Soooo… $3499 for the RI Dual Rec?

[NewWorldMan]

Out of curiosity…why sell at a huge loss 1 week in instead of a simple return?

Late to the party here, not on all the forums every day. That was me, and it has sold.

I don’t make it a habit to return new amps unless there’s an issue with them. I buy and try tons of stuff new. I (typically) don’t believe it’s the responsibility of a shop to deal with returns and take back amps I purchased knowing I wasn’t keeping it.

As I said before, I’m fortunate to own more than I need and I’d rather pass the savings on to someone else that genuinely wants something and is stretched thin trying to buy it.

There’s been a lot of 2-3 week old amps that found new homes for less recently - Mesa Recto RI, (production) Bogner Snorkler, etc. Get off the pot and grab it next time. You snooze, you lose You’ll probably see a bunch more pop up throughout the year.

 

[RaceU4her]

I don’t make it a habit to return new amps unless there’s an issue with them. I buy and try tons of stuff new. I (typically) don’t believe it’s the responsibility of a shop to deal with returns and take back amps I purchased knowing I wasn’t keeping it.

I’m like this too. Broken is one thing, but to buy something, play it for a few gigs as I’ve seen people do, then return it just because they can at the stores expense just dosent seem right to me.

 

[acceptance]

I’m like this too. Broken is one thing, but to buy something, play it for a few gigs as I’ve seen people do, then return it just because they can at the stores expense just dosent seem right to me.

It used to be that you didn't return stuff unless it was broken or you really just made a huge mistake. Now seems people buy to basically try it out and see if they like it. If I was a merchant I'd have a hard time with that, especially with $3,500 amps.

 

[RaceU4her]

It used to be that you didn't return stuff unless it was broken or you really just made a huge mistake. Now seems people buy to basically try it out and see if they like it. If I was a merchant I'd have a hard time with that, especially with $3,500 amps.

I guess that’s why some have a 20% or whatever “restocking” fee, and I think I’ve heard some stores cutting off serial returners now.

 

[NewWorldMan]

I’m like this too. Broken is one thing, but to buy something, play it for a few gigs as I’ve seen people do, then return it just because they can at the stores expense just dosent seem right to me.

It’s a retail store, not a rental company. One of these days we’ll start seeing companies jack up restocking fees to 50% or other extreme numbers because “buy/try/return” is becoming so normalized.

 

[Tone Monster]

Late to the party here, not on all the forums every day. That was me, and it has sold.

I don’t make it a habit to return new amps unless there’s an issue with them. I buy and try tons of stuff new. I (typically) don’t believe it’s the responsibility of a shop to deal with returns and take back amps I purchased knowing I wasn’t keeping it.

As I said before, I’m fortunate to own more than I need and I’d rather pass the savings on to someone else that genuinely wants something and is stretched thin trying to buy it.

There’s been a lot of 2-3 week old amps that found new homes for less recently - Mesa Recto RI, (production) Bogner Snorkler, etc. Get off the pot and grab it next time. You snooze, you lose You’ll probably see a bunch more pop up throughout the year.

Awfully noble of you.

 

[RaceU4her]

It’s a retail store, not a rental company. One of these days we’ll start seeing companies jack up restocking fees to 50% or other extreme numbers because “buy/try/return” is becoming so normalized.

I saw a picture of a line of Christmas trees right after new years at one of the stores that I guess had a 30 day return policy or whatever, I mean I guess if you’re gonna allow such policies you gotta expect people are gonna take advantage of it, I’m sure these big corporations must do studies to know what percentage of people do on things like that to not get totally killed.

I don’t know if any stores do it, but if you spend a certain amount a year or maybe just for higher end stuff they should send out demo units where you just pay for shipping should you decide to not buy, and knock off shipping if you do and send you a new unit.

 

[TheGreatGreen]

Yeah, seems like the cost of doing business as an online retailer. You have everything and can ship to everybody, but one of the downsides is that nobody can try before they buy, so you'd think returns would just kinda be factored in as a more significant part of the business model to counter that.

 

[NewWorldMan]

I saw a picture of a line of Christmas trees right after new years at one of the stores that I guess had a 30 day return policy or whatever, I mean I guess if you’re gonna allow such policies you gotta expect people are gonna take advantage of it, I’m sure these big corporations must do studies to know what percentage of people do on things like that to not get totally killed.

I don’t know if any stores do it, but if you spend a certain amount a year or maybe just for higher end stuff they should send out demo units where you just pay for shipping should you decide to not buy, and knock off shipping if you do and send you a new unit.

I’d love to see some of the bigger stores do local rentals on new amps. Take shipping out of the equation, have a couple on hand that are there to rent, do it local only so you have to pick up and drop off at the store, etc.

