Guitar Center Buying Guitars

tonyg · #1 07-28-2021, 05:21 PM

August 7th, my local GC ( maybe it's a nationwide thing ) is buying guitars and other gear, and paying then and there if you accept their offer. I've been wanting to buy a dreadnought and have been thinking of selling my Martin, which is 5-6 yrs. old and in good shape. Do you think I'll come home thoroughly disgusted with their lowball offer, or do you think the current shortage of acoustics, esp. Martins, might come into play, and that I might actually get a fair price? What do you all think?

warfrat73 · #2 07-28-2021, 05:24 PM

Probably will be thoroughly disgusted. Also, pretty sure that they buy guitars every day, and the "promotion" is more advertising than substance.

Rev Roy · #3 07-28-2021, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonyg

August 7th, my local GC ( maybe it's a nationwide thing ) is buying guitars and other gear, and paying then and there if you accept their offer. I've been wanting to buy a dreadnought and have been thinking of selling my Martin 0015M, which is 5-6 yrs. old and in good shape. Do you think I'll come home thoroughly disgusted with their lowball offer, or do you think the current shortage of acoustics, esp. Martins, might come into play, and that I might actually get a fair price? What do you all think?

Probably. I know I’ve been thoroughly disgusted with the offers I’ve gotten. So I quit asking long ago…

dnf777 · #4 07-28-2021, 05:40 PM

Might as well go to a pawn shop and get an offer. Probably in the same ballpark.

cc132 · #5 07-28-2021, 05:47 PM

I agree that your offer is likely to be lower than you're expecting, but to Guitar Center's credit, I find that their prices on used gear are often very reasonable. I bought a used synth from them a couple years back that was hundreds cheaper than I could have gotten it on Craigslist or Reverb.

I mean, obviously they aren't giving things away, but they definitely seem to price to sell.

Denny B · #6 07-28-2021, 05:50 PM

GC (or anyone else) doesn't stay in business by paying a "fair price" for used guitars...they need for you or anyone else to be willing to accept their lowball offer, so they can make a profit by selling it for the "fair price" it's actually worth...

string1399 · #7 07-28-2021, 05:50 PM

I tried selling a guitar to Guitar Center and the sales associate explained to me that they offer 70% of what they think they can sell the guitar for. For example, if they think they can sell your guitar for $1,000 they will offer you $700 for it.

cc132 · #8 07-28-2021, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by string1399

I tried selling a guitar to Guitar Center and the sales associate explained to me that they offer 70% of what they think they can sell the guitar for. For example, if they think they can sell your guitar for $1,000 they will offer you $700 for it.

Truthfully, this is better than I would have expected. One of the better independent shops in town told me that they give 50%.

They probably also price things higher than GC, so the difference may not be as great as it seems.

EZYPIKINS · #9 07-28-2021, 06:01 PM

Normally their offer is very upsetting. Look them up on ebay used. Find the lowest completed listing. Cut that in half by 55%-65%.

rllink · #10 07-28-2021, 06:15 PM

They are going to want to make a profit, so I doubt they are going to give you what it is worth. I think that I would give it a go though, just to see. It might be interesting. But I wouldn't take it personal though.

Bob from Brooklyn · #11 07-28-2021, 06:16 PM

thoroughly disgusted with their lowball offer

yes

Matts67 · #12 07-28-2021, 06:44 PM

Post it here for a fair price and it'll be gone within a few days.

MrDB · #13 07-28-2021, 06:58 PM

GC has to make a profit, seems elementary to understand that. If your guitar is worth $1000 GC is going to offer you $650-$700 for it, somewhere in that ballpark. So that's a "fair price" if you are selling/trading it to them.

jklotz · #14 07-28-2021, 07:04 PM

GC, like most retail businesses, have to buy at wholesale and sell at retail to stay in business. That's just the way it works. It's not personal. If you decide to sell to them under those conditions, you avoid the hassles of craigslist or online, avoid the shipping hassles and can sell it the day you want to without the worry of a return, dispute, etc.

I've had good luck selling on consignment at some local shops in the past, and you get a better percentage of the sale. You just have to wait until the item sells before you get paid.

Backpocketnj · #15 07-28-2021, 07:19 PM

I guess if you have time to kill, then going in and seeing what that is like is fine. But, as most others have said, they are not in the business of helping your out in that way.

For example, if the Martin typically sells used for like 1500, I imagine they might say 750-1000, depending on condition. That would easily become your floor. You can then post it for sale here for like 1200-1300 and be fairly competitive if the regular market price is 1500.

I've sold a few low-end guitars to GC to pick up random used stuff years ago. It was fine at the time as they were guitars that would not be easy for me to sell at that moment. I've also sold two Martin to a local high-end shop and he gave me 75-90% of the used value they would have sold at on here at the time as he tends to have a high-end client base and his prices up there too.