FELINES WITH TRADE-INS & UPGRADED/PIMPED GUITARS IN CLASSIFIEDS - OPINIONS????

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FelineGuitarsFelineGuitars Frets: 11497
edited April 2018 in Made in the UK tFB Trader
If.....we put up some of our guitars for sale and said that we would take a trade in of certain guitars would that be of interest?

Here is what I've been thinking ...
We list some of our guitars that I would be happy to sell on this basis

We take in a trade in - maybe a Gibson LP nice Fender or PRS or suchlike (or something that made me go - Hmm)
(accept that you won't get anywhere as good a price as selling direct but you do get zero faffing around)

We then intend to service, set-up and pimp the traded in guitar to play like a mad thing and then list said guitar .....on our site/Reverb/Fretboard classifieds.

So then there are some more tasty guitars that have been really well sorted out with a decent fret dress /set-up or maybe a refret  going into the classifieds for guys to snap up.

It's just a thought ...is it something that could be of interest??

Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.

Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.

  Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com.  Facebook too!

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Comments

  • Sounds interesting to me!

    The opportunity to trade a guitar in against a Feline? Tick.
    The opportunity to buy a Gibson/fender/pea that’s been fettled by Felibe? Tick.

    I wouldn’t regard either the lower trade in value or the increased resale price of the traded in guitars as negatives. I’d expect a guitar that’s been through your hands to be a much better instrument than one that hasn’t, and so would expect that to command a reasonable premium.


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  • monofinmonofin Frets: 1118
    Ooh. The classifieds suddenly got a whole load more interesting
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  • StrangefanStrangefan Frets: 5845
    edited April 2018
    To be honest it's not something I would want to do in your position,  because of the faf.
    As you know the 2nd hand guitar market is flooded you may have to hold onto the traded guitar for a long time, or make a loss, deal with with deluded traders and flippers.
    Theres a certain "luthier"  who loves a good trade in for any of his "hand made" 'cough' ghost built guitars, and I personally think it cheapens the brand, but that is all just my opinion. 
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  • sweepysweepy Frets: 4159
    There is always a market for good quality secondhand guitars and if it had a 3 month guarantee etc then it’s a good call. The only downside I can see is the people that might get a little grumpy when you offer them £800 for a CS Strat etc
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  • FelineGuitarsFelineGuitars Frets: 11497
    tFB Trader
    Thankyou for your thoughts guys - keep them coming 
    It was merely an idea I was exploring 
    Certainly there are factors that we have to consider both in terms of the marketplace and how players may feel about prices etc
    But then again we do have to factor in that we will have to hand over approx 17% of the total resale price to HMRC  and also cover the time and parts involved if we spend time making it better.

    Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
    Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.

    Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.

      Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com.  Facebook too!

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  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27346
    You've probably done these numbers already ...

    Let's say you take a trade-in that would sell, private seller to private seller for £1000.  How much would someone pay for that same guitar, once it had been subject to your attention?  I'd guess that anything much more than £1250 would be pushing it, but maybe you'd get £1400 top-end.

    Assumption1:  You spend £250 in time and materials "Felining" it.

    Assumption2:  You need a decent margin  for profit, and the capital cost of holding additional stock.    Let's say £200.

    Fact:  You need to pay VAT on the "profit" element of the deal.

    What does that mean your buy-in price is?

    Looks to me, like the buy-in price is £700-£800 (depending on whether the sale price is £1250 or £1400).


    Upside1 to you is cashflow, and you'd probably have less capital tied up in stock (assuming that you're selling a £3k Feline, and taking £2250 cash and £750 p/ex value).

    Upside2 to you is cashflow again in that it's probably easier to sell a £3k guitar if you're happy to take p/ex against some of that value.

    Downside1 to you is that you'd probably get offered stuff in p/ex that the current owner knows that they couldn't sell easily (else they'd have sold it themselves), and you become less of a Feline shop and more of a s/h guitar shop - albeit s/h guitars that have been Feline-d.  

    But you can protect against that downside, by being choosy in what you take, and adjusting your buy-in price to reflect the can't sell it risk.

    Downside2 to you is that you might find people coming along asking for the "cash" price on the £3k Feline.  Look, no trade-ins, no hassle, here's my money (because I've just sold a couple of those £1000 guitars myself), what's the discount price on that £3k guitar?


    I'd suggest trying it on a limited basis, maybe for a short period as a "special deal", and see how it goes ...


    :)
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • FelineGuitarsFelineGuitars Frets: 11497
    tFB Trader
    Yes - I was thinking of doing it for certain Feline guitars that we in stock have as opposed to flagship models.

    And it might be good if it helps us move said certain guitars into the hands of players rather than sat in our store cupboard

    We're trying to make room for newer guitars (esp as we have just made 10 extra in the 25th Anniversary models)

    Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
    Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.

    Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.

      Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com.  Facebook too!

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  • I'm assuming you currently offer a "pimp my ride... Sorry...axe" type deal? I personally would prefer that avenue to making a pretty big loss on a guitar that is of a suitable quality to be a donor for this type of deal

    My Trading Feedback    |    You Bring The Band

    Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you
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  • FelineGuitarsFelineGuitars Frets: 11497
    tFB Trader
    I'm assuming you currently offer a "pimp my ride... Sorry...axe" type deal? I personally would prefer that avenue to making a pretty big loss on a guitar that is of a suitable quality to be a donor for this type of deal
    This is an old advert of ours from about 10-15 years ago


    Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
    Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.

    Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.

      Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com.  Facebook too!

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  • LuttiSLuttiS Frets: 2243
    Does Xzibit come to your house to courier the guitar? If so i'm in but if it's Tim Westwood then it's a no deal..
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  • CHrisP86CHrisP86 Frets: 360
    I don’t think offering part exchange in some circumstances is a bad idea (you did for me, although that was one Feline guitar for another).  

    But... for the hassle and time of flipping the part ex guitars, would a ‘sale’ just be a bit easier?
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  • JerkMoansJerkMoans Frets: 8775
    I think it’s a thoroughly cracking idea, and am currently loading every last bit of gear I have into Mrs Moans’ Panzer preparatory to tooling round the M25 to offload the lot in sunny Croydon.
    Inactivist Lefty Lawyer
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  • TimmyOTimmyO Frets: 7350
    Sounds like a cool idea - and the sort of thing that will decide for itself quickly if it works for traders/buyers/you based on the prices/values folk are happy with.

    I've got a couple of guitars I want Feline-fettled but I'm so far from feckin Croydon! 
    Red ones are better. 
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  • Good idea from a buyers POV - might not be ideal for you to start with but will get more people trying the guitars and likely telling everyone they love them
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