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Posted by: Hauke_Z May 15 2008, 11:30 AM

Yesterday I got really angry. I went to a local Music Store to buy new strings and check If they had new Guitars there.
And what did I see? They sell the Epiphone Les Paul Standard (CS finish) for 523 Euros (about 810 US-$ atm)!!!
In online stores you get it for 439,- with free shipping! Is there such a difference in prices at your Countries, too?? Makes me sick, because I usually try to support local business, even if it's a few bucks more - but 84 Euros - no way

Posted by: OrganisedConfusion May 15 2008, 11:37 AM

It is always the case that guitars from stores cost more than online unless you find a rare guitar in a store that aren't easy to come by in which case you'd probably only be able to buy it in the store. Even shops like GAK.co.uk charge less online than if you go into their store for proper.

Posted by: Smells May 15 2008, 11:42 AM

Yea I agree, its not just guitars and music equipment though, it seems to be everything,

"This price is an internet price only not available in store" is normal to see on electrical goods websites here, I asked once and they instantly say its to do with the store overheads etc blurb, theres probably an element to it but sometimes as you point out, there doesnt seem to be a justification in the massive price difference.

the advantage to buying in store is of course you can always physically take something back in person, a lot of internet stuff you can of course return but theres the re packing, sending and waiting all over again.

Posted by: bladzerok May 15 2008, 11:42 AM

yeah... this happened to me too, but instead of being more expensive at local music store, it was about $100 less

i went to my local music store to try the peavey valveking(that i am probably gonna buy in a month) and the guitar i used to try the amp was an http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Ibanez-RG350DX-Guitar?sku=519415, i looked at the price tag of the guitar and it was $399

anyway, that was a positive price difference

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 15 2008, 11:42 AM

Well you should come to our country!
For example strings I buy regulary cost 42$ in store and I buy it online on ebay for 22$ including shipping !!
Well I noticed that everything here costs double than in America and other countries..You can buy a guitar in America for 800$ and same one will be 800 euro or more here Its just crazy...

Posted by: Mr T May 15 2008, 11:42 AM

You've got to remember that local shops usually have a lot less customers and they can't afford to buy in bulk like an online shop. They have a lot more costs to cover and you'll notice that in the price.
If it's a good shop, you'll get a good service in return and you can probably get extra's with the guitar or talk the price down a bit.

Posted by: OrganisedConfusion May 15 2008, 11:45 AM

Yeah I do that with every guitar I buy. I normally ask for a cable, pack of strings, strap and a few picks to be thrown in and they normally do it without question.

Posted by: Henkka May 15 2008, 11:46 AM

It's nothing new that the price tag is higher in shop's when compared to web-shops. I'm not going to delve into reasons since they are quite obvious. But there's one thing you should keep in mind:

Most likely your local dealer is ready to negotiate the price. Example:

My local dealers list price for the guitar I have now was ~20% higher than what the cheapest online shop offered. I bought the guitar, a stand, few packs of strings and paid little less than what they would have paid in the online shop, plus the salesperson let me take few picks for free just to make sure I will do business with them also in the future.

Keep this in mind when buying stuff from online shops...

Posted by: Hisham Al-Sanea May 15 2008, 11:53 AM

thats normally mate the prices on internet is different than the stores
so what you see from prices online is less than stores every where

Posted by: Tomotoms May 15 2008, 12:29 PM

All you need to ask them is "Do you price match?"
I've bought quite a lot of stuff from a shop called Turnkey (quite a nice place they let you try it out in shop) but everything is really marked up. But if you ask them if they will price match the online quotes of GAK.com they will do so (and sometimes go lower).
Generally the mark ups are to make extra profit if you make it clear to them that you don't need them in order to get what you want they will try and convince you to buy from them.
A sale with a smaller profit is better than no sale at all.
Really the amount they are willing to reduce their prices is amazing!
I bought an Ibanez RGA321 from this place it was advertised as £1,099 reduced from £1,199. I quoted them an online price of £899 and they matched it instantly - no problems.
I did this for my amp and my pod as well.


