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Hard to deal with


brannon67

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This is a business practice of Gibson. They require a minimum investment to carry their products. I base this on having been in the business and have a large number of friend who still are.

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Possibly no desire to deal with anyone but larger distributors. I think Yorkville Sound is the only authorized Gibson dealer in Canada. Lots of manufacturers are doing this these days, heck some of the manufacturers I deal with want us to order $5000 USD of there product minimum for them to even consider filling the order. When it comes to guitars if you want a humbucker equipped one Gibson will be the top of the line (I am not a brand whore, its just true) and single coil would respectively goto Fender, these guys who what they got and arent afraid to treat there product as such. Gotta remember for a ma and pa shop to carry a respectible Gibson inventory they will probably be forking out 20-30 thousand just in Gibbys which can put anyone in a sticky financial situation, especially if you dont sell them before the bank wants there money back!

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Possibly no desire to deal with anyone but larger distributors. I think Yorkville Sound is the only authorized Gibson dealer in Canada. Lots of manufacturers are doing this these days, heck some of the manufacturers I deal with want us to order $5000 USD (MY COST NOT RETAIL) of there product minimum for them to even consider filling the order. When it comes to guitars if you want a humbucker equipped one Gibson will be the top of the line (I am not a brand whore, its just true) and single coil would respectively goto Fender, these guys who what they got and arent afraid to treat there product as such. Gotta remember for a ma and pa shop to carry a respectible Gibson inventory they will probably be forking out 20-30 thousand just in Gibbys which can put anyone in a sticky financial situation, especially if you dont sell them before the bank wants there money back!

 

Ok weird I wanted to edit my post and somehow quoted it, le sigh

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Having worked in a music store this is common practice for just about every guitar and certain product lines. You have to consider that this is how Gibson and others get paid. It's not like the dealer sends them money every time they sell a guitar. To maintain any kind of exclusive dealership ( although it seems the exclusivity part has been thrown out the window these days) for a product they require you to order a certain amount of product each year or few months etc... Usually the "Buy in" is the biggest hit but they also want the stores that are going to move product and order more quick.

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From the perspective of a "high end, high-reputation" product of any sort, it certainly would be best to sell through dealers who have the appearance and wherewithall to reflect that.

 

What that means from a negative standpoint is "them as has, gets," but from a more realistic standpoint, you're probably going to get better service one way or another from a retail outlet that ain't constantly terrified about today's cash flow.

 

m

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The Gibson CEO dealt with this issue thoroughly on his forum not long after he opened the forum to all who go through the registration process. I recommend becoming members of HJ's forum and searching for this subject. You will find more than enough discussion/explanation from the Gibson CEO.

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vincentw

 

Yup...

 

I go back to the HenryJ forum every cupla weeks if there's nothing in a thread I've subscribed to.

 

But... I keep hoping somebody will get back to me on the new Epi Buffalo Chip model given that I'm 30 miles away and know some of the folks over there - like the boss... I keep hoping to do a pix there or at the monument some 30 miles away at the geographical center of the US.

 

Oh well.

 

m

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