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GUITAR CENTER Scheme's

If someone callsGuitar Center, and asked I question about

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#61
Rockbobmel said:
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.
Click to expand...

i'm guessing that since the OP lives so far from his closest GC, he's not in a busy area, so CL might not bring any buyers.
 
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#65
pcake said:
no, and i wouldn't want to ship it, either!!!

but then i live in los angeles, so there are generally plenty of interested buyers.
Click to expand...

Yeah. But if you’re in downtown and the buyer is on the west side, you might fight 2.5 hours of traffic to do the deal.

The traffic might be awful here, but you can still sell a behemoth bass cab in this town :laugh:
 
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#69
Low Class said:
My guess is this guy works for Sweetwater.
Click to expand...
Chrisk-K said:
Then, sell it to Sweetwater.
Click to expand...

If he worked for Sweetwater he would have had a better understanding of how this all works. And Sweetwater doesn't deal in used gear. They have an in store shop, separate from their music store that deals with used gear, but they don't buy the gear, it's a consignment deal where they put it up in the shop and take 25% after it sells.

I'm very surprised they offered him 250.00 considering no one would buy that cab nowadays. People can't seem to handle a bass that weighs 10 pounds or cabinets that you can't have your toddler mover for you...
 
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#70
dpaul said:
Rule #1: NEVER try to sell gear to Guitar Center. In this day and age (TalkBass forums, Reverb, eBay, Craigslist, Internet...) there is no excuse

Rule #2: See rule #1
Click to expand...
Why not though? If you're just looking to unload gear you're having difficulty selling due to its size and weight, and you're willing to take a hit, it's really not the worst option.
 
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#71
As mentioned several times - the Guitar Center nearest to me told me outright that they would give me 50%-60% the price of what they could sell my gear for - not 60% of what it sold for new. I'm sure the OP just misunderstood what he was told by the sales rep. I've had a few bad experiences buying used gear online from a couple different out of state Guitar Centers. Each time that has happened I've made the hour and a half trip to the closest Guitar Center - asked for the manager and told him what was wrong with the used piece of gear that I bought online from Guitar Center's website. Each time he made sure that I left the store a happy customer. I can't guarantee every GC store manager is that way, but I will say the main reason that I am still a GC customer is because of that store manager. I can pretty much guarantee that the GC that I go to doesn't keep an active bass laying around with a dead battery in it so they can dupe people into believing they are selling a cab with a blown speaker.
Unfortunately, it looks like I may have to take that hour and a half trip to the nearest Guitar Center soon because I have a like-new Audio Interface pack (Focusrite Scarlette Solo Studio Pack) that I bought new about 8 months ago and only used it an hour to try it out when I first got it. I had plans to do some recording and then got a new job that leaves me no time during the week to do anything - much less any recording (I leave for work at 1:45 PM and don't get home until 4:30 AM). I've had it for sale for weeks here in the classifieds, craigslist and facebook marketplace and have dropped the price on it numerous times and it's close to what I'm sure GC would give me if I trade it in towards a purchase at their store. There are a couple pedals I may be interested in trading it in towards.
Here's what I will be trading in soon because I can't sell it... :(
For Sale/Trade - Focusrite Scarlett Solo Studio - Audio Interface (Like-new) - 0
 
#72
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 misheard, they offer 60% of what it CURRENTLY sells for online, NOT what it sold for new
Products that are in demand (a 100 plus pound cab is definitely not currently in demand)
So 1000 new
500 asking price
Sold price 350
Gc will offer 210@

You blew the negotiation by being unrealistic, and uninformed.

Also the market on that cab is @700.
Good luck unloading that beast (great cab)
Closest GC to me is more than an hour away 60+miles .
 
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#73
pcake said:
one lame sales rep isn't proof that all of guitar center sucks. my husband and i have gotten fair value on everything we've ever brought in to hollywood or west l.a. guitar center to sell. in fact, my husband recently got more than we asked for on a CL ad for one of his guitars from the manager at west l.a. GC.
Click to expand...

Had this exact experience recently I'm not the most massive GC fan, but the value they offered me on a piece of vintage gear was not only fair but more than I had been trying to sell it for on CL with no takers. The part I didn't like and wish they had told me was all of their vintage stuff has to be priced by Hollywood. That means waiting.

You don't have gold. You have a piece of gear. They are a store so yes, they need to make a profit. I take into account my time (CL is a hassle), the hassle of shipping (is it large and going to cost a fortune?), the amount I may get if I sell it on eBay or Reverb (i.e. their fees + any by PayPal), do market research to figure out what the item sells for on average, and go from there. I figure with markup, etc., if I can get 50% or more of what it's selling for sans fees, it's good. The reality is that by the time you take out fees, that may be close to what you actually make anyway.

I bet the experience of OP would happen at other stores, too. I don't think it's purely a GC phenomenon.
 
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#75
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...
old-man-with-hearing-aid.jpg
 
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#77
in my experience, as both a customer and an employee of guitar center, you can most likely attribute his actions to outright ignorance and stupidity, rather than a cunning scheme. It’s not impossible, for sure, but it’s more likely that he’s just a dope.

as far as the valuation, you can pretty reliably just look at eBay to determine about what they would sell it for, assume they’ll sell it for 10-20% more, and then expect like 40% of the first number as what they pay you for it.

Generally it’s not worth it to sell to them unless you would rather take a big loss instead of waiting for a private buyer.. i’ve sold a couple of basses that cost me nothing, because I didn’t want to go through the hassle of shipping them. They are definitely not the place to go if you’re concerned with selling great used gear for a fair price... it’s more like a garage sale option where you just want it out of your house.
 
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#80
FenderP said:
Had this exact experience recently I'm not the most massive GC fan, but the value they offered me on a piece of vintage gear was not only fair but more than I had been trying to sell it for on CL with no takers. The part I didn't like and wish they had told me was all of their vintage stuff has to be priced by Hollywood. That means waiting.

You don't have gold. You have a piece of gear. They are a store so yes, they need to make a profit. I take into account my time (CL is a hassle), the hassle of shipping (is it large and going to cost a fortune?), the amount I may get if I sell it on eBay or Reverb (i.e. their fees + any by PayPal), do market research to figure out what the item sells for on average, and go from there. I figure with markup, etc., if I can get 50% or more of what it's selling for sans fees, it's good. The reality is that by the time you take out fees, that may be close to what you actually make anyway.

I bet the experience of OP would happen at other stores, too. I don't think it's purely a GC phenomenon.
Click to expand...

we used to sell to hollywood and we waited plenty long - they didn't even had the excuse that they had to call hollywood :D

if you're in the l.a. area, sometimes with good or desirable vintage gear, you can do better with norman's rare guitars, especially before namm when he needs more gear to sell at the show.

with my husband's schecter 7-string guitar - a C7+ that he bought new in hollywood in 1999 - the store manager called a bunch of guitar centers to see if any had bought or sold that model in the last year. none had, they just had sold C7 models, so he did some research online and found what i found - no one had sold one or had it for sale in the past year. he offered us 50% of the new price we paid in 1999. i bet a lot of guitar centers wouldn't have bought it at all with no sales history, but it's handy to do business with the manager sometimes - he is a guitar player and was intrigued. i bet the guitar is still at that store.

i just checked and it is still listed
https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Schecter-Guitar-Research/C-7-Solid-Body-Electric-Guitar.gc
and for very little more than they paid us for it 2 months ago.
 
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