EDIT: spelling mistake

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 15 2008, 12:42 PM

Well its amazing to hear such stories, here we don't have such principles at all..I mean you all have the possibility to return the product to the store for a full refund - you will never find a store that is able to do that here for example..Its because we have a sort of monopoly here with music instrument stores so they keep their prices high up and don't care

Posted by: Hauke_Z May 15 2008, 12:52 PM

Uff, that's annoying

Posted by: Tomotoms May 15 2008, 01:17 PM

But with the internet they do not have such a monopoly. Just find a site that will ship to you and has what you want for a cheaper price. Then go into your local store and tell them if they can't match that price you will buy it from the website. Obviously I have never been to your local shops but I would be willing to bet you could knock them down a bit.

Posted by: Danilo Capezzuto May 15 2008, 03:20 PM

I'm a pain in a.. for the stores!! I always say that I have found the same item on internet, but at a lower price...so they have to match the prices or I get very angry... So, this way is like I have shopping on internet, but I buy at the store close to me...

Posted by: M-P May 15 2008, 03:28 PM

A lot of it is about local competition. There are still people who do not like to buy online and prefer the personal service (luckily I am not one of these people). So when a store is the only place around that sells something, they can pretty much price it wherever they want to within reason. However, when you get more local competition for the same product that price will come down. For example, I live in a city that has both a Guitar Center and a Sam Ash, which has driven down the prices at most of the smaller local shops. They put their prices about the same as guitar center, but you still get that more personal level of service.

Posted by: fkalich May 15 2008, 03:47 PM

I would not say always. And I don't know about the situation in Europe, situation might be different there, probably is.

But....I purchased my Gibson 58 Standard Reissue for $2,400 from a shop. They were located in San Diego, and were well known and reputable. Paid $100 shipping because you should pay one day shipping on anything valuable that can be broken. So $2,500. MF was selling them for over $3,000.

I got my American Strat, in the fancy 3 tone like Carlos has, same Strat, for $775, paid no shipping, from a shop in West Virginia. You can find prices cheaper than M-F quite often if you look around.

I have gotten good prices for all my Guitars, you can, but you have to do the shopping.

There is a myth that prevails, that you have to try them out, that this Les Paul is going to be so much different than another, etc. Such hog wash. Guitars are pretty consistent.

I don't feel a moral obligation to buy locally. HOWEVER, I do consider it immoral to use their facilities to try things out, when your intention is to buy elsewhere. I never do that, that to me is like stealing, you are stealing their time and taking advantage of them, so I never do that.

Posted by: kevin-riff-after-riff May 15 2008, 04:30 PM

they always say stuff like oh i gotta pay rent for my shop etc. the online store people gotta pay the server for a website AND a warehouse! I dont think I bought anything expensive from real shops in a long time now

Posted by: Old School Rocker May 15 2008, 04:51 PM

I've never acctually bought anything guitar related online I kinda wanna check it out now even though my local guitar shop is pretty damn good and friendly

Can anyone recommend me a good online shop (Im Canadian so if theres a difference in prices could you recomend a Canadian site) I wanna see if theres a big price difference between my shop and a website Cause I saw a killer LP Studio im interested in and b4 I buy it I wanna compare prices now.

Wow after taking a look at some online shops I noticed that the LP Studio at my local shop is about $200-$500 cheaper and im sure i can get some freebies from the store like I say there friendly.

I dont know if the Site I was looking at was any good but the Studio online cost about $1,1,199.00 - $1,319.00
And the Studio I found in the shop was around $900 hmm I smell a pretty good deal

But im still looking for a GOOD online shop so any help would be appreciated

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 15 2008, 06:06 PM

Well these two look good to me..

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/

http://www.zzounds.com/

Posted by: Marcus Siepen May 15 2008, 08:13 PM

It is the same in my country

Posted by: Old School Rocker May 15 2008, 09:17 PM

Thanks for the help. but both of those sites have prices about $300 over the cost of the Studio I found at my local shop so it looks to me like if im buying a guitar itl be from my local shop and then I have the benifits of no waits for shipping

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 15 2008, 09:32 PM

Prices are very high in stores here too! No buying there unless you really have to. But..then again, since we don't have Paypal supported, we have to most of the time.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 15 2008, 11:21 PM

Just test it out well and see if everything is ok I'm usually suspicious when I find something that much cheaper
But I guess they put a great discount for a number of reasons (maybe they want to sell out fast to get new stuff etc..)

