Fat Bottom Guitars

fendermadlewis

Why the absolute hell are people sending guitars there and hoping they get paid?! Guitar dealer here (put the pitchforks away, i'm not pillaging the classifieds). This isn't sending a £100  phone to mazuma, this is big boy money with real risks! I get guitars shipped to me but pretty much everyone gets paid BEFORE shipping, paypal for strangers, bank transfer for people I know.

I still push for an in person meet up if possible... then everyones happy. You might even meet like minded folk and have some banter! Read those Ts&Cs through with a fine toothcomb before shipping anything off... 

carlos

fendermadlewis said:

Why the absolute hell are people sending guitars there and hoping they get paid?! 

Hold off with the condescending tone. Not only did I sign an agreement regarding the sale, this company has been in operation (FB + TheGuitarMarketplace comps) for a while with a history of paying out to sellers and raffle winners. And the price they offered me was far better than guitar dealers offered me.

Dominic

RMJ said:

Quick update. I have now been paid! 

Fair enough but you can't get a packet of biscuits past the Tesco till without paying there and then 
( Of course,in todays mad world a whole rucksack full of Dom Perignon or Johnnie Walker Black label is a different matter ! )

fendermadlewis

carlos said:

fendermadlewis said:

Why the absolute hell are people sending guitars there and hoping they get paid?! 

Hold off with the condescending tone. Not only did I sign an agreement regarding the sale, this company has been in operation (FB + TheGuitarMarketplace comps) for a while with a history of paying out to sellers and raffle winners. And the price they offered me was far better than guitar dealers offered me.

No condescending tone implied, but the thought of that just freaks me out! Does the t's and c's mention anything about who's responsible for the guitar being delivered? Does it not make you feel a little uneasy that instruments arrive, get inspected, get photographed and are listed for raffle ... before you get paid?

Halls66

fendermadlewis said:

carlos said:

fendermadlewis said:

Why the absolute hell are people sending guitars there and hoping they get paid?! 

Hold off with the condescending tone. Not only did I sign an agreement regarding the sale, this company has been in operation (FB + TheGuitarMarketplace comps) for a while with a history of paying out to sellers and raffle winners. And the price they offered me was far better than guitar dealers offered me.

No condescending tone implied, but the thought of that just freaks me out! Does the t's and c's mention anything about who's responsible for the guitar being delivered? Does it not make you feel a little uneasy that instruments arrive, get inspected, get photographed and are listed for raffle ... before you get paid?

But that is exactly what you sign for if you go for the raffle option. If you want money quicker you go for the lower valuation option. By the way, when I sold to another (proper) dealer, he paid for shipping and insurance but they paid me for the guitar after they received and inspected it, not before. 

ditchboy

Halls66 said:

fendermadlewis said:

carlos said:

fendermadlewis said:

Why the absolute hell are people sending guitars there and hoping they get paid?! 

Hold off with the condescending tone. Not only did I sign an agreement regarding the sale, this company has been in operation (FB + TheGuitarMarketplace comps) for a while with a history of paying out to sellers and raffle winners. And the price they offered me was far better than guitar dealers offered me.

No condescending tone implied, but the thought of that just freaks me out! Does the t's and c's mention anything about who's responsible for the guitar being delivered? Does it not make you feel a little uneasy that instruments arrive, get inspected, get photographed and are listed for raffle ... before you get paid?

But that is exactly what you sign for if you go for the raffle option. If you want money quicker you go for the lower valuation option. By the way, when I sold to another (proper) dealer, he paid for shipping and insurance but they paid me for the guitar after they received and inspected it, not before. 

Yep. Same here, however I’m guessing you approached him whereas a flipper will be buying in the same fashion you or I would. Not meaning to offend anyone by calling them a flipper by the way @fendermadlewis but you don’t actively appear to have a sell to us option on your website so I’m not sure the comparison is fair. 

fendermadlewis

@ditchboy ;Ah don't worry mate I've been called much worse  Yeah thinking about it a bit more, I guess it's a bit of a  trade off. Get flipper prices quickly or get a better price from the raffle guys but wait a few weeks for it to go through. Still ... the idea of sending it off and waiting that long to get paid doesn't sit right with me. (Personal preference i guess) I'd rather wait a few weeks selling something myself and give it a strum until it goes!

