Guitar Center experience

[Buddy]

Took 4 guitars to Springfield, NJ to sell today, an Agile, AL 2000, an SX Furrian, a Firefly V, and and Iyv semihollow.

Although I have bought many things online, I have never actually been in a Guitar Center before. Wow, when I walked in the door it felt like when The Wizard of Oz turns to color. Every atom of good in my body started vibrating. I felt like I belonged there. I felt like I found my long list home. Lol. The wall of guitars, one more beautiful than the next, and they had drums and bass guitars, amps, I know, this is not breaking news to expect to see these things, but it just felt good seeing everything organized, and visible, and displayed beautifully and thoughtfully. I really loved it there.

The person who took care of me, I'm not sure if he was a manager, but I think he might have been, was super nice, very pleasant, and was happy to take my gear. I was afraid that being budget equipment I might get turned away, or that they might only take some pieces, but that was not the case at all. I was treated with professionalism, respect and friendliness.

The transaction was fair in my opinion. I knew I wasn't going to break even on the guitars, but the offers were reasonable, and most importantly for me, quick and easy, no chance of a shipping disaster or return that come with online sales. I came away with just about what I hoped for. I think both parties were happy with the deals we made. I thought one guitar got a little over valued and another got a little under valued, but in my mind, they balanced each other out perfectly, so, absolutely square deal in my opinion.

Anyway, I just wanted to relate that story about that specific GC. It was a really good experience. If you are looking to trade in, they give a little extra bonus toward whatever equipment you are purchasing, or you can just do cash. I had to use every ounce of restraint to take the cash. Hopefully when my situation improves, I'll be back. They had a couple pieces that made me drool.

Guitar Center got a customer for life today.

[tonebender]

I am glad you had a positive experience. On balance it is a pretty good place to shop but some locations are not as good as others.

[toomanycats]

Things aren't always what they seem.

[slowhand84]

Took 4 guitars to Springfield, NJ to sell today, an Agile, AL 2000, an SX Furrian, a Firefly V, and and Iyv semihollow.

Although I have bought many things online, I have never actually been in a Guitar Center before. Wow, when I walked in the door it felt like when The Wizard of Oz turns to color. Every atom of good in my body started vibrating. I felt like I belonged there. I felt like I found my long list home. Lol. The wall of guitars, one more beautiful than the next, and they had drums and bass guitars, amps, I know, this is not breaking news to expect to see these things, but it just felt good seeing everything organized, and visible, and displayed beautifully and thoughtfully. I really loved it there.

The person who took care of me, I'm not sure if he was a manager, but I think he might have been, was super nice, very pleasant, and was happy to take my gear. I was afraid that being budget equipment I might get turned away, or that they might only take some pieces, but that was not the case at all. I was treated with professionalism, respect and friendliness.

The transaction was fair in my opinion. I knew I wasn't going to break even on the guitars, but the offers were reasonable, and most importantly for me, quick and easy, no chance of a shipping disaster or return that come with online sales. I came away with just about what I hoped for. I think both parties were happy with the deals we made. I thought one guitar got a little over valued and another got a little under valued, but in my mind, they balanced each other out perfectly, so, absolutely square deal in my opinion.

Anyway, I just wanted to relate that story about that specific GC. It was a really good experience. If you are looking to trade in, they give a little extra bonus toward whatever equipment you are purchasing, or you can just do cash. I had to use every ounce of restraint to take the cash. Hopefully when my situation improves, I'll be back. They had a couple pieces that made me drool.

Guitar Center got a customer for life today.

GC has its pros and cons, but if you know what to look for their used gear website is an absolute GOLDMINE. I've scored jaw-dropping steals there over the years on a pretty consistent basis...I'm talking $3,000 custom guitars for $400, high end $1000+ Jacksons they mistook for entry level models and priced at $200, the list goes on and on.

Trading in there is a matter of convenience over getting good value for your stuff, they have to resell it so they typically pay about 50-ish percent of what they're going to sell it for. The negative is you don't get anywhere near what you would get if you sold it yourself, but the positive is you don't have to deal with potential buyers and all their headaches and you can just drop it off, collect your money, and go on your way. It's worth doing for lower end gear because you don't lose too much $, but I would certainly never trade in anything of value.

