OK,
so this isn't exactly a guitar lesson, but I thought
people might be interested in how to save a few
bucks when buying a new guitar.
I
recently purchased a really nice Tanglewood electro-acoustic
from my local guitar shop. The marked price was
£349 on its own. I got it for £379
including a hard case worth £90 and a guitar
lead worth about £10. That's a total saving
of £70.
Before
I continue, I would like to add that I wasn't
talked into buying the case. I would never buy
an acoustic without a good quality hard case.
Most
people think that the marked price is the price
you have to pay. Wrong! The first rule of haggling:
Never pay the asking price. In all small chain
shops you can always negotiate a better deal.
The question is how?
Firstly,
make sure you shop around first. Find the model
you are after, test it out a few times and find
the shop selling it for the cheapest price. I
did this for my Tanglewood and when I had the
cash I went to buy it.
I
went into the shop about an hour before closing
time and asked to try the guitar. This is the
best time as the staff are getting anxious to
lock up and get away, so they are more likely
to give you what you want. After playing it for
about half an hour, and checking that it was definitely
the guitar I wanted, I told the assistant that
I was interested in buying it, and wanted to know
how much it was. When he told me £349 I
acted surprised at how much it was, even though
I already knew.
I
told him that I really liked the guitar but that
I didn't realise how much it was. He wasn't prepared
to lower the price immediately, so I said something
along the line of "that price includes the
case, yeh?", to which he gave the standard
reply "it comes in a lovely cardboard box".
I
pointed out that it was raining outside and asked
what was the best deal he could give me for the
guitar and the most basic hard case they had.
He said the cheapest hard case they had was £70
and that he would do both for £379. Now
that was a pretty generous discount but I knew
this wasn't the lowest price he would offer, so
after some hesitation I asked for £369.
He agreed.
I
was pretty happy with that - a saving of £50.
Then he returned from the stock room and told
me that they had sold out of the basic hard cases
and only had the higher quality case which cost
£90, but his boss had said that I could
have it for £379. He didn't seem like he
could go against what his boss said, so instead
of trying to get a lower price, I asked for a
guitar lead to sweeten the deal (I needed a new
one anyway). He threw this in when his boss wasn't
looking!
I
left the guitar shop very happy with the guitar
I wanted, a better case than I had expected, a
guitar lead I needed anyway and £70 better
of than I would have been in the long run!
So
I had a stroke of luck with the guitar case, but
the point is that guitar shops are always willing
to negotiate. They would much rather sell you
something for less that see you walk out with
nothing and spend your money elsewhere.
To
sum up, here are some top tips for haggling in
guitar shops:
-
Never pay the asking price on expensive items
(£100 up).
- If buying a guitar, act as if you think the
price includes the case.
- Hesitate lots and act as if this is going to
break the bank.
- Make your purchase near closing time.
- When you can't negotiate price, ask for something
extra.
- Be confident.
- Don't push it too far! Be reasonable and you
will get a good price.
Good
luck!
Steve.
Intermediate
lessons - All lessons