Yeah I notice a lot of dealers have the sell us your guitar option on websites. It's not for me... only reason being I mostly just buy stuff that I like or want a shot of! (Ill never be rich). I'd be inundated with harley bentons and metal zones and I don't like telling people 'I don't want it' as it seems a bit snobby. I prefer just looking out for things that take my fancy.

carlos

fendermadlewis said:

carlos said:

fendermadlewis said:

Why the absolute hell are people sending guitars there and hoping they get paid?! 

Hold off with the condescending tone. Not only did I sign an agreement regarding the sale, this company has been in operation (FB + TheGuitarMarketplace comps) for a while with a history of paying out to sellers and raffle winners. And the price they offered me was far better than guitar dealers offered me.

No condescending tone implied, but the thought of that just freaks me out! Does the t's and c's mention anything about who's responsible for the guitar being delivered? Does it not make you feel a little uneasy that instruments arrive, get inspected, get photographed and are listed for raffle ... before you get paid?

Not really, no. I could have gone for the lower valuation and be paid immediately.

razorblade_beat

Great thanks guys! I’m gonna give it a shot. I’ve tried for 2 years to shift this guitar with zero luck. Price is above what I’ve got it listed here so as long as it all comes through I’m happy. 

Bungle1

@razorblade_beat how did you get on out of interest?

razorblade_beat

Hey guys, just an update. Was dead easy to sort, guitar was raffled, was told I was going to get money yesterday and it was in my account this morning. No hassles. Didn’t have to follow up or chase. Really pleased I took this root to get a good price. No compliants here

Boromedic

So after reading some more positive experiences recently, I decided to use Fat Bottom Guitars to sell my custom shop. Thought I would add my experience.

The short TLDR version: Over promised/Under delivered.

Pros: Easy enough, good comms (prior to shipping guitar), offer a good price compared to sale/commission.

Cons: Had to chase them for payment, (4 business days late for no reason), poor comms once they have the guitar, couldn't lie straight in bed.

Long version,  messaged them about the guitar and got a very fair raffle offer from Ben, the other prices were decent too but obviously commission sale attracts more fees. Agreed to the raffle option and negotiated a tiny bit more off them, was told to send a few more pics, then asked what collection day would work. I was sent a sale agreement to complete, which contains the confirmed sale price, agreed payment date, and bank details. It also has a section which states ownership of the guitar remains with the seller until money has changed hands. Whilst this is reassuring in some ways, how does that work if there is breakages/loss? Not sure how that would work in practice, pack well!!

So collection arranged but no packaging offered (I had a box, but thought best to mention this if you don't have one, they may have options but I didn't have need to ask). I was also told I would receive guidance on how to pack it safely, I never received this but I've shipped plenty so not concerned, again YMMV.

At this point Comms started to drop off, I sorted the parcel, label arrives with couriers so I asked for an address label/confirmation of delivery address to stick to the parcel (I like to be thorough with couriers!) and also confirmation guitar is adequately insured. Replies weren't forthcoming now, and it took a long time to get an answer. Apparently it was insured once I got a reply, but it's Parcelforce so I'm not convinced, I simply copied the business address from the website hoping it was the correct address. This was finally confirmed by them later. 

Collection was uneventful, and it was confirmed delivered safely by Ben the next day, this was unprompted so a decent thing to do. The guitar was listed pretty promptly on the website with some decent pictures. One slight concern here is they listed it as mint 10/10, when it had some fret wear which I'd mentioned in my initial emails to them. It was minor but it was there. Now they may have fettled it and done a fret dress, so I'm not saying there was any dishonesty but it wasn't mentioned. 

I followed the auction throughout, and initially was concerned they wouldn't get enough entries to pay me! However Ben clearly does know this market as it cleared a decent amount of tickets by the end, enough to pay me and a tidy profit for them.

This is where things fall down, from the acknowledgement of delivery through to the sale, then waiting for payment I had no emails or contact. Perhaps a quick email to say, guitar has sold money to be transferred on agreed date, thanks would be a decent thing, I mean I didn't miss it, but it could be an idea.

Then onto the worst part of the service and obviously the most important and frustrating. So the raffle ended on the 19th of September, and the agreed payment date was the 30th. A whole 11 days from end to payment, 6 business days, plenty to of time really considering all ticket entries pay up front....

