Saving money on guitars when purchasing online

frank1985

A little tip when purchasing guitars online...some of you probably do this already. 

Most companies out there, apart from Hot Rocks, actually want to make a good impression on people and generate as many repeat purchases as possible. 

You can take advantage of this by learning to haggle a little. You want to buy a 1962 Tele for example: Store A charges £1500, and Store B charges £1450. What do you do? The logical step is to go with Store B, right? Wrong. Go back to Store A and let them know you've found it cheaper elsewhere and that if they can beat the price, you'll be a ''very happy customer''. Some companies will just ignore your request but most will be eager to please and leave a lasting impression. I've acquired two guitars using this method and it's saved me about 300 quid 

This works better with the higher end guitars rather than the cheaper ones which they have no problems shifting. 

57Deluxe

300 shillings = £15 !!

frank1985

£300 or £15, it's still money saved. 

guitarfishbay

Many shops will do this in store too, and you can walk away from it without any hassle if you don't want it at all.

Nerine

If I want to buy something, I always order it over the phone rather than just paying what it says online.

Case in point.

When I bought my PTHD Native rig and HD I/O, I saved over £700 by haggling with the shop.

I told them what I wanted to pay, and that's what they did it for.

guitarfishbay

Yep phone works better than Internet as well IMO. A lot of shops would rather speak their best price than write it down, knowing you might just take a written down price to another shop and then they lose the sale over £10.

fretfinder

Is it April 1st...?

Bogwhoppit

Digital Eagles strikes the Fretboard...

bingefeller

You're a good lad, Frank.

GazLion

I noticed gak have a graphic on their site saying they will price match other sites, including the EU....

Moe_Zambeek

GazLion;655863" said:

I noticed gak have a graphic on their site saying they will price match other sites, including the EU....

When I asked they said 'no'....

bingefeller

Moe_Zambeek said:

GazLion;655863" said:

I noticed gak have a graphic on their site saying they will price match other sites, including the EU....

When I asked they said 'no'....

When did you ask dude?

GazLion

Moe_Zambeek;655887" said:

[quote="GazLion;655863"]I noticed gak have a graphic on their site saying they will price match other sites, including the EU....

When I asked they said 'no'....[/quote]


Haha I think the key word is we "AIM" to match! I was thinking of enquiring about the Elitist Casino that they are advertising at nearly 500 quid more than a certain German site

GuitarZero

Generally if I have to ask for the best deal from a company, I'd rather use one that's upfront and wants to give me the best deal anyway.  I don't haggle with mobile phone companies when I want to leave, insurance companies when renewals come, nothing, give me the best deal or piss off.  I'm sick of those chancers ripping everybody off.

That said.....with a guitar it's a little different.   I like to try before I buy (where possible) so if there is a shop near me that has what I want that I can try out, if I like it, I'll ask them to price match a cheaper deal on the web.  If they say no, I walk away.  If I'm buying online then I'll just get it from Coda, most places all the charge the same anyway and Coda give it aproper set up before they send it and they are decent company.

Moe_Zambeek

bingefeller said:

Moe_Zambeek said:

GazLion;655863" said:

I noticed gak have a graphic on their site saying they will price match other sites, including the EU....

When I asked they said 'no'....

When did you ask dude?

@bingefeller I asked about 4 weeks ago. They couldn't / wouldn't price match Thomann.

equalsql

Moe_Zambeek said:

bingefeller said:

Moe_Zambeek said:

GazLion;655863" said:

I noticed gak have a graphic on their site saying they will price match other sites, including the EU....

When I asked they said 'no'....

When did you ask dude?

@bingefeller I asked about 4 weeks ago. They couldn't / wouldn't price match Thomann.

Same here, they wouldn't price match or move on the price of a 68' Princeton, hence me buying one from Thomann.

octatonic

I saved £100 on my car insurance by raising my excess.

octatonic

You pay less for electricity if you turn lights off when you go to bed.

octatonic

I saved loads of money by making my own spectacles out of broken bits of glass.

Sassafras

octatonic said:

I saved loads of money by making my own spectacles out of broken bits of glass.

I did that and the broken shards of glass punctured both my eyes and I am now blind so I no longer need glasses: a big saving all round.

shuikit

GuitarZero said:

Generally if I have to ask for the best deal from a company, I'd rather use one that's upfront and wants to give me the best deal anyway.  I don't haggle with mobile phone companies when I want to leave, insurance companies when renewals come, nothing, give me the best deal or piss off.  I'm sick of those chancers ripping everybody off.

I'm kinda with you on this one.  I absolutely will haggle to get a good deal, in fact I actually enjoy haggling.  But what I can't stand is when a shop says, you go find the best price and then we'll match it.  I think, why should I bother??  If I've already found somewhere with a better price then I'm going to get it there as they're the ones that have stuck their necks out a bit to offer a good price.