From a customer point of view I have to say that if I'm buying a few records I'll almost always ask if that's the 'best price', unless it's someone I go to a lot in which case I usually assume that they'll go as low as they feel they can and I don't push. I think it's a customer's prerogative to ask for a discount - if you can't find a margin for them them just tell them politely, it's all part of the game. You can't hate on customers for trying.
im like this too, my usual spots they recognize me or know me and so i know they take off what they can, i dont even ask. at new places, if i know a record is a little over priced ill see if they will hook it up with a bundle deal, but i never would expect a shop owner to go any more then 5 or 10 bucks off on a record, even if it is a 100 dollar record, thats just not good business sense. i wouldn't do it, why should they. i WOULD hate on a customer for trying to get me to cut prices in half, for no apparent reason.
Upstate, frequent flyers get 20% off. Motherbatch. That wholesale bunk is BS though. What I ESPECIALLY hate it someone wanting a deal out of my dollar bins at shows. It's a dollar bitch, get the fuck outta here. Since you dudes mentioned that guy who breaks records in front of people, I'm considering doing that to the next dollar bin huckster.
Out of all the stores in NYC now, I'll prioritise TSL and Good Records as my first visits.
Good > TSL
not quite yet but the squad at Good is much more entertaining than the dudes at TSL. plus theres a bench at Good that helps out the old folk like myself.
both bathrooms need some serious work though...
IMO Good Record kills TSL. TSL is ridiculously overpriced for VG- vinyl, and theres quite a bit of bin "filler." At Good Record every record is priced really fair, plays well and the biggest problem is pairing down what to buy from a stack of stuff you'd never think you would find. My hats off to you J'Paycheck
Back when the Canadian dollar was worth less, I'd get some price breaks - like 10% if I dropped a 100 or 200 bucks. I appreciated the gesture & would order from these guys every month. I'm more than fine with paying sticker price from a store that offers good service in the way of proper grading & stock. These are the kinds of guys you want to see stay in business!
... I find it to be very true - know the sound. know what sound people are after. There's so much unknown shit - especially 45s and 12s - you just gotta trust your instinct and roll with it. If you're sitting there waiting for something to show up on ebay or popsike it's not gonna happen when you're dealing with records where there are sometimes only a handful of known copies.
this is very true. Focus on your specialty as well. If loner polka-bossa don't do it for ya, find another niche, from a listener/seller standpoint that is.
I just wanted to add that being a volume ebay seller does not make you immune from this entitlement discount BS that you guys are ranting about.
You would be so amazed how many people want 10% to 20% off of AUCTION items because they bought 4 items or 10 items or whatever.
It has gone so far as to have some people just FREAK when i refuse any discount. It usually happens once or twice during a 1000+ peice auction. Happened the other day with a self defined " very important customer " of audiophile lp's. He demanded a 15% discount on 30 auction wins. When i said no he asked me to round the final price down. I said no to that too. I still have not received payment and it has been close to three weeks.
WE DONT DISCOUNT AUCTION ITEMS YOU BONERS. IT IS AN " AUCTION " FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. THE HIGHEST BIDDER WINS. YOUR " DISCOUNT " DOES NOT EXACTLY MAKE IT VERY FAIR TO THE DUDE WHO OFFERED 50 CENTS LESS THAT YOU DOES IT? DISCOUNTED AUCTION ITEMS ARE THE BIGGEST OXYMORON EVAR!
Set sales yes... I will discount but not auction items. That is wack to say the least.
this is making me relive experiences with some mofo out in Dallas who started taking every record I selected home 'to price' first, even though they were visibly priced. I would come back and he mysteriously couldn't find them or say his son accidently put them on Ebay... but would sell them to any other fool that would come by. Hookup knows who I'm talking about. Sketchy ass shitfuck. Wow this has been helpful!
if somebody wants to look something up on ebay or popsike to see if it's worth $$$, i can't knock that...you gotta stay afloat. but why can't places do that BEFORE putting them out on the floor? Letting some dude find an awesome record, bring it up to the counter, and then be on some "nah I can't sell that" shit is x1000.
if somebody wants to look something up on ebay or popsike to see if it's worth $$$, i can't knock that...you gotta stay afloat. but why can't places do that BEFORE putting them out on the floor? Letting some dude find an awesome record, bring it up to the counter, and then be on some "nah I can't sell that" shit is x1000.
because the seller uses you to determine what is a desirable record
if you are in a big city & have ways to move your records for top prices, hey grand, ask what you can get. what pisses me off is these po-dunk one-horse town twerps who are asking for the 'going world rate' thanks to the internet.
