 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Fred
Date: 2000-11-25 23:14
Does anyone have any experience with selling a pro horn on consignment to a shop known for clarinets? It would seem to be a good way of putting the horn somewhere where people could play it and evaluate it . . . far better than something just bought off the net. If you have any experience with this, what seems to be the normal consignment fee?
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Author: bob gardner
Date: 2000-11-26 02:14
i wanted to sell a painting on consignment and the store wanted 50%. I said thanks, but no thanks and walked out. I believe the seller will want to set the terms.
good luck
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Author: Jim
Date: 2000-11-26 03:33
When I sold my stained glass pieces through a gallery, they took 40% of the sale price. I simply added their 40% to my origional retail price before I left the pieces. Either I was underpricing my work, or they were excellent at marketing (a bit of both I suspect) for most of the pieces sold at the higher asking price. Of course, this works better for unique art work that has no comparable value for buyers to compare. (For their 40% they displayed, cleaned, packaged and shipped my work as well as advertising and running promotional shows. It truly was worth the fee, especially since in essence, the customer paid it.)
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Author: mw
Date: 2000-11-26 15:06
Much depends on WHAT is being sold. ex: Consignments work great for cars. I have a car dealer client who does about 50% consignment.
A clarinet would be different. Much would depend on two attributes. 1) is there something special about your clarinet model or make, & 2) is the profit to the dealer worthwhile for he/she to sell it (or will they show something else with a better profit margin, leaving yours to last).
If the nature of your clarinet is that this dealer doesn't sell it normally (lets say it was a Selmer BalancedTone model), than you will probably fare well, if the consignment fee is reasonable given the ultimate selling price. A dealer can normally sell a horn for more than an indfividual can. It would be "nice" if your used horn didn't compete with the same model of a dealer's *NEW* stock. That can be a tough situation. Your horn could help the dealer sell new ones. They call this a "stepping stone" in retail trade. Usually, nobody wants to buy a *demo* horn for 5-10% less.
Good luck.
mw
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Author: mw
Date: 2000-11-26 15:13
BTW: That car dealer does 50% of his business in consignments. He charges a minimum 5% with a maxium 10% based ypon the ultimate selling price.
Whatever you decide to do, get something in writing from the dealer. At a minimum, this could be a receipt with some accompanying info thatg you both would initial.
If the dealer has a floor plan with a bank or other lending institution (a floorplan is a financing agreement), the lender may have the right to come in @ anytime & take the collateral for the financing agreement (the inventory). It's also possible that consignment stock could inadvertently taken..
Always get a receipt, always get something in writing. That way you have proof you left something & proof of the (agreed upon) terms.
Best of luck.
mw
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-11-26 21:46
I sold a vintage intermediate cornet (King Cleveland from the 1950s) on consignment just a few months ago. That transaction worked out well. I knew the dealer already, since he's local -- he's also the excellent repairman who restored some vintage saxes for me. He's careful about keeping records. He gave me a written contract that spelled out clearly how much he would ask for the cornet and what percentage he would take. It seemed to me that since he already had a good reputation, it would be easier for him to sell the cornet and he could get a higher price for it than I could -- and I didn't have to do any of the work or have customers come to the house. Therefore I thought he earned his commission and I'm happy for him to profit on it. I made my profit, too. That was a good quality instrument in near-mint condition. I dump my mistakes at a local "buyer beware" auction. ;-)
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Author: ron b
Date: 2000-11-27 18:41
Fred -
You say it's a pro horn. By all means, anyone buying a pro grade horn would want to try it first. At least, I *think* they'd want to. I don't know how that would otherwise work out, buying from someone on the net. That would have to be worked out - somehow. I know people do it, or so I've heard - I just don't know what arrangement they make or how much they know about what they're doing.... much more than I do, that's for sure.
Personally, I'd want to try it out (for a specified time) to evaluate it first. I can't imagine evaluating a good instrument in one 'sitting'.
Locally, (central California) that kind of consignment, for intermediate student to pro horns, is between 25% and 40%. It depends on the dealer, the item, if he/she's having a good day or not and how well you got along last time you saw one another.
ron b
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Author: mike
Date: 2000-11-28 00:42
I sold a bari sax on consignment at a local store. They added 20% to my price for the sticker price; the price the buyer paid could have been less. This shop has a wall of high-end saxes and is in an urban center in N.CA., so it gets lots of traffic.
Note: you don't sell your horn "to" the store. They take possession of the instrument and put it out on display, acting as your agent for the sale. You don't see any money until they actually sell the instrument. I've been doing business at the store which sold my sax for quite a number of years, so I wasn't concerned about leaving it there. If you don't know the store, you might want to check what happens if someone robs the store or it burns down with your axe in it.
Also note that not everyone checking out your instrument is going to treat it nicely, so if it doesn't sell quickly, it might take some abuse. The store probably won't accept any responsibility for this, as long as it falls loosely into the normal wear and tear category.
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