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

meltedbuzzbox

The forum is drying up a bit @JookyChap ;;
Conversation has slowed, the friendliness isnt what it was and the handbags come out a lot quicker now. It's like the UK's answer to tgp. 

On the other hand there is a new face in the classifieds daily and some of the pricing is dubious.
It feels like the classifieds is becoming the biggest driver for the forum, with that it seems to be bringing quite a lot of the clowns from eBay and Gumtree. 

Brize

meltedbuzzbox said:

The forum is drying up a bit @JookyChap ;;
Conversation has slowed, the friendliness isnt what it was and the handbags come out a lot quicker now. 

What the fuck are you talking about?

fretfinder

miserneil said:

.

Neil, you little teaser!

Bridgehouse

meltedbuzzbox said:

The forum is drying up a bit @JookyChap ;;
Conversation has slowed, the friendliness isnt what it was and the handbags come out a lot quicker now. It's like the UK's answer to tgp. 

On the other hand there is a new face in the classifieds daily and some of the pricing is dubious.
It feels like the classifieds is becoming the biggest driver for the forum, with that it seems to be bringing quite a lot of the clowns from eBay and Gumtree. 

I only joined this year and I would say this forum is one of the most civilised, useful and friendly I've used..

Blaendulais

Several watch forums wont let members sell or buy until they reach a certain number of 'frets'?

Moe_Zambeek

I must be hard hearted...if someone asks me to drop the price because they're having a hard time / dont have enough money / wife left them the answer would still be no. If times are tough why are you buying a guitar? 

As to the forum drying up, I think the classifieds have slowed a bit but we've got Christmas coming and Black Friday coming too. Not unusual for the time of year. The rest of the forum seems much the same as usual, maybe with a little less drama than usual. Waning moon so again not unusual

IvisonGuitars

fretfinder said:

miserneil said:

.

Neil, you little teaser!

Ha! I initially thought I was being funny then on reflection thought it looked a bit like trolling so I hastily deleted. Don't want it to become that sort of place...

DaiCapp

I've a feeling I know the people you're on about... I get huge amounts of satisfaction seeing a couple of my old guitars clogging up his cashflow. To be fair I was offered a fair price, they're just greedy - if you keep an eye on their site you'll see guitars disappear only to reappear a few months later...

Picking up on a couple of other points people have made - if I'm buying its either from a bricks and mortar place like Coda etc or off here where I'd like to think I'm dealing with fellow enthusiasts!

Sassafras

Moe_Zambeek said:

I must be hard hearted...if someone asks me to drop the price because they're having a hard time / dont have enough money / wife left them the answer would still be no. If times are tough why are you buying a guitar? 

So that I can sell it at a huge immoral profit, of course.
Times are hard, I have to put food on the table.

TTony

BRISTOL86 said:

Whitecat said:

Strat54 said:

Here's Rolly's Guitars. They sell under  a private ebay account thus avoiding the fees that ebay would charge for a 'shop' and also avoiding not having to accept returns etc. Nice one.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2011-PRS-Custom-24-Experience-Limited-Edition-Artist-Grade-Top-DEMO-VIDEO-/282264846534?hash=item41b84bc0c6:g:socAAOSwImRYNEty

http://www.rollysguitars.co.uk/category/electric-guitars/paul-reed-smith-prs/

https://www.gov.uk/report-an-unregistered-trader-or-business

I would urge care here, do you know for a fact that he is an unregistered trader?

Telling porkies about your status to eBay and failing to register a business to HMRC are not the same thing!

Strat54 said:

I didn't say he was an unregistered trader. I merely stated he's violating ebays policy by using his personal account to trade. I would like to think he is registered...somewhere.

He's certainly registered here.



You'll find him under "banned".

TTony

meltedbuzzbox said:

It feels like the classifieds is becoming the biggest driver for the forum, with that it seems to be bringing quite a lot of the clowns from eBay and Gumtree. 

Indeed.

The Classifieds is - always has been - a very busy part of the community.  As you'd expect given how much buying & selling & lusting we all do.

But I've noticed more and more people who join and head straight for the Classifieds and only ever post in the Classifieds.  They don't join in the rest of the discussions, and don't bring anything to add to the community.  

In which case the Classifieds is no longer something to support the community, it's become a separated part of the forum that is actually taking value from the community because the new joiners don't understand the "pay it forward" ethos that exists/existed.