I think that's a really valid point, but it can be a hard one to stick to from a store perspective. I agree that charging top dollar should pretty much mean you have both a lot of traffic (buying wise) and a wide selection (IE, if you've only got a handfull of shit in a certain genre (unless it's ALL gold), it doesn't make sense to charge out the ass for it.) On the other hand, I work at a store that's relatively new to the used game, and we're in San Diego, so it's not exactly collector central. I hustle really hard for the store, pretty much working 7 day weeks, and as much as I try to get the best records for the spot, we're not exacly swimming in wall-type records. I don't believe in selling shit on ebay that someone who would come into our store might actually want, but it's hard to put stuff out for far lower than "world going rate" if it's something that there is a demand for. I know, if I'm wieghing selling it on ebay, why have a store, right? I'm just saying, if I find something like a rare disco 12" (an area I know very little about, and which our store doesn't have a specialty), I'm not trying to put it out for the highest popsike value I see, but it's hard to justify putting it out at the same price as all the other 12"s, or something far below what it sells for on the internet.
if somebody wants to look something up on ebay or popsike to see if it's worth $$$, i can't knock that...you gotta stay afloat. but why can't places do that BEFORE putting them out on the floor? Letting some dude find an awesome record, bring it up to the counter, and then be on some "nah I can't sell that" shit is x1000.
this is making me relive experiences with some mofo out in Dallas who started taking every record I selected home 'to price' first, even though they were visibly priced. I would come back and he mysteriously couldn't find them or say his son accidently put them on Ebay... but would sell them to any other fool that would come by. Hookup knows who I'm talking about. Sketchy ass shitfuck. Wow this has been helpful!
Who it be???? Gimme a clue....Crazy Ass Charles???
this is making me relive experiences with some mofo out in Dallas who started taking every record I selected home 'to price' first, even though they were visibly priced. I would come back and he mysteriously couldn't find them or say his son accidently put them on Ebay... but would sell them to any other fool that would come by. Hookup knows who I'm talking about. Sketchy ass shitfuck. Wow this has been helpful!
Who it be???? Gimme a clue....Crazy Ass Charles???
hit the nail on the head. what are your experiences with that dude? There are some other things that jackass did that pissed me off, but there should be a whole other thread started.
I just wanted to add that being a volume ebay seller does not make you immune from this entitlement discount BS that you guys are ranting about.
You would be so amazed how many people want 10% to 20% off of AUCTION items because they bought 4 items or 10 items or whatever.
It has gone so far as to have some people just FREAK when i refuse any discount. It usually happens once or twice during a 1000+ peice auction. Happened the other day with a self defined " very important customer " of audiophile lp's. He demanded a 15% discount on 30 auction wins. When i said no he asked me to round the final price down. I said no to that too. I still have not received payment and it has been close to three weeks.
WE DONT DISCOUNT AUCTION ITEMS YOU BONERS. IT IS AN " AUCTION " FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. THE HIGHEST BIDDER WINS. YOUR " DISCOUNT " DOES NOT EXACTLY MAKE IT VERY FAIR TO THE DUDE WHO OFFERED 50 CENTS LESS THAT YOU DOES IT? DISCOUNTED AUCTION ITEMS ARE THE BIGGEST OXYMORON EVAR!
Set sales yes... I will discount but not auction items. That is wack to say the least.
ap
AP...give the fool the 15% discount....get paid through Paypal...then charge and administrative fee of 35% for "follow through payment for tepid initial treatment". Whatever you have to do make them understand that we don't play.
Johnny, have a policy. X$=Y%discount. Offer that same discount to every volume buyer who asks. Don't play games 'I can discount this record, but not that record'. Don't play their game,'I'm sorry Y% is our discount'.
At record shows most people expect deals. I ask what's the best price? I offer a little discount to anyone who asks at shows.
People, never ask for a discount on something you won at auction. When you won the auction you agreed to the price.
