When shopping for a new guitar, what's the price? No, what's the real price? I mean - how much does it really cost? Every guitar retailer pays X amount of dollars for a guitar before they sell it to you... but