The New Breed of Guitar Dealers - Do They Really Think Guitar Buyers Are That Stupid?

Strat54

My how things change in retail, why is it that ebay has become full of supposed 'Guitar Stores' who just buy off ebay themselves, re photograph the guitar then instantly relist for a thousand pounds or so more. Do they think that buyers don't notice? Do they think by making up a lovely company name that we won't suspect they are trading from their mums spare bedroom. I pity the proper dealers like Guitars4You, Coda etc who have to pay a fortune in business expenses and property only to look on the surface as pro as these guys. 
The latest I saw bought a '92 PRS that was listed with a B.I.N of £1725 then relisted it for £2899.99. The guy lists very much like that Greenwoods 'store' too, again selling from home and paying minimal if any tax. Maybe we should all do it as it must be so easy? Do they really think buyers don't notice?How can you call yourself 'The real musicians store' yet sell out of a bedroom? Surely that's misdescription? Maybe your council should start charging you showroom level business rates?
There was a '56 Custom Shop Strat with gold hardware a couple of months back from another home seller who likes to make videos to show off his dreadful playing. It was listed as sold on Richtone Music's website for £1699 but this guy persisted in selling it for £2099....wow these home sellers can ask more than a genuine high street Fender retailer now....they must be good. Sadly the guy with the 1994 Custom Shop '60s Strat still has it for sale a year later with his grand markup not reduced, better luck next time.
I don't begrudge anyone profit ( I made more than enough from retail myself) but what I dislike are these fake bedroom stores who hide behind nice pics and logo's. They lack any real guitar dealing skills, they can't source instruments from anywhere but forums and ebay. They are just flipping guitars and avoiding any costs or subsequent costs of sale. One can only imagine what their warranty and set ups are like. I certainly won't be buying from them, support your high street dealer or buy privately at private prices! Rant over.  

mikeyrob73

Did someone get outbid on Fleabay? 

Strangefan

They're everywhere now , and they're usually rude when trying to buy off you and you don't accept the lowball offers, "you will never get that for it" "£100 and I'll collect tonight".
i know most of the dad brigade on here will say just to ignore them but it's hard not to get pissed off with the rudeness. 

Bridgehouse

I trolled one once by sending him a link to the original sale (which completed off eBay) and told him I reported him for taking the trade off eBay. 

I'm such a bad boy..

IvisonGuitars

I believe Mr Greenwood used to operate here until he was 'rumbled'....

Parker

I never buy any guitar gear I couldn't break even or sell for a profit. I class that as shrewd trading - not dealing. I don't see an issue with these folk - if you want to buy from a reputable shop, then take a trip to the high street. Sadly though that is not the business model anymore as is demonstrated up and down every town in the UK where guitar (and other types of retail) stores have closed. If you missed out on a bargain, that's unfortunate, but your point comes across rather obnoxiously. Let people sit with their 'overpriced' guitars in peace (not selling). EBay and Amazon also offer better returns policies than most shops, so not sure what the consumer issues are either. If it's the tax, there are a million bigger fish to fry!

Strat54

mikeyrob73 said:

Did someone get outbid on Fleabay? 

Erm...No!  Not my choice. No outbidding either, these guys make contact...bid the seller with a little force and buy out of ebay usually.

Bridgehouse

Parker said:

I never buy any guitar gear I couldn't break even or sell for a profit. I class that as shrewd trading - not dealing. I don't see an issue with these folk - if you want to buy from a reputable shop, then take a trip to the high street. Sadly though that is not the business model anymore as is demonstrated up and down every town in the UK where guitar (and other types of retail) stores have closed. If you missed out on a bargain, that's unfortunate, but your point comes across rather obnoxiously. Let people sit with their 'overpriced' guitars in peace (not selling). EBay and Amazon also offer better returns policies than most shops, so not sure what the consumer issues are either. If it's the tax, there are a million bigger fish to fry!

I don't mind them selling at an inflated price either. No problem with it at all.


I do object to them bullying sellers and insisting they complete the sale off eBay so they can offer a lower amount (fees innit) and make a bigger profit on their inflated sale. Oh, and your protection goes out the window

If if they want to be an eBay trader (like a shop and not a private seller) then they should play by the rules.

Brize

The old adage that something is only worth what somebody is prepared to pay for it applies here. There's obviously a market - albeit a small one - for these resellers, otherwise it wouldn't be viable for them. I don't think it really affects the proper dealers, because these back-bedroom-billies can't source new guitars.

DrJazzTap

I try to not lose money on stuff these days, and I've learnt the lesson that I should just sit on gear. As chances are I'll end up buying something similar in the future.
Surely they must have some sort of tax obligation though? I know for instance that if you sell more than seven cars a year privately you need to register yourself as a car trader. It must be the same with the music business?

Strat54

Parker said:

I never buy any guitar gear I couldn't break even or sell for a profit. I class that as shrewd trading - not dealing. I don't see an issue with these folk - if you want to buy from a reputable shop, then take a trip to the high street. Sadly though that is not the business model anymore as is demonstrated up and down every town in the UK where guitar (and other types of retail) stores have closed. If you missed out on a bargain, that's unfortunate, but your point comes across rather obnoxiously. Let people sit with their 'overpriced' guitars in peace (not selling). EBay and Amazon also offer better returns policies than most shops, so not sure what the consumer issues are either. If it's the tax, there are a million bigger fish to fry!

