Amazon and Gibson Guitars

guitars4you

It appears to be very quiet on the Amazon front regarding Gibson Guitars - Anyone seen or heard anything

Plus read below - a recent article within a Music Trade magazine

An interesting article from our colleagues at Music Trades magazine in the Unites States – is the online giant forcing smaller vendors to sell exclusively on its Marketplace to improve profits?

Amazon has stopped buying directly from thousands of small companies, pushing them instead to use third parties to sell on the Amazon Marketplace, according to a flurry of recent news reports. Vendors that generate less than $10 million in annual sales will supposedly no longer be receiving wholesale orders directly from Amazon. The new strategy could impact the dozens of music products suppliers that sell to Amazon, given that most would fail to make the $10 million cut.

Several financial analysts who follow Amazon say that cutting out smaller vendors reflects management’s push to improve profitability as sales growth begins to slow. Amazon’s Marketplace sales, which account for approximately 60% of the transactions on its website, contribute more to the bottom line than the sale of Amazon-owned inventory: a 10% to 15% commission, depending on the product, versus a 2% net margin. In addition, with Marketplace sales, Amazon avoids the risk of getting stuck with unsold inventory, and the overhead associated with forecasting and purchasing. Some analysts say that by focusing its retail efforts on major brands like Nike, Procter & Gamble, and Lego, while ramping up the Marketplace, Amazon could double its net.

Amazon management, which is notoriously tight-lipped, has pushed back against the reports. A formal statement said, “We review our selling partner relationships on an individual basis as part of our normal course of business, and any speculation of a large-scale reduction of vendors is incorrect. Like any business, we make changes when we see an opportunity to provide customers with improved selection, value, and convenience, and we do this thoughtfully and considerately on a case-by-case basis.”

The experience of music products suppliers to date tends to confirm Amazon’s official position. Seven prominent industry suppliers, speaking off the record, said that as of June 1, they were continuing to receive routine purchase orders from the online giant, and had assurances that no terminations were imminent. However, one vendor reported that Amazon would not honour any price increases related to potential 25% tariffs on Chinese goods unless the supplier had a rigorously enforced MAP policy. He added, “If the tariffs go through and Amazon won’t let us raise prices, we’ll have no choice but to stop selling to them.”

Another vendor said being forced on to the Marketplace “wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, as long as your listing still qualifies for ‘Prime,’” Amazon’s free shipping service. He explained, “You have some control of pricing when you’re dealing with third party sellers. With Amazon you have no control. But having Prime is the difference between selling a lot and selling virtually nothing.”

There is an overriding concern that forcing suppliers on to the Marketplace could exacerbate problems with counterfeit merchandise. Although Amazon attempts to keep its site free of counterfeits, or products that infringe on trademarks or patents, their efforts are not entirely successful, and on any given day there are third-party sellers offering products of questionable legitimacy. “I don’t know how you police this, especially since their music division has such thin staffing,” said one vendor. “But it’s worrisome.”

Whitecat

After 2015 they haven't had much Gibson if anything... a few of those really ultra low-end M2 Melody Makers maybe and that's about it. I sort of get the feeling that they bought a humongous pile of unsold 2015 inventory and build a little mini-shop around that at the time... it all went cheap, and that was that.

Kittyfrisk

From the Gibson official 'report a fake' website form.
“Protect yourself, there is no reason to buy a new Gibson instrument from any source other than an authorized dealer.”

How will this apply to Amazon, who are not an authorised dealer so far as I'm aware?
Should we shop them to Gibson   

Whitecat

Kittyfrisk said:

From the Gibson official 'report a fake' website form.
“Protect yourself, there is no reason to buy a new Gibson instrument from any source other than an authorized dealer.”

How will this apply to Amazon, who are not an authorised dealer so far as I'm aware?
Should we shop them to Gibson   

They are in Canada for some reason... https://www.gibson.com/Online-Dealers

Edit: I just had a look on amazon.com for the US, and it looks like almost anything "sold by Amazon" was listed in 2015 and still in stock... anything 2016 or newer is third-party selling (which may very well be by authorised dealers, or not, you'd have to do your homework)... I believe they *were* an authorised dealer in 2015 (see my post above)...

Kittyfrisk

Thanks for that.
There must be some things in life that are straightforward... 

darthed1981

[Gibson]

Amazon aren't an authorised dealer unless we a fire-saling our disastrous products...

So if you buy from there you aren't playing authentic.

Play authentic or we will smash your fucking kneecaps.

[/Gibson]

ICBM

Whitecat said:

I just had a look on amazon.com for the US, and it looks like almost anything "sold by Amazon" was listed in 2015 and still in stock...

Three years on and they still can't give them away. Sadly Gibson have long since passed the buck.

terada

ICBM said:

Whitecat said:

I just had a look on amazon.com for the US, and it looks like almost anything "sold by Amazon" was listed in 2015 and still in stock...

Three years on and they still can't give them away. Sadly Gibson have long since passed the buck.

I could have overlooked the visual oddities of them for the right price. But that neck was hideous. 

No point having a guitar that feels bad to play at any price. 

Whitecat

terada said:

ICBM said:

Whitecat said:

I just had a look on amazon.com for the US, and it looks like almost anything "sold by Amazon" was listed in 2015 and still in stock...

Three years on and they still can't give them away. Sadly Gibson have long since passed the buck.

I could have overlooked the visual oddities of them for the right price. But that neck was hideous. 

No point having a guitar that feels bad to play at any price. 

Yup, Gibson got paid... but I imagine they also got pennies on the dollar for them, Amazon probably wouldn't have done it otherwise...

I had a 2015 Special for a while. It was OK, the pickups sounded really good actually, they were a new design of soapbar. All the strangeness of everything else though just got to me and I had to shift it - which was remarkably easy/fast, and as I bought it at a blowout price (FROM an authorised not Amazon dealer, thankyouverymuch) - I lost barely any money on it.

NelsonP

darthed1981 said:

[Gibson]

Play authentic or we will smash your fucking kneecaps.

[/Gibson]

Now there's your new sig....

rossi

My 2015 midtown is nice .Cant really fault it .What a disappointment ......