When someone spots and flags one of the bedroom dealers, they usually get de-membered.  Not because I begrudge someone earning an honest (if slightly underhand) bit of profit, but because they're undermining the original nature of the community and using it purely for their own financial gain.

SimpleSimon

Its nothing new, its the invention if the internet and social media that makes it all the more obvious and leaves 'traces' of whats gone on if you look hard enough. Same with the Vintage dealers and shops trawling the internet for something to flip instead of trawling Exchange and Mart or Loot once a week. Phil Harris had no doubt built his hire/sales business off it 30 years ago and the well known Vintage dealers source guitars and sell them on at a profit. Its nothing new.

scrumhalf

TTony said:

When someone spots and flags one of the bedroom dealers, they usually get de-membered. 

That's a bit tough. Can't you just ban them?

Strat54

SimpleSimon said:

Its nothing new, its the invention if the internet and social media that makes it all the more obvious and leaves 'traces' of whats gone on if you look hard enough. Same with the Vintage dealers and shops trawling the internet for something to flip instead of trawling Exchange and Mart or Loot once a week. Phil Harris had no doubt built his hire/sales business off it 30 years ago and the well known Vintage dealers source guitars and sell them on at a profit. Its nothing new.

Its not the profit I/We dislike, it the ways that some of these guys go about purchasing from private sellers, the illusion that they are real 'stores' and the way they attempt to hike up the market with unrealistic prices doing nobody here any favours.
Profit is good, profit is why I have retired the right side of 50! I owned a non music related high street business for 30 years, but this I conducted in the correct manner much like Mark @guitars4you  

AlexHunter

JookyChap said:

I must admit I'm with impmann on this - on here (and MR before) there used to almost be a pride in keeping good deals within the forum and I can think of plenty of people who have bought and sold things well below market rate (@impmann @meltedbuzzbox @blueskunk @DrBob @Iamnobody @stickyfiddle @guitargeek62 ;@johnnyburgo @AlexHunter @BowynMadley ;) and they are off the top of my head that I've been involved with, just because it was the right thing to do. 
It still happens - look at the 2015 Gibsons that went back up at Black Friday Amazon prices - but not so much now, and I think it is a real shame, we lost something there chaps.

@JookyChap ;Good point well made. I recall selling a guitar to you, you didn't gel with it sold it on eBay, made a small profit and then sent me half. That's the way it used to operate.

Another forumite once bought a rather lovely Tom Anderson Drop Top from me, forgot he had to pay the toll to get into Wales so was £5 short on cash. 2 days later I received £5 in the post.

Behaviour like that encourages you to reciprocate as you're operating on principles rather £ signs. 

However, that being said there have been some sausage jockeys that just make lowball offers or generally act like the all-knowing font of f*ckwittery so I have been less inclined to offer them a good deal. Instead I usually add a risk premia for fear of them actually wanting said guitar/amp/pedal and me having to deal with them.

firepaulmusic

A Tom Anderson Strat was bought from this forum for £1200. It was rephotographed and listed on EBay for £1690 - it's still there months later.....

mikeyrob73

It's ain't all bad on here just have a look over on the classifieds this evening, free guitars and free pedals being handed out. If I sell something on here and someone wants to flip it then so be it,but I think the majority of folk on here, and certainly the folk I have met and dealt with, have all been spot on. 

Strat54

Yep another one, fifteen guitars for sale and still selling as a private. His prices are a joke.

blueskunk

@JookyChap had shown more kindness than anyone in my life that iv not actually met in person

Seriously can't count the times he has been so very cool to me hooking me up with guitars and guitar related deals. 

Iv been lucky to meet and deal with quite a few top guys here and from the old place. I can usually tell the folks to steer clear from , most of the time. 

The advice and guidance on guitars is just brilliant and on tap. I have learnt loads and people are very helpful. 

@SteveRobinson recently wired a telecaster together that I couldn't do. It had an extra wire and that totally fucked me up.

This guy just said come over and he fixed without asking for anything - what a lovely man and that is the sort of goodness that goes on if you play fairly and treat people how you would like to be treated. Next time my strat or Jag needs a proper set up , I will be ringing Steve to put business his way.  

If if you want to mug folk off, well you can jog on and leave this cool place. 

Lew

Haven't read past page 1 but I see this happening all the time with amps on eBay (I don't search for guitars). Lots of semi-obscure brands value have shot up as a result - whether they actually sell or not is another thing though.