$150 for a 3-day rental (or whatever)? I could see guys spending a few bucks to try stuff out. Want to buy it after you try it? Your rental fee applies to the purchase price etc. I’m obviously simplifying here, but I’m sure you could work something up that made sense.

 

[Beyond Black]

Yeah, seems like the cost of doing business as an online retailer. You have everything and can ship to everybody, but one of the downsides is that nobody can try before they buy, so you'd think returns would just kinda be a factored in as a more significant part of the business model to counter that.

Boom. Sounds like a necessary and well deserved trade off considering it’s the online retailers that decimated the brick and mortar retailers that actually stocked gear that could be demoed in person.

 

[NowYou'rePlayingWithPower]

I actually buy clothes through a few different boutiques that send them to me based on season, my size and style and return the ones I don't jive with.
That's their actual business model, though and there is an upcharge for it.
Would never do that otherwise.
I don't even return GC fuck ups unless it's really bad. I probably should, though. In some sense it's letting them get away with it.

 

[RaceU4her]

I’d love to see some of the bigger stores do local rentals on new amps. Take shipping out of the equation, have a couple on hand that are there to rent, do it local only so you have to pick up and drop off at the store, etc.

$150 for a 3-day rental (or whatever)? I could see guys spending a few bucks to try stuff out. Want to buy it after you try it? Your rental fee applies to the purchase price etc. I’m obviously simplifying here, but I’m sure you could work something up that made sense.

I always wanted to open a store where you could basically pay by the hour to play high end amps in a sound proofed room where the try out fee gets knocked off upon purchase, I know I would drive a couple hours and pay a couple hundred bucks to spend a few hours trying stuff out I can’t find at regular chain stores. Maybe a competent tech on site as kind of a one stop shop would be nice

 

[Beyond Black]

I actually buy clothes through a few different boutiques that send them to me based on season, my size and style and return the ones I don't jive with.
That's their actual business model, though and there is an upcharge for it.
Would never do that otherwise.
I don't even return GC fuck ups unless it's really bad. I probably should, though. In some sense it's letting them get away with it.

Pics or they’re all season wear from Walmart.

 

[RaceU4her]

Boom. Sounds like a necessary and well deserved trade off considering it’s the online retailers that decimated the brick and mortar retailers that actually stocked gear that could be demoed in person.

I used to ask my mom and pop stores why no gibsons or whatever other brands, and the reason was always they want you to keep $50k in stock and keep so many guitars or whatever and they can’t do it, I never understood that

 

[skoora]

If I’m stuck buying stuff without trying it first or an ability to see how it gels with my stuff, it better have a liberal return policy or I’m getting it from somewhere that does. But I only buy what I really think I want to keep. Places that take care of me on returns become my first choice on anything down the road. The law of averages will profit them over time. Trying to sell stuff privately sucks dick, unless you’re willing to take a huge hit, which I’m not.
Basically the store has decided on what policy works for them, so I’ll gladly use it.

 

[acceptance]

I always wanted to open a store where you could basically pay by the hour to play high end amps in a sound proofed room where the try out fee gets knocked off upon purchase, I know I would drive a couple hours and pay a couple hundred bucks to spend a few hours trying stuff out I can’t find at regular chain stores. Maybe a competent tech on site as kind of a one stop shop would be nice

Guptech has a program along these lines for pedals. Would be especially useful for high end gear though.

https://guptech.ca/pages/prof-pinotte-pedal-club-what-is-that

 

[skoora]

I used to ask my mom and pop stores why no gibsons or whatever other brands, and the reason was always they want you to keep $50k in stock and keep so many guitars or whatever and they can’t do it, I never understood that

I worked at a fairly large, sole proprietor retailer in the late 90’s, that ultimately dropped Gibson because of their insane demands. Even worse if you wanted Custom Shop. Minimum 90K buy in (back then) and you had to order all the shit subsidiaries they controlled that no one really wanted. A ton of Epiphone (which was real crap back then). Tobias bases were nice though, but they tanked them.

 

[skoora]

Guptech has a program along these lines for pedals. Would be especially useful for high end gear though.

https://guptech.ca/pages/prof-pinotte-pedal-club-what-is-that

Love their Douche editions

 

[RaceU4her]

I worked at a fairly large, sole proprietor retailer in the late 90’s, that ultimately dropped Gibson because of their insane demands. Even worse if you wanted Custom Shop. Minimum 90K buy in (back then) and you had to order all the shit subsidiaries they controlled that no one really wanted. A ton of Epiphone (which was real crap back then). Tobias bases were nice though, but they tanked them.

yeah thats basically what i was told at the few mom and pop shops i used to ride my bike to when i was a kid hoping to see some real gear, and our sam ash had such dicks working back then you'd feel afraid to even ask to play anything nice

 

[NowYou'rePlayingWithPower]

Pics or they’re all season wear from Walmart.