Anybody else noticing the prices creeping up?

Whitecat

Jeremiah said:

Prices seem to have gone up way more than inflation though, including on British brands - though these are mostly not made in the uk.

For example, a year ago the Laney L5 Studio was selling for £439 in most places. Now they are £509, an increase of 16%
Similarly the Victory V40 has increased from £829 to £899.

And when Britain does make stuff, it doesn't make many of the raw materials needed to make said stuff. So when prices do go up on made-in-the-UK stuff it's because importing those materials has gone up and the weak pound hurts that. As far as British brands doing offshore manufacture, it's the usual stuff already mentioned. They are essentially reselling things bought from factories in the Far East...

skunkwerx

I had my eyes on a pair of duncans, but they've gone up by £20. 

I've also noticed a few Esp models, namely the Hetfield signatures, that seem to have risen by £300 odd. 

Good job I couldnt afford either anyway!

guitars4you

I dare say the modern approach of web sites allows us to focus on such issues - years ago unless you went into your local dealer such prices changes became far more 'invisible'

I have a bad habit of buying a Lindt bar of chocolate on a Thursday from Sainsbury's which is only yards from me - Yet that bar of chocolate changes from around £1.20 to £1.70 on a regular basis - so much easier for such operations to hide, manipulate and change prices - If they want to run a big promo of say product A reduced to 99p from £1.50, they can simply add 1p to a 100 different products , be it Cream Crackers or Alpen, and no one notices yet the stores overall margin is protected - They have the logistical ability to do this

Dave_Mc

^ Yeah Which? is always complaining about that.

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

Check out the price of a Suhr Satin Modern.

I think they were about £1599 - about 3.5 years ago... then they went up to £1699... then £1799... then £1899. Now, GuitarGuitar are listing their newly arrived ones for £2199.

http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/electric_guitars_detail.asp?stock=170313308715007-624940

... but the government tells us inflation has only just now risen to 2.3% per annum.

They really need to start adding fancy superstrats to the list of goods they use to work out the CPI...

darthed1981

guitars4you said:

I have a bad habit of buying a Lindt bar of chocolate on a Thursday from Sainsbury's which is only yards from me - Yet that bar of chocolate changes from around £1.20 to £1.70 on a regular basis - so much easier for such operations to hide, manipulate and change prices - If they want to run a big promo of say product A reduced to 99p from £1.50, they can simply add 1p to a 100 different products , be it Cream Crackers or Alpen, and no one notices yet the stores overall margin is protected - They have the logistical ability to do this

The supermarkets take the piss with this.  Asda go in cycles of a massive  "rollback" campaign followed by sneaking the prices up at least where they were before, only to later reduce them in a big campaign.

It's really dishonest, and it is actually surprising they get away with it...

Strat_a_tat_tat

Dave_Mc said:

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

Check out the price of a Suhr Satin Modern.

I think they were about £1599 - about 3.5 years ago... then they went up to £1699... then £1799... then £1899. Now, GuitarGuitar are listing their newly arrived ones for £2199.

http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/electric_guitars_detail.asp?stock=170313308715007-624940

... but the government tells us inflation has only just now risen to 2.3% per annum.

They really need to start adding fancy superstrats to the list of goods they use to work out the CPI...

If you run for PM... you've got my vote.

BGG

Tylers are five grand now, that's just stupid !

OilCityPickups

I have had to put a small price increase across the board on my pickups etc in the last couple of weeks ... I hated doing it, but the majority of my components come from the US so the pound's weakness against the dollar was squeezing me really hard. Add to this a major UK supplier slashing dealer margins to the bone for the components I can source here, and we have a situation where something had to give. 

streethawk

TheGuitarWeasel said:

Add to this a major UK supplier slashing dealer margins to the bone for the components I can source here.... 

Unnecessarily so, imo.

rossi

I just bought a Champion 40 from PMT .It said 129 on the sticker  but now clocks up on their system as £154 .They of course honoured the ticket price .

SNAKEBITE

It's largely irrelevant, the impending apocalypse will level the playing field.

Skipped

We are drifting slightly OT.
I will take full advantage.

I have been reading what the Road Haulage Association are saying about Brexit. They don't trust the Tories to make a deal that avoids freaking mayhem around our ports.
Is is not so much what they are saying. It is what they are not saying.

If there is gridlock  around Dover stretching miles....and no obvious solution.....what exactly do you have 1 week later?

We all know what JIT is. Don't we?
We all know what JIT did for "warehouses" don't we?
We all know how fragile all of this is this is don't we?

Is it just possible that the people who are filling their garage with tinned food are actually the sane people?

Ravenous

Skipped said:

We all know what JIT is. Don't we?

Something to do with MIJ? (Well you started it.  )

StefB

Yet despite rising prices it is still difficult to sell used stuff for fair prices, no real knock on effect there yet.

timmysoft

StefB said:

Yet despite rising prices it is still difficult to sell used stuff for fair prices, no real knock on effect there yet.

@StefB its a really tough market out there now, i think with all the resources people can really do their homework and get exactly what they need if they are prepared to wait it out on pricing.

NelsonP

Yes, prices are definitely creeping up. Currency has devalued around 15% or so due to Brexit so all else being equal you would expect this increase to rear its ugly head in the shops on any imported items (i.e. most guitar gear).
Retailers are having a tough enough time without having to absorb this too.

I really notice it in the Andertons video's. Now, when they mention a price of a piece of gear they caveat it with "don't pay too much attention to that, prices go up and down". They know how odd some of the videos from a year or 2 back look now - e.g. with Les Paul standards under £1500.

Even UK based manufacturers have to import a lot of their raw materials, so they are not immune to price increases either, although they should gain some advantage.

impmann

Brexit.
Trump.
Madness.
Fucked by ideology on all sides.

End of.

darthed1981

NelsonP said:

I really notice it in the Andertons video's. Now, when they mention a price of a piece of gear they caveat it with "don't pay too much attention to that, prices go up and down". They know how odd some of the videos from a year or 2 back look now - e.g. with Les Paul standards under £1500.

YeahI noticed that as well, one guy in a guitar shop told me some prices are changing week by week and its getting very difficult to keep up.

HAL9000

Bought a MIM Std Strat 18 months ago for £440. They're now £507 so approximately 15% increase or about 5 x inflation.

guitars4you

HAL9000 said:

Bought a MIM Std Strat 18 months ago for £440. They're now £507 so approximately 15% increase or about 5 x inflation.

so many factors determine what goes in the 'basket' to obtain the latest inflation figures - Governments have changed and manipulated information a number of times over the years - But guitars and accessories are never included

Governments want inflation, but they want it controlled - but controlled inflation will bring in a small increase in vat revenue, so a very crafty 'stealth tax' that barely ever gets mentioned - vat on a £200 item at the old price or vat on the same item at the new price of  £204 based on 2% - now multiply that small increase in vat revenue by tens of thousand of transaction and you can quickly see one reason why they need and want inflation - But they will only show, include and exclude what they want to