I like cheap guitars. I like to buy them cheap then mod them with parts from Guitar Fetish. I've done that three times now and the results have been great. So whenever I visit my local Guitar Center I check out their used guitars for something really cheap. Today I thought I found the ideal project, but walked out empty handed and shaking my head in disbelief.

I found a black Peavey Strat copy with a single bridge humbucker. The body was scratched up and there were two chunks taken out of the edges. Nothing that some wood filler, new coat of Krylon paint and some polish wouldn't fix. The neck was a little bowed but it seemed to tune up and intonate ok. Chrome hardtail bridge and chrome tuners. Cheap humbucker.

The price? $39.00 with gig bag. I figured I had enough parts left over from previous projects that I could rebuild it and set it up for slide (if the neck wouldn't flatten out) for almost nothing. Knowing from past conversations with GC staff that they sell used stuff for twice what they pay for it, I approached the manager and offered him $30 cash plus I would buy a new set of strings, and they could throw away the gig bag.

His response: "You want the guitar, you pay the price on the tag."

Wow. I put it back and wandered around the store some more. Later I saw the manager at the desk and approached him again. I said to him:

"Are you saying that you would turn down a cash offer of $30.00 for a guitar you probably paid $20.00 for?"

His response: "That's exactly what I am saying." Whereupon he turned his back on me.

I said: Wow. You're quite the businessman aren't you. I'll be sure to spend more of my money here."

Then I walked out.

I'm still scratching my head that he would be willing to pass on an immediate cash sale that still nets him a profit plus I buy strings.

Wow.

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Bill

Should have paid him the asking price on the guitar and asked him to throw in the strings.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

+1

The margin was likely so thin on whatever deal was made when the Peavey was traded in that the manager wasn't in any mood to discount the guitar by 25% when it was already priced pretty reasonable.

JMO

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Sounds like you lost a guitar and he lost a customer, it's a wash. Bad thing is you'll probably go back. I've done the same thing. you shold report the guy's aditude to his superior .

Now, most of the time GC is just flat out horrible, and I usually agree with the customers in these threads. But this time I honestly think it was YOU being unreasonable. It was $39, it most likely would have been a cash payment either way, and you were asking for 25% off. They were most likely going to make MAYBE $15 off that guitar for asking price, no way in hell they'd cut a quarter of the price off.

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If GC was asking 39 dollars for a guitar it couldn,t have been worth caring out of the store. Its not worth there time.

I buy used gear from Craigslist. Always happy with the outcome of those deals. you should have seen that situation coming when you walked through the door. GC isn't allowed to fluctuate on the prices too much these days, But yes they can throw in some strings. You might have been able to sell the Gig Bag, new in the box for $10.00 online. and yes, that guitar wasn't worth the $39.00. I saw an Epiphone Wilshire on the wall in the GC in Scottsdale AZ. They wanted like $150.00 used, it had a bolt on neck, and you could bend the guitar and watch the action go up and down about 1/16 of an inch. I just shook my head and laughed.

When I inquired at the same GC as few weeks ago about trading/selling some equipment I no longer needed, I was told that they would give me 1/2 of what they would sell my equipment for. That's a 100% profit for them and is typical of other equipment I have traded/sold through a retail dealer (mostly camera equipment). So if they are selling it for $39.00 that says they paid no more than $20.00 for it. My offer of $30.00 cash is still a 50% profit for them for a guitar that was probably worth $25 at most (20% profit). So no, I don't think their margin was that small nor do I think my offer was unreasonable. Their next least expensive used guitar they had was an absolutely gorgeous Squire Telecaster for $99.00 which in my view was way undervalued. There was not a mark on it. It looked almost brand new. The Peavey on the otherhand had chunks missing from the edges and the back looked like it had been polished with 80 grit. I guess since it was clearly a "relic" the price was reasonable. I should have bought it at the marked price with my credit card and then they could have eaten the credit card fee. Instead, they chose no profit over a resonable cash profit. I, on the other hand, lost nothing.

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Bill

We're not talking a vintage Les Paul here. We're talking a beat up, POS Peavey that I didn't even bother to see if it worked (since I was going to rebuild it anyway). Assuming you are right, would you rather make zero profit or $6.00 profit? I know what my answer would be if I was in this business.

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Bill

He was the store manager.

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Bill

Heck, it sounds like the "deal of the day" was that Squier Tele -- mebbe you shoulda bought that instead. There might've been a skosh more "wiggle room" on it.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Whenever I sell anything I take the same attitude. The price is fair, usually very fair. (Example: Currently selling a 84 JCM800 for £200). Either pay the price asked or go away. I don't rip people off and am not going to be insulted by someone taking me for a mug with a low price.

Sorry to say Bill, I see the managers point. He has to offer some kind of consumer guarantee on that POS Peavey that he probably knows is broken.
Just not worth the trouble of selling a busted guitar for $10 profit. He still has to answer to a superior should some big drama happen because of the guitar being junk.

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No no and no

I wasn't looking for a Tele or any other "nice" guitar. I was looking for a cheap guitar that I could rebuild using all the extra pickups and tuners and other parts I have accumulated over the past year. Simple as that. Besides, I had enough cash on me for the Peavey and a set of strings. I didn't for the Tele.

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Bill

If that is the way you do business as an individual seller, that is your choice. I hope you respond more politely when someone makes you an offer for less than you want than the GC manager did to me. And don't expect me to apologize for my final remark to him before I left. As far as I am concerned, when he turned his back on me, he made it clear how he felt about keeping my business.



I'm sorry, but this comment makes absolutely no sense. Guarantee to who? Me? Since I was planning on gutting and rebuilding the guitar with parts I already have, it made no difference to me if it was broken or not. For $30, if the neck broke in two when I removed it from the body, the whole thing would have gone in the trash without a second thought. For $40 I would have demanded my money back.



But its worth the trouble for a $20 profit? Again, what big drama do you think would have happened?

I have to admit that I find it hilarious the number of people who are painting me as the bad guy for trying to "cheat" Guitar Center out of their hard earned profit. I'm sure the manager would have gotten a big bonus today if I had paid the full $39. I would be willing to bet that if I posted about walking out of there after paying $30 for a $39 guitar, the very same people would be slapping me on the back congratulating me on making a killer deal at GC.

Well, I guess I'm sorry I even bothered to post about this. Feel free to castigate me all you like. I really don't care anymore.

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Bill

ive got to agree with you niki.
im a "treasure hunter" myself. plenty of reports on here of my findings
for proof. when i find something thats priced a little high i try to get
the price more reasonable of course. nothing wrong with trying to get a
better price at all. now if i see something that has a reasonable price on the
tag i wont try to haggle. its embarassing. besides, i want it to be a win/win.
if the price is worth the take, i just
shell out the $$ and take myself on my way. from what it sounds, the guitar was worth the $39 asking price for sure. now, the next time you walk in everybody is gonna know the story by then and it will be embarassing for you cause folks will be talking/thinking.

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63supro
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