[uwmcscott]

Glad it worked out for you @Buddy . There is indeed a cost to trade but sometimes it’s worth it vs the hassles of selling on your own.

I would echo @slowhand84 on the GC used market, I too have scored some epic deals there. I also remember the days when they used to offer 10-15% off coupons on used, I wish they would bring that back.

[tonebender]

Back in the day I had a guy at one of their location that would always lower the price until the computer would not go further for everything purchased. This went on for a several years. He finally moved on. I still have a guy that I have known for a long time at another location that I frequent and he gives me discounts as well. I have another friend that works there and I have been able to use the employee discount on several items that my friend gets but does not use. Guitar Center is my "go to brick and mortar and Sweetwater for online.

[Rollin Hand]

I wish I could get something like HC's online used shop for Canada. Here we have Long & McQuade's Gear Hunter, but they know what they are doing a little to well, so real deals are rare.

Every once in a while one of the local used shops puts something up below market value -- usually something with a Floyd -- but I almost never get to it in time.

I might get there tomorrow though....

[slowhand84]

Glad it worked out for you @Buddy . There is indeed a cost to trade but sometimes it’s worth it vs the hassles of selling on your own.

I would echo @slowhand84 on the GC used market, I too have scored some epic deals there. I also remember the days when they used to offer 10-15% off coupons on used, I wish they would bring that back.

They do actually still have run promotions on used stuff from time to time, there was a 15% off used gear over $199 (or maybe $299?) like 2-3 months ago if memory serves.

[uwmcscott]

They do actually still have run promotions on used stuff from time to time, there was a 15% off used gear over $199 (or maybe $299?) like 2-3 months ago if memory serves.

If you ever see it again please post here in the deals thread. As much as Iike them as a used source, I couldn’t handle all the daily spam from them and the MF SDOTD, so I had to unsubscribe

[tlarson58]

This is great. I'm pretty quick to recognize bad service but when I find good service or a pleasant shopping experience, I let the person, manager and others know.

[solteroblues]

I've sold quite a few things to GC over the years, definitely easy, just never expect too much. They go to ebay sold listings, find the cheapest one that is similar that sold, then offer you 60% of that. If it's something somewhat rare, you may do better than that, but that's even more rare. As long as you know what to expect, you shouldn't get too disappointed. Just check ebay sold listings first, so they can't screw you too bad.

On the other hand, I tried Chicago Music Exchange's online quote system for selling a couple higher end guitars recently. I have a 2012 PRS CU24 10-Top, and a 2020 35th Anniversary PRS CU24 10-Top. They offered about the same for both, even though the 35th Anniversary is worth probably twice what the older one is worth. It was a decent deal for the cheaper one, no where close for the higher value one. My problem is I called to accept the offer, and they told me the guy that does the offers doesn't talk on the phone, to email him. I did and it's been a week and still no response.

[slowhand84]

I've sold quite a few things to GC over the years, definitely easy, just never expect too much. They go to ebay sold listings, find the cheapest one that is similar that sold, then offer you 60% of that. If it's something somewhat rare, you may do better than that, but that's even more rare. As long as you know what to expect, you shouldn't get too disappointed. Just check ebay sold listings first, so they can't screw you too bad.

On the other hand, I tried Chicago Music Exchange's online quote system for selling a couple higher end guitars recently. I have a 2012 PRS CU24 10-Top, and a 2020 35th Anniversary PRS CU24 10-Top. They offered about the same for both, even though the 35th Anniversary is worth probably twice what the older one is worth. It was a decent deal for the cheaper one, no where close for the higher value one. My problem is I called to accept the offer, and they told me the guy that does the offers doesn't talk on the phone, to email him. I did and it's been a week and still no response.

CME is weird with things, I wanted to buy a used pedal from them a while back and they wouldn't budge like 5% on the price for me even though they had the Offer option enabled. Also you probably know this but they are owned by Reverb, who is now owned by (for some reason) Etsy.

[Partscaster]

+10 for avoiding shipping hassle's and potential for lying recipients.

[littlebadboy]

Good for you!

I used to like the branch I frequently, until the current staff seem to had weed for breakfast.