My pet peeve is people with unpriced records at shows who want to sit and haggel. Philly Hobo watched me put back a nice stack of records once. The guy asked me what I wanted to pay. I offered him the price I could pay for them $40. Sorry I need $80. OK, I start putting them back. Don't put them back, how much can you pay? $40. How about $60? I walked away. T shmoozed the guy and got a nice deal. I don't have time to play those games.
The next is guys who price a $40 record at $80 but will take $20 for it if I ask. I know one or two NW dealers who are like that. I rarely ask, because it's so insulting to offer 1/4 what the guy is asking.
There is no way any dealer knows the "right" price for every record. You can find a nice modern, or funk or northern or disco or loner folk record and know that it is good. But there is no way of knowing if it is $40 or $4,000 good with out doing some research. I recently found a flipped out loner 5 octive plays 100 instruments electronic record. Looked like hundreds of dollars. Turned out the guy sold scads of records all up and down the CA coast.
Johnny, have a policy. X$=Y%discount. Offer that same discount to every volume buyer who asks. Don't play games 'I can discount this record, but not that record'. Don't play their game,'I'm sorry Y% is our discount'.
This is real talk. I hate arguing over records. There might be one record I'm willing to cut $20 off and another that I won't take a dollar less on.
I got an email the other day asking me to lower my "buy it now" price on an auction. I said no. He said "just thought I should let you know the most I will pay on this". I'm thinking that's nice dude - but you already knew how much I wanted for that if you want it that bad. Please don't email me every time you don't want to pay what I'm asking for an item.
Next up: dudes bargaining down on $1 records. Shit is silly. Just buy it. What, are you going to wait 20 years to find it for a quarter so you can buy a coke?
This dipshit motorcycle man was just haggling on a 8 dollar Grateful Dead record down to 6 dollars. I'm just thinkin in my head, I pay 6 dollars shipping on a hundred dollar record and this is the best this guy can do. Whatever...
One time in Austin I had $12.00 on an LP and this guy asks what my best price was....I'm in a good mood, just sold some big records so I tell him $6.00....guy puts it back and starts to walk away....I tell him $4.00....he keeps walking...finally I say....here just take the LP...it's yours for free....he just keeps on walking??? I love humans!!
When I am buying in numbers, be it from a store, at auction or at a show. I never ask for discount, it makes those times when you are just given a discount by the vendor all the more cool. I had a strange thing selling auctions a couple weeks ago. A guy asked in the Q&A section of an auction if I would discount the items if he bought 4 records I had on auction off me, the total would have been $25 incl. postage. I told him to bid & maybe we could sort something out if he actually won the auctions. He didn't bid, then asked for fixed price offers on all 4 items (they didn't sell), some people are unbelievably tight. I didn't give him a fixed price offer either.
I got an email the other day asking me to lower my "buy it now" price on an auction. I said no. He said "just thought I should let you know the most I will pay on this". I'm thinking that's nice dude - but you already knew how much I wanted for that if you want it that bad. Please don't email me every time you don't want to pay what I'm asking for an item.
this wasn't on the Miami to Vegas LP that I got my sights on is it?
My only tough bargaining stories come from newbie beat kids or from German middle aged guys who look downright angry that they can't get a $40 discount on the $100 worth of LP's they picked up. I work with people for sure and I'm glad to state the price on any items I sell that are unmarked, but once you have in price info, you can't be pissed if I woun't sell it to you at the price you're willing to pay. You just got to deal with the price I'm willing to sell at. You don't like it go somewhere else and try to find wacky private press modern soul freak out. I'll be waiting for them on the rebound...and I don't take American Express
this wasn't on the Miami to Vegas LP that I got my sights on is it?
My only tough bargaining stories come from newbie beat kids or from German middle aged guys who look downright angry that they can't get a $40 discount on the $100 worth of LP's they picked up. I work with people for sure and I'm glad to state the price on any items I sell that are unmarked, but once you have in price info, you can't be pissed if I woun't sell it to you at the price you're willing to pay. You just got to deal with the price I'm willing to sell at. You don't like it go somewhere else and try to find wacky private press modern soul freak out. I'll be waiting for them on the rebound...and I don't take American Express
Yeah that's the one, don't worry it's running. What is funny is it will probably end at higher than the buy-it-now price.
