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DLM

rossi said:

johnl said:

Yeah watchers, bastards all of them. Next people will be asking to "try" guitars in shops without immediately agreeing to buy them. Time wasters....

Even worse they will start going in Smiths and reading the magazines with out buying them .Word lifting .

Bloke I knew in school "stole" whole transcriptions from our local music shop's bookshelves by memorising a bit each lunchtime/Saturday. Midnight by Satriani, for one.

I done worse as a skint exchange student at the one central-station foreign-language magazine source in town in the nineties, where GT was about three times the price back home: whispered a Jamie Humphries Greg-Howe-soundalike arpeggio lick into a dictaphone for subsequent home tabbing (Is Killing the Magazine Industry™). Oh the shame. Following my subsequent apostasy, you lot must serve as my virtual Fr. O'Malleys in order that my tardy confession grant its sweet catharsis...

clarkefan

rossi said:

johnl said:

Yeah watchers, bastards all of them. Next people will be asking to "try" guitars in shops without immediately agreeing to buy them. Time wasters....

Even worse they will start going in Smiths and reading the magazines with out buying them .Word lifting .

Reminds me back in the 80s going into Rose Morris in Denmark St at lunchtime and memorising a few bars of a Gary Moore solo at a time, took a week to get the whole thing.  In my defense I was broke big time...

Oh yeah and the opening chords to Pinball Wizard. That took longer.

gazrichards

I think if you put your gear on eBay or even a forum, you are inviting people to look at it. I’m sure all of us have been in a guitar shop to just try something out on the basis that it could be of interest in the future. 

I see no problem with putting in offers either. The seller only has to say no, no need to get offended. It’s a starting offer. It makes very good sense to put in a low offer as a starting point and see what happens. There have been times when my first low offer has been accepted (much to my surprise and delight) and others when it’s been rejected and I’ve been talked up to almost the full asking price. 

If it’s on eBay and you don’t want offer then set a buy it now price if it’s a forum sale say no offers or offers in excess of. 

Pretty straight forward i think. 

Rob1742

You have to be careful to let people know what you like these days. Need to keep your cards close to your chest.
i have an interest outside of guitars, where I trawl through eBay for the goods. People know I am after these pieces and two separate guys go on eBay everyday to buy the pieces they know I will want and then sell onto me for profit.
Last piece he offered me at £625 that he purchased at £250. I had to take it as it’s the last one around. 

He thought he was doing me a favour by sourcing it for me. 

If you want to be a middleman long term, you need to look after both ends of the sale, but generally people don’t. 

prlgmnr

Rob1742 said:

Last piece he offered me at £625 that he purchased at £250. I had to take it as it’s the last one around. 

Would you die if you didn't buy it?

When you're the entire market I'm sure you could stand to drive a tougher bargain than that.

johnl

That just sounds bizarre to me. If it was the last one around surely it was still the last one around when it sold for £250? 

simonhpieman

It'll still be the last one around when it's sold on. What if it's a part essential to making a classic car run? Even worse, a rare classic car. Perhaps one that might be the only one in the country? Makes you a pretty captive market. Captive by the balls, in fact, by the sounds of things!

ten77guitar

Middlemen who do absolutely nothing to add value, like ticket touts, are leeches. Hate them with a passion.

menamestom

Rob1742 said:

You have to be careful to let people know what you like these days. Need to keep your cards close to your chest.
i have an interest outside of guitars, where I trawl through eBay for the goods. People know I am after these pieces and two separate guys go on eBay everyday to buy the pieces they know I will want and then sell onto me for profit.
Last piece he offered me at £625 that he purchased at £250. I had to take it as it’s the last one around. 

He thought he was doing me a favour by sourcing it for me. 

If you want to be a middleman long term, you need to look after both ends of the sale, but generally people don’t. 

What are the 'pieces'

And what is your ebay username?

I may be able to help 

TeleMaster

There's nothing wrong with people on ebay watching an item. Nothing. 

ronnyb

I sometimes wonder if all this haggling, low ball offers, timewasters etc is peculiar to people from the UK because it's in our DNA. I've only sold 2 items to buyers from abroad and both were seamless transactions. Didn't argue about the price, paid in full and kept to all the arrangements. Perhaps other members have had different experiences.   

gringopig

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JezWynd

ronnyb said:

I sometimes wonder if all this haggling, low ball offers, timewasters etc is peculiar to people from the UK because it's in our DNA. I've only sold 2 items to buyers from abroad and both were seamless transactions. Didn't argue about the price, paid in full and kept to all the arrangements. Perhaps other members have had different experiences.   

I don’t think that’s true. I’ve been to several countries where bargaining is expected and purchaser is thought of as being a sucker if they don’t negotiate a price.

Also, a lot of eBay and Reverb pricing is set by seller knowing that they will drop price to get a sale. A lot of the prices set initially are ridiculously optimistic.

ronnyb

gringopig said:

Sold a Hagstrom to a Swede and a Danelectro to a Frenchman and they didn't ask about 'my lowest price' or offer trades or any such thing. They came in and bought and the  French guy even upped the shipping to  £60 from £50.

I think it's UK buyers. I think we are all cheapskates who want something for nothing, Bunch of bargain hunters. 

Mind you I have had good selling experiences here so who knows....

One of the two sales of mine was to a man from Oslo. It was a strat he'd seen on the classifieds here. He flew over from Oslo and i met him at Manchester airport. He drew the cash out of a cash machine, we had a coffee together and he caught the next flight back. 

gringopig

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octatonic

ronnyb said:

I sometimes wonder if all this haggling, low ball offers, timewasters etc is peculiar to people from the UK because it's in our DNA. I've only sold 2 items to buyers from abroad and both were seamless transactions. Didn't argue about the price, paid in full and kept to all the arrangements. Perhaps other members have had different experiences.   

It isn't just the UK, most of Europe does it too, as do Australians.

Here in Geneva it doesn't really happen- there isn't much of a bargaining culture at all.

Things like Harley Davidson motorcycles sell about 2k above what you'd pay retail in the UK and no one pays retail in the UK.
I've bought a couple of guitars since I've been here and it was like pulling teeth to get even a 10% discount on the list price.
I've walked away from many more deals because the seller just didn't want to give a penny off retail.

It is very annoying, but they don't give a fuck.

gringopig

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Rob1742

The best sales people are those that ensure both people involved in the transaction are happy. 

If your mentality is to get one over the other party you won’t win long term.
To win in business you need to ensure the other party feels as good as you about the transaction. 

gringopig

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