List prices?

[irpacynot]

I took my son last August to a local Guitar Center. He wanted to buy his first guitar. He really just wanted me there to help steer him away from poorly made instruments and help him discern something of value.

Now, it had been literally decades since I'd gone into a music store for anything outside of strings and small accessories. But the salesperson (kid) that we dealt with insisted they no longer negotiate price on their instruments. I didn't wanna make an issue of it because I wanted my son's experience to be a good memory, I let it be. But obviously, it still bothers me.

So, is this true? Do we now only pay list price for instruments?

[harryupbabble]

i'm not sure now but at pawn shops you still must haggle?

[imrae]

In the UK my experience with guitar buying is usually that I pay the list price but they add a case or some similar bonus.

I'd haggle for a discount if there was an obvious (e.g. finish) defect that wasn't already accounted for.

[BertKoor]

Your location? Because it probably matters...

Here in Holland we always had to pay what's written on the pricetag.

In defense of the shop: prices of instruments have come down considerably in the last decades. So I can imagine there is also less margin for them to allow for haggling.

[ghettosynth]

This change, specifically, happened at GC back when the grocers invested/bought them out. Don't ask me the details, I don't know and I don't care enough to look it up, I'm just repeating what "my guy" told me at the time. This was more than a decade ago. I remember buying stuff there always involved a deal making experience that I rather enjoyed and that would almost certainly lead to me spending more money in total. They had some corporate mandate to end the process.

I still haggle a little bit with certain stores. The smaller privately owned stores are generally more willing. If I want something that is super common and not hard to get, I will sometimes still call around to all of the online vendors and try to get a better price. However, it did used to be much easier to get a sizable discount.

[Gavincoolguy]

Find what you want in store call musicians friend you will get 15-30% off 8% back have them ship it to the store so the kid gets the try before you buy experience. This is specific to MF/GC. Also demand it be shipped from their warehouse new in box or you will get random store inventory in random condition. Everyone else works out kind of the same way. When I want something I reach out to everyone with the list and I ask for 20% off right away, someone always fills my order.

[JerGoertz]

Are the majority of GC employees insufferable c**ts? My experience in this regard has not been positive, it makes me not want to walk in and haggle either way.

[VOODOO U]

Are the majority of GC employees insufferable c**ts?

Yes. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I walked into a GC and almost got in a fist fight.
Just a bunch of "my shit don't stink" musicians who are pissy because they got rejected by every major label.
I had better results at Sam Ash and Mars music (RIP).

[irpacynot]

Are the majority of GC employees insufferable c**ts? My experience in this regard has not been positive, it makes me not want to walk in and haggle either way.

If you mean kids, yeah.

Your location? Because it probably matters...

Here in Holland we always had to pay what's written on the pricetag.

In defense of the shop: prices of instruments have come down considerably in the last decades. So I can imagine there is also less margin for them to allow for haggling.

Here on the southeast coast of the States. But considering what everyone else is saying, sounds like it's their new policy.

And it was the exact opposite in terms of price for me. A Les Paul I purchased about 30 years ago (the exact same cherrywood model) was about $3000 there. I paid $995 for mine years ago. Granted, that's 30 years, but time flies when you're gettin' old. And the Strat my son bought was about $1000, but it wasn't even American made. Not to disparage any other countries, but when it comes to certain brands, where they're made is always important. I like my Larrivees from Canada, and my Toyotas from Japan, and so forth... Not into laminated woods, either. And the time and careful consideration that's given to putting an instrument together is aboslutely everything.

[chk071]

Why not haggle? It's your decision. And, it's the store owner or employees' decision to reject it.

TBH, I don't think they have any leeway though.

[Bombadil]

Ever since the pandemic began in 2020, shops here do not haggle.
I'm a reasonably tough negotiator. One shop, from which I had bought around 10 guitars between 2007-2012 (I have 4 of them left) used to give me good discounts, because I always pushed them to match a competitor's price (I did my homework before I walked in the door). There was a sales guy there who was friendly, and usually acquiesced. I pushed them too hard on an Eastman and after the guy left, they wouldn't negotiate at all.
But I have asked for, and received discounts from a couple of the major retailers here.
That all changed during the pandemic. I think I've bought 4 guitars since August 2020, and paid full whack for them.
As for idiot salesmen, the local shop mentioned above, the guitar department was run by 2 ageing metal heads. I started screaming at the f**kers when they wanted me to take the guitars I was trying into a little glass booth with just a stool that my back couldn't cope with rather than the nice sofa in the public area, no one but the arseholes were there, and I just lit into them. Loudly. At the top of my lungs. I was in pain, and I wasn't having their bullshit.
They got moved on, either fired or other, and when I went back the last time, November, 2019, I was offered 3% by the new head of the guitar department, which is the general rule if you pay cash. I declined, and haven't been back.
The first store I tried in town is run by an old-school oily salesman, he's an old buzzard, now. He tried to pull a fast one on me with a Martin D-15 in 2007, and I never went back.
In Canada, I used to deal with Steve's Music. Same 3% bullshit. Snotty salesmen, although I gor on well enough with the assistant manager. His drones were unimpressive.

[Bombadil]

Bottom line is, the bottom line. It costs nothing to ask, and if you don't look out for your interests, who will?

[ghettosynth]

Why not haggle? It's your decision. And, it's the store owner or employees' decision to reject it.

TBH, I don't think they have any leeway though.

Sometimes they will, sometimes they won't. I know how to play hardball, but, you have to be willing to walk away.

[osiris]

When we had Guitar Centers here in the States I would never even think about haggling in a store. Maybe people did, that's why they filed for bankruptcy. A pawn shop, yes.

[Bombadil]

Yeah, the shops here don't cut their own throats to make a sale.