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Scaling it up pro rata, that would make £490 profit on the R9s. If that's right, it's hard to see more than a couple of hundred pounds coming off the £3499, if anything?
R9 @ £3499 = £2915.83 and VAT of £583.17. If the dealer makes the same amount, that's a buy-in of £2332.66. To break even, the rock bottom price is £2332.66 + VAT = £2799.19.
So in theory they could sell them at £2999 but the mark-up is only £200. A business would need to make more than that if it can unless they're selling hundreds of them.
Gibson have obviously given them this batch of guitars at much lower prices than normal. @Twinfan the guy from Peach said the VAT man was making more off of them than Peach were, so your calculations are probably a bit optimistic for the dealer's cut.
You also have to allow for finance deals and shipping. If you buy on a finance deal, the finance company takes a cut - let's say that is 2% - so £50 on a £2500 R8. It's probably going to cost another £20 or so to ship it. The dealer is only going to see £2430 (or thereabouts) out of the £2499 price.
I suspect that Gibson will go to a lower volume, higher margin model in the future on these guitars. They did manage to sell some True Historics at £5k plus, before they did away with that designation. There are a number of people who will pay £3.5k for an R8 and £4.5k for an R9.
Interesting what Ben says about £3300 being possible for an R9. I didn't even bother asking for a lower price on mine as I wanted that specific guitar before anyone else snagged it! If you have more options then it may be worth a bit of a haggle, but getting one for £2999 sounds like a big ask.
PLUS as already pointed out there's the further knock-on effect of the long-term damage to the perceived value of Gibson Historic guitars. How long will it be before people are willing to buy them again at normal prices with a decent (-ish) margin built in for the dealer? Especially if everyone waits for another blow-out?
There's no doubt this whole thing has benefitted one group of people, and that's us. It looks like a bit of a nightmare for the dealers. I don't mean to sound harsh but in all honesty if you can't afford a brand new R9 at £3499 from a dealer then you can't afford an R9. They need to make SOMETHING on a sale!