Anyway thats a great deal

Posted by: FrankW May 19 2008, 02:18 AM

It really depends on the store, man. If it is part of a chain, like Guitar Center, (U.S.), you will get a good deal. If, however, it is a small store, dealing in low volume, you will not do as well because the store won't get the price break from the manufacturers if they don't buy large quantities of product. They can't afford to give you a competitive price break...The downside of buying by mail is that you do not have your hands on the gear before you buy it. My experience with buying by mail has been so-so. I ordered a Les Paul Standard, and it was fine. I ordered an Electro Harmonix flanger, and it was broken upon arrival. You have to do what you have to do. You can always return a screwed up product, and exchange it.

Posted by: Zephyr May 19 2008, 02:27 AM

I think it probably depends greatly on where you're buying it, where it was made, how many times/how far it's been shipped, and several other factors, but generally buying online does save money, it cuts out the middleman.

I would personally disagree with this. I've played the same exact guitar (with a number of different guitars, but my own is the one that's most obvious) in several different stores and felt a massive difference. Setup is part of it, but nonetheless, I think the same exact guitar can be very different. But, that's just me.

Posted by: FrankW May 19 2008, 02:29 AM

Bogdan, can you order from something like Musicians' Friend, or American Musical Supply? I don't know how the overseas stuff works. You guys are getting screwed on prices!

Posted by: fkalich May 19 2008, 02:39 AM

not sure what the exchange rate is, but $900 US is about as good as you are going to get, new with Warranty, and hard to find. You won't beat that online. You can always get them cheaper in a shop (unless you get a scratch and dent item at a good discount...very often they show no evidence of even being played, just returns that were taken care of, 2 of the 3 I got were pristine, the 3rd fine, just played).

Make sure you get a Gibson warranty from that shop (check with Gibson that they are authorized). Preferably that they are authorized for warranty service. If not warranty, you had better be darn cautious.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 19 2008, 10:56 AM

Trust me they are killing us with prices over here ! And no , those stores don't ship internationally

Posted by: FrankW May 19 2008, 05:15 PM

Then, you, and Muris, and Ivan hop on a plane. Come to my house, we'll go to the music stores and load up! Let me know before you show up, though, I need to save some money for the big shopping spree! Ha! Seriously, though, I wonder who over here, or elsewhere, does ship internationally...there must be someone. I feel your pain, man. It's hard enough for me to afford the gear I need/want. The shame of it is that I'm sure there are very many deserving musicians who just can't afford to 'chase the muse' because of this problem. I wish you luck, my friend!

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 19 2008, 07:14 PM

Trust me - If I had the money for the plane ticket and for shopping too, I would go tomorrow on a plane, without food, went over there, buy some Mesa gear and vintage pedals, a cheesburger, and go back the same day. But....

Posted by: FrankW May 19 2008, 10:42 PM

Save your money...I'll keep the light on for you!

Posted by: FrankW May 22 2008, 03:06 AM

I was just on the Warmoth guitar parts site, and noticed that they ship internationally. You can have your guitar custom-made exactly to your specs. I love Jackson guitars, and Warmoth sells bodies, necks, hardware, etc., to give me a killer Soloist if I want. Check out the customers' gallery.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 22 2008, 01:13 PM

I was looking for some bass parts , and its a cool site.. Give me the links if you have more bass guitar parts sites (doesen't matter if they ship internationally or don't) I'm looking for a spare bridge saddle for a single string (fingerstyle) bridge..

But than again Serbia miraculously isn't on the list of ALL countries ehehhe

Posted by: OrganisedConfusion May 22 2008, 01:22 PM

All you need to get a guitar from US is to get somebody you trust on the site to buy it and send it to you. I have got a few items by doing this. Send them the money upfront and I was well happy when I got my incredibly cheap products

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 23 2008, 07:00 PM

And than hope that non of "customs officers kids" plays guitar heheheeh That joke is not far from truth in our country though

I agree that it is the most secure way of obtaining gear from US I'm currently testing another and if it works I'll present it