I didn't miss out on a bargain, I don't do blue guitars. At £1700 it was pricey enough. Now its just  plain overpriced. 
My issue lies only with these back bedroom dealers masquerading as 'stores'. 

IvisonGuitars

It's not just the 'bedroom boys' though who play around at being guitar dealers that use online sites.

I could name 2 Hi-End guitar shops which I have visited in the last month who had a lap top behind the counter constantly monitoring eBay, Reverb and Gumtree. I also know of many vintage dealers who do the same, one of them pretty blatant about it too but he has a 'name' so seems to get away with it.

The trick is to buy at the right price - what the 'bedroom boys' seem to do is buy at or close to market value then put a massive mark up on it on top and then they inevitably get stuck with it. Hardly top business acumen but fair play to them for having a go, I suppose.

Strat54

DrJazzTap said:

I try to not lose money on stuff these days, and I've learnt the lesson that I should just sit on gear. As chances are I'll end up buying something similar in the future.
Surely they must have some sort of tax obligation though? I know for instance that if you sell more than seven cars a year privately you need to register yourself as a car trader. It must be the same with the music business?

Good point, not sure about that. Then again the roadside motor traders probably aren't monitored either...HMRC is a little stretched these days.

DulcetJones

Ebay put me off a long time ago for several reasons.  This new dealer thing wasn't even there yet, don't feel like I've missed anything then.  I did buy a guitar through Reverb recently partly because, and this is important, the price was good.  The other reason was the seller was a legit shop in a nearby city with a good reputation and partly because I really wanted that particular model in those colours.  

Sassafras

I guess if they're happy to put ridiculous mark-ups and have guitars lying around their bedrooms unsold, that's up to them.
No-one's being forced to buy their stuff.

sawyer

Heartbreak tails of poverty and how much they'd like to have your gear if you could just let them have it ridiculously cheap. Then straight back up!Yeah its not the way to deal. Poor show ha.

DrCornelius

I had one of these monkeys email me to buy 3 guitars I had for sale in one go last week (for a discount of course). The hassle factor made it worthwhile for me so I agreed. He then postponed the meet up twice for various reasons so I asked for a deposit for me to carry on holding them. No problem he said but the next day he emailed to say he couldn't afford them.  I've just relisted them on here and eBay and guess what, another 'dealer' had bid on them and when I went to the eBay store to find out if they were legit it was the same bloke with the same phone number, just a different name ! I cancelled my counter offer immediately and sent him a sh1tty message . If this is the way he does business he isn't going to last long !

Strangefan

Bridgehouse said:

I trolled one once by sending him a link to the original sale (which completed off eBay) and told him I reported him for taking the trade off eBay. 

I'm such a bad boy..

Theirs one who occasionally comes on here I have a real bee in my bonnet with, he has tried to change prices to make me pay more and I caught t him out by screen shotting the original ad, he played dumb by blaming me and then blaming his "assistant" he thinks he's shrewd but really just a bit of an idiot, 

Garthy

To be honest this lot have nothing on the bedroom box shifters of the car tuning world. At least the 30% mark up puts a flag up that you're dealing with a moron who should be ignored, likewise the low ball & insults.

There was a 'car tuner' near Watford ten years ago who was the loudest guy on the OC forum who masqueraded as an experienced car tuner and indeed his car was a peach, which he said 'his' garage had built. He would recommend certain products for other owners and if you were told different then this was bullshit, this guy knew the truth, his parts were the best -and proven of course.

Now it turns out that a Garret turbocharger for a souped up Nissan Skyline and a DAF (for example) truck may have the same name & same dimensions and outwardly they appear to be the same 5kg snail in the same packaging, but there is a reason why one is £500 and the other £1500. Which do you think the customer thought they had bought and which was the item supplied/fitted. A courtesy car service also masks a rouge trader as you never see 'their premises' that they don't own. All work was done by some chap with a rental lockup who relied on small services and MOT failure work as his bread and butter.

That's just one man for one marque in one owners club forum. The car world is hideously unregulated.

musicman100

It's a grey area all this talk of bedrooms dealers. If you wanted to be anal about it i'm sure there's a few people on here that could be classed as bedroom dealers. Guys that post a new guitar day saying that this guitar is the best guitar that they have played n its definitely a keeper,  only to be followed by a for sale post a week or so later saying due to unfortunately circumstances I have to sell the beautiful guitar!!!!

Parker

musicman100 said:

It's a grey area all this talk of bedrooms dealers. If you wanted to be anal about it i'm sure there's a few people on here that could be classed as bedroom dealers. Guys that post a new guitar day saying that this guitar is the best guitar that they have played n its definitely a keeper,  only to be followed by a for sale post a week or so later saying due to unfortunately circumstances I have to sell the beautiful guitar!!!!

That's just GAS my friend...