Unfortunately not, by the end of the day on the 1st I had received no communication and no money, due to what I'd read on here I chased it up with an email. By the afternoon of the following day I'd heard nothing, so I used WhatsApp and finally got an apology, but was offered an excuse about problems with the bank flagging the payment but that they will sort it, apparently they were unaware of the issue until I emailed them..... Hmmmm

Next day I still had nothing, and no further comms so I messaged again. Once again I had a message to say that I'll have it by close of business Friday and it's a banking issue, professional messages but no further apologies and tbh the impression that I'm a hassle to them/him.

Me being me, I decide that potentially I'm being strung along and it won't be Friday, so I sent a polite WhatsApp suggesting they've broken their own payment terms, and if payment was not received by 4pm yesterday I will be taking steps to recover my money. I also run a business and I know of no bank that won't release a payment without a phonecall should there be an issue with it being flagged. (Certainly not one that would take 4 working days to sort). 

After some curt and occasionally non professional replies via WhatsApp, including threats of them having legal support/advice available, I finally received payment about 35 minutes after my messages.

I'm not sure what they are doing with the proceeds of sale? I'm not sure they gain much by delaying but I guess I won't speculate.

Anyway, I suppose my experience suggests that being careful is the way forward, tread carefully and be prepared to chase your payment. Whilst it's safe to say it's not a scam, and I'm sure you will get paid there are risks. Reneging on their own agreements is certainly not the best way to do business, and reflects badly. They have a seemingly good business model, shame that they mess the end up leading to bad press.

Dumodal

Boromedic said:

So after reading some more positive experiences recently, I decided to use Fat Bottom Guitars to sell my custom shop. Thought I would add my experience.

The short TLDR version: Over promised/Under delivered.

Pros: Easy enough, good comms (prior to shipping guitar), offer a good price compared to sale/commission.

Cons: Had to chase them for payment, (4 business days late for no reason), poor comms once they have the guitar, couldn't lie straight in bed.

Long version,  messaged them about the guitar and got a very fair raffle offer from Ben, the other prices were decent too but obviously commission sale attracts more fees. Agreed to the raffle option and negotiated a tiny bit more off them, was told to send a few more pics, then asked what collection day would work. I was sent a sale agreement to complete, which contains the confirmed sale price, agreed payment date, and bank details. It also has a section which states ownership of the guitar remains with the seller until money has changed hands. Whilst this is reassuring in some ways, how does that work if there is breakages/loss? Not sure how that would work in practice, pack well!!

So collection arranged but no packaging offered (I had a box, but thought best to mention this if you don't have one, they may have options but I didn't have need to ask). I was also told I would receive guidance on how to pack it safely, I never received this but I've shipped plenty so not concerned, again YMMV.

At this point Comms started to drop off, I sorted the parcel, label arrives with couriers so I asked for an address label/confirmation of delivery address to stick to the parcel (I like to be thorough with couriers!) and also confirmation guitar is adequately insured. Replies weren't forthcoming now, and it took a long time to get an answer. Apparently it was insured once I got a reply, but it's Parcelforce so I'm not convinced, I simply copied the business address from the website hoping it was the correct address. This was finally confirmed by them later. 

Collection was uneventful, and it was confirmed delivered safely by Ben the next day, this was unprompted so a decent thing to do. The guitar was listed pretty promptly on the website with some decent pictures. One slight concern here is they listed it as mint 10/10, when it had some fret wear which I'd mentioned in my initial emails to them. It was minor but it was there. Now they may have fettled it and done a fret dress, so I'm not saying there was any dishonesty but it wasn't mentioned. 

I followed the auction throughout, and initially was concerned they wouldn't get enough entries to pay me! However Ben clearly does know this market as it cleared a decent amount of tickets by the end, enough to pay me and a tidy profit for them.

This is where things fall down, from the acknowledgement of delivery through to the sale, then waiting for payment I had no emails or contact. Perhaps a quick email to say, guitar has sold money to be transferred on agreed date, thanks would be a decent thing, I mean I didn't miss it, but it could be an idea.

Then onto the worst part of the service and obviously the most important and frustrating. So the raffle ended on the 19th of September, and the agreed payment date was the 30th. A whole 11 days from end to payment, 6 business days, plenty to of time really considering all ticket entries pay up front....