My pet peeve is people with unpriced records at shows who want to sit and haggel. Philly Hobo watched me put back a nice stack of records once. The guy asked me what I wanted to pay. I offered him the price I could pay for them $40. Sorry I need $80. OK, I start putting them back. Don't put them back, how much can you pay? $40. How about $60? I walked away. T shmoozed the guy and got a nice deal. I don't have time to play those games.
this reminds me of a dude selling records out of his garage, all alphabetically lined up and everything, and i pull stuff like electric prunes, rare bird, whatever, and he's like "oohhhh, those are rare, you probably won't be able to afford those.." I kinda gave him a bewildered look cuz he tried to sell for full record store prices. And he says to me, "yea, it says garage sale, but you know, it's not kinda not". WTF???
Jeez, some of you are in a bad crowd situation. It's probably because of the kind of records I deal in, but I have lots of respect for almost all of my former ebay customers. I do have some negative experiences, mostly with hasty New York DJs trying to hustle me with BS about needing several (discounted) "DJ copies" of "Shalimar" or "Ananda Shankar and his music" or whatever. Also, the guys mailing me to ask whether I could cancel the auction and accept $50 right away assuming I am some kind of nut without any knowledge. Mostly or always yankees.
Best experience I had, now that we're generalizing, was with Germans and French. Always polite and never demanding.
Yeah that's the one, don't worry it's running. What is funny is it will probably end at higher than the buy-it-now price.
this has happened to me the past three or four times i've put "buy-it-now" prices on auctions, and i've gotten at least 30-40% more than the buyitnow for the record each time.
I dont know why some some of you are so upset by that. It's probably just a cultural difference. In some part of the world people bargain on anything they buy, regardless of the price or quantity. Kinda like saying hello, thank you, bye.
That's some basic interaction with the shopkeeper. People like to talk even when they don't have any intention to buy. May be you should take the time to explain why such records is $150.
Comments
im like this too, my usual spots they recognize me or know me and so i know they take off what they can, i dont even ask. at new places, if i know a record is a little over priced ill see if they will hook it up with a bundle deal, but i never would expect a shop owner to go any more then 5 or 10 bucks off on a record, even if it is a 100 dollar record, thats just not good business sense. i wouldn't do it, why should they. i WOULD hate on a customer for trying to get me to cut prices in half, for no apparent reason.
Motherbatch.
That wholesale bunk is BS though. What I ESPECIALLY hate it someone wanting a deal out of my dollar bins at shows. It's a dollar bitch, get the fuck outta here. Since you dudes mentioned that guy who breaks records in front of people, I'm considering doing that to the next dollar bin huckster.
You would be appauled if a dealer asked you to pay $10-$25 more than what was marked.
IMO Good Record kills TSL. TSL is ridiculously overpriced for VG- vinyl, and theres quite a bit of bin "filler." At Good Record every record is priced really fair, plays well and the biggest problem is pairing down what to buy from a stack of stuff you'd never think you would find. My hats off to you J'Paycheck
Back when the Canadian dollar was worth less, I'd get some price breaks - like 10% if I dropped a 100 or 200 bucks. I appreciated the gesture & would order from these guys every month. I'm more than fine with paying sticker price from a store that offers good service in the way of proper grading & stock. These are the kinds of guys you want to see stay in business!
this is very true. Focus on your specialty as well. If loner polka-bossa don't do it for ya, find another niche, from a listener/seller standpoint that is.
You would be so amazed how many people want 10% to 20% off of AUCTION items because they bought 4 items or 10 items or whatever.
It has gone so far as to have some people just FREAK when i refuse any discount. It usually happens once or twice during a 1000+ peice auction. Happened the other day with a self defined " very important customer " of audiophile lp's. He demanded a 15% discount on 30 auction wins. When i said no he asked me to round the final price down. I said no to that too. I still have not received payment and it has been close to three weeks.
WE DONT DISCOUNT AUCTION ITEMS YOU BONERS. IT IS AN " AUCTION " FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. THE HIGHEST BIDDER WINS. YOUR " DISCOUNT " DOES NOT EXACTLY MAKE IT VERY FAIR TO THE DUDE WHO OFFERED 50 CENTS LESS THAT YOU DOES IT? DISCOUNTED AUCTION ITEMS ARE THE BIGGEST OXYMORON EVAR!
