 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Michelle
Date: 1999-12-10 15:54
Does anyone have some helpful hints on negotiating prices on clarinets at a music store or catalog company?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-12-10 16:06
I don't know of catalog companies negotiating much, but local stores may negotiate if you bring in catalog prices. I generally offer my local retailer a price about 10% more than the catalog price, and will settle for 15% more. The catalogs prices are a great starting place, but remember that your local dealer will most probably have to mark up a bit, especially for low-volume items.
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Author: Katherine Pincock
Date: 1999-12-10 18:55
In some stores, you can't negotiate price, but you can negotiate other things...For example, the store I bought my A clarinet couldn't negotiate the price down, but they did give me a free total overhaul including installing cork/leather pads etc. Deals like that can save you a lot of money. Hope this helps!
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Author: Tobin Coleman
Date: 1999-12-10 23:08
Mark is right,as usual.
Except for the busiest stores in bigger cities, local stores have to pay more for the same instruments than the mail-order houses because mailers do more volume and themselves get a volume discount from suppliers. This counts for everything from instruments to reeds. Their overhead is usually lower too.
First call and ask for the owner or manager and ask if he/she can "meet or beat" the competition's price on whatever instrument you're interested in. They will have more leeway on some than on others. If they say no, you can prod them a little.
When you find a store willing to negotiate, tell them when you'll come in and take in the catalogs. I also have gone armed with a few URL's for the online listings — most music stores I go into are hooked up to the Internet. They know anyone can change a printout, so let them see the listing for themselves.
Do not do this on a day you've decided is the day you will definitely buy. Your leverage will evaporate.
As Mark said, for a small- to mid-sized local store, offer them about 10 percent more than the lowest price you can find, after going through every catalog and Website you can. Settle for plus 15 percent at a small store. If they start pulling invoices out to show you they can't go any lower, take a look at them.
If you're shopping in a big-city, or otherwise large, high-volume music store, I'd offer them the same price as the catalogs and agree to as high as +5 percent. The mail order prices already have profits built in too.
It's OK to say,"I'd really prefer to give you my business if you can meet me on price." But only say that if you mean it, for example, if they are the most convenient store to you, or you heard they had a good reputation, you did well in the past, or want prompt repair service. Go ahead and tell them your real reasoning. There's no need to be manipulative.
Don't get embarrassed. That's the hardest part of negotiating if you're not used to asking people to let you have something for less. Don't worry. They won't agree to a price they can't afford to give you. Sometimes the prospect of your repeat business is valuable enough for someone to give you a really good deal. Just remember, stick to your guns. If they don't meet your price, politely thank them, give them your telephone number to call if they change their mind and go on to the next place. Half the time you won't even get out the door before they say, "Wait a minute!" ask you back in, and agree at or near your offer. If not, go to the next store.
Good luck.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 1999-12-11 18:45
Good advice. My 2 cents: keep the negotiations friendly and positive. Nobody has to feel like a loser here. The seller wants to sell the clarinet. You want to own it. Everyone can go away from the transaction happy. Instead of arguing about what the merchandise is worth (I don't want to get into abstractions or seem to insult the seller's taste), I stick to stating my offer only in terms of what I can afford and what I will pay. In other words, instead of, "It's not worth $X," I say, "I can't afford $X." Instead of saying, "I won't pay more than $X," I like to say, "It's a beautiful instrument and I'd be happy to pay up to $X." Okay, so this is a bit manipulative, but it works. I'd like for the seller not only to want to sell the instrument, but to want to sell it *to me*. :-)
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Author: paul
Date: 1999-12-14 22:33
All postings above are great. I have a local large retailer (sold over 150 E-11s in a 2 week pre school binge last Fall) that happily sends me their thin catalog on a frequent basis. I also subscribe to the more popular and more reputable e-tailers' catalogs. I let the catalogs speak for themselves. I also enforce any written price guarantees, too. Let's face it folks, the stores are out to not only make money, they are out to squash their competition. Appeal to their greed and competitive nature, especially if you have the goods in writing. Don't be bashful showing store A's ads to store B and vice versa. If the store refuses to work with you, walk out.
I personally used the "fire sale" or "shelf demo" price offer to fetch a very good horn for a highly competitive price. The store initially offered me the gorgeous beauty of a premium pro grade horn that was the floor demonstrator model for about 20% less than the regular price. Round one begins. I asked one simple question to up the ante a little bit more. Did they have a new (i.e. pristine and unhandled) horn just like it on one of their back shelves instead? That question put a real sparkle in their step. In less than 5 minutes, the salesman produced a pristine horn for me. Next question: Is this horn going for the same "demonstrator" price? Maybe, maybe not. Okay, "can I test play that [pristine] horn?" "What a tone! It sounds great. But, let me check with my wife to see if she'll go for it. That's a lot of money to spend on a pure luxury like this, ouch!" I went home and waited for the inevitable return call. It didn't happen. So, I called the store and asked for the manager. Round two. "Your floor demo model looks good, but your salesman fetched a horn just like it for me earlier today. Will you sell the [pristine] horn for the demonstrator price?" The manager was under pressure to dump the 2 year old stock as close to wholesale as possible. He let it slip out in different words, but that was the message. So, I asked to check a used music instrument price book. After all, I had a good intermediate horn that could be available for trade or sale. I saw the wholesale price for the new horn in the book as a high used price, but the store wasn't buying my intermediate for any decent price at all. I could now offer a price slightly above the wholesale for the new horn, just about at the price of the floor demo horn. Sensing a sale at a slight profit instead of a loss, the manager sold the horn to me at a good price. That good price included free adjustments during the entire lifetime of the horn, great rapport with the factory certified tech, and discounts on boxes of reeds, too.
Lesson learned: Buying a horn can be like buying a car. Push for everything you can and negotiate as hard as you can. Let the salesman get a taste of an easy victory and then ask a few "simple questions" to up the ante in your favor.
Second lesson learned: Sell your used horn on your own. I did and it made a very big difference in my wallet.
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Author: Meredith H.
Date: 1999-12-15 21:37
Having recently purchased a new instrument I have some idea of the stress involved in negotiating the best price. I have no local music store so whatever I decided on would have to be sent to me. Unfortunately we don't have any big mail order stores in Australia so I was left having to deal with music stores. I started by ringing around to get a feel for the price of the instrument I was interested in. Luckily I knew the exact instrument I wanted. I got the ususal "Well, the recommended retail price is xxxx but we could probably sell it for a cash price off xxxx." Once you find the lowest price you can call around again and offer other stores the opportunity to equal or better the price depending on either their buying power or their service. My problem was there were only 2 instruments in the whole country and every store was calling the same supplier. The store which had the biggest buying power was able to offer me the instrument $150.00 cheaper than anyone else. Furthermore they were able to obtain both instruments, they had one of their professional player try them both and send me what they believed was the better sounding instrument. It was sent to my home and if I wasn't happy with it I could send it back. One store wanted me to pay a 20% stocking fee if I wanted the instrument without being able to try it first. No thank you.
Basically it is all a matter of making a few phone calls and knowing what you want and what it is worth. Be polite but if a store is sure of your interest in purchasing most will do whatever they can to accommodate you.
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