is how it should have gone down:
"If you paid $1800 - 18 years ago (about the circa of roadready cabs), = $100 per year = $0.274 per day. So, does this really owe you anything? Make a deal for your Markbass thingy that you want. Have them ship it for free, and sell your Mesa on local craigslist for it's market value and save your time/gas."
You have put your cart before your horse and now you are trying to blame the world. It's tough language, but it's the hard truth.
 
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