Set sales yes... I will discount but not auction items. That is wack to say the least.
ap
Hookup knows who I'm talking about. Sketchy ass shitfuck. Wow this has been helpful!
because the seller uses you to determine what is a desirable record
On the other hand, I work at a store that's relatively new to the used game, and we're in San Diego, so it's not exactly collector central. I hustle really hard for the store, pretty much working 7 day weeks, and as much as I try to get the best records for the spot, we're not exacly swimming in wall-type records. I don't believe in selling shit on ebay that someone who would come into our store might actually want, but it's hard to put stuff out for far lower than "world going rate" if it's something that there is a demand for.
I know, if I'm wieghing selling it on ebay, why have a store, right? I'm just saying, if I find something like a rare disco 12" (an area I know very little about, and which our store doesn't have a specialty), I'm not trying to put it out for the highest popsike value I see, but it's hard to justify putting it out at the same price as all the other 12"s, or something far below what it sells for on the internet.
Who it be???? Gimme a clue....Crazy Ass Charles???
hit the nail on the head. what are your experiences with that dude?
There are some other things that jackass did that pissed me off, but there should be a whole other thread started.
AP...give the fool the 15% discount....get paid through Paypal...then charge and administrative fee of 35% for "follow through payment for tepid initial treatment". Whatever you have to do make them understand that we don't play.
At record shows most people expect deals. I ask what's the best price? I offer a little discount to anyone who asks at shows.
People, never ask for a discount on something you won at auction. When you won the auction you agreed to the price.
My pet peeve is people with unpriced records at shows who want to sit and haggel. Philly Hobo watched me put back a nice stack of records once. The guy asked me what I wanted to pay. I offered him the price I could pay for them $40. Sorry I need $80. OK, I start putting them back. Don't put them back, how much can you pay? $40. How about $60? I walked away. T shmoozed the guy and got a nice deal. I don't have time to play those games.
The next is guys who price a $40 record at $80 but will take $20 for it if I ask. I know one or two NW dealers who are like that. I rarely ask, because it's so insulting to offer 1/4 what the guy is asking.
There is no way any dealer knows the "right" price for every record. You can find a nice modern, or funk or northern or disco or loner folk record and know that it is good. But there is no way of knowing if it is $40 or $4,000 good with out doing some research. I recently found a flipped out loner 5 octive plays 100 instruments electronic record. Looked like hundreds of dollars. Turned out the guy sold scads of records all up and down the CA coast.
Dan
This is real talk. I hate arguing over records. There might be one record I'm willing to cut $20 off and another that I won't take a dollar less on.
Good points. Thanks Dan.
Next up: dudes bargaining down on $1 records. Shit is silly. Just buy it. What, are you going to wait 20 years to find it for a quarter so you can buy a coke?
this wasn't on the Miami to Vegas LP that I got my sights on is it?
My only tough bargaining stories come from newbie beat kids or from German middle aged guys who look downright angry that they can't get a $40 discount on the $100 worth of LP's they picked up.
I work with people for sure and I'm glad to state the price on any items I sell that are unmarked, but once you have in price info, you can't be pissed if I woun't sell it to you at the price you're willing to pay. You just got to deal with the price I'm willing to sell at. You don't like it go somewhere else and try to find wacky private press modern soul freak out. I'll be waiting for them on the rebound...and I don't take American Express
Yeah that's the one, don't worry it's running. What is funny is it will probably end at higher than the buy-it-now price.
this reminds me of a dude selling records out of his garage, all alphabetically lined up and everything, and i pull stuff like electric prunes, rare bird, whatever, and he's like "oohhhh, those are rare, you probably won't be able to afford those.." I kinda gave him a bewildered look cuz he tried to sell for full record store prices. And he says to me, "yea, it says garage sale, but you know, it's not kinda not". WTF???
Best experience I had, now that we're generalizing, was with Germans and French. Always polite and never demanding.
But seriously, I love Americans you know.
this has happened to me the past three or four times i've put "buy-it-now" prices on auctions, and i've gotten at least 30-40% more than the buyitnow for the record each time.
That's some basic interaction with the shopkeeper. People like to talk even when they don't have any intention to buy. May be you should take the time to explain why such records is $150.