Unfortunately not, by the end of the day on the 1st I had received no communication and no money, due to what I'd read on here I chased it up with an email. By the afternoon of the following day I'd heard nothing, so I used WhatsApp and finally got an apology, but was offered an excuse about problems with the bank flagging the payment but that they will sort it, apparently they were unaware of the issue until I emailed them..... Hmmmm

Next day I still had nothing, and no further comms so I messaged again. Once again I had a message to say that I'll have it by close of business Friday and it's a banking issue, professional messages but no further apologies and tbh the impression that I'm a hassle to them/him.

Me being me, I decide that potentially I'm being strung along and it won't be Friday, so I sent a polite WhatsApp suggesting they've broken their own payment terms, and if payment was not received by 4pm yesterday I will be taking steps to recover my money. I also run a business and I know of no bank that won't release a payment without a phonecall should there be an issue with it being flagged. (Certainly not one that would take 4 working days to sort). 

After some curt and occasionally non professional replies via WhatsApp, including threats of them having legal support/advice available, I finally received payment about 35 minutes after my messages.

I'm not sure what they are doing with the proceeds of sale? I'm not sure they gain much by delaying but I guess I won't speculate.

Anyway, I suppose my experience suggests that being careful is the way forward, tread carefully and be prepared to chase your payment. Whilst it's safe to say it's not a scam, and I'm sure you will get paid there are risks. Reneging on their own agreements is certainly not the best way to do business, and reflects badly. They have a seemingly good business model, shame that they mess the end up leading to bad press.

This is a recurrent complaint with them and that's a major red flag even if you get pay, it's always the same excuse "bank flagged payment" "family stuff happened" if you check their negatives on trust pilot it's the same story.

I definitely avoid him, he seems to have a chaotic business model which seems unprofessional, for dealers I much prefer Steve Jordan, money is on my bank an hour after the guitar is delivered.

TDubs

Holding onto the cash thing has to be a cash flow issue for them. It takes minutes, if not seconds to pay someone if you have the cash.

Dealers and cash flow issues seem to be a running theme this week. Heard another absolute horror tale this week.

Boromedic

@Dumodal , I like Steve and have done business with him before, despite some opinions he's a decent fella. However he needs his margin so his offers are a bit lower than I would like, hence going for the higher price but slightly circuitous route with FBG.

I read the Trustpilots and the reviews here and thought might have turned a corner, unfortunately it appears not... That being said, I wasn't concerned I wouldn't get my money, just that I wouldn't get it when promised. I will be adding a review to Trustpilot soon.

Boromedic

TDubs said:

Holding onto the cash thing has to be a cash flow issue for them. It takes minutes, if not seconds to pay someone if you have the cash.

Dealers and cash flow issues seem to be a running theme this week. Heard another absolute horror tale this week.

Maybe, not sure why though when money is in the bank before the raffle. Like I say, could be doing anything with the money inbetween sale and payment. 11 days is a long time on the shorting currency markets, not saying they're doing this btw, just an example.

Who knows..... Forewarned is forearmed I guess and I was prepared for the hassle.

Doulin

Not going judging anyones decision on how they want to send their guitar, but one thing I would like to add having worked for (been scarred by) a start up with difficult cash flow.

This is all fine unless the guy goes bankrupt. If your guitar has gone and theres no money in the pot from the creditor to dish outthen doesnt matter how water tight the contract is/was

Again not judging anyones method but maybe just a pause of consideration. I witnessed a lot of people not getting paid and i'd hate to see anyone here suffer the same fate! 

In effect it feels like one has given the guy payment terms but without the credit check that goes with that.

CMW335

For what it’s worth I just completed a competition sale with these guys and all went smoothly including being paid on time without prompt. 

hassleham

I’ve just been emailing these guys about selling a guitar through their competition… It seems very fishy that they wouldn’t let me drop off the guitar to them in person. I cannot really fathom why they wouldn’t allow this!

GoldenEraGuitars

hassleham said:

I’ve just been emailing these guys about selling a guitar through their competition… It seems very fishy that they wouldn’t let me drop off the guitar to them in person. I cannot really fathom why they wouldn’t allow this!

To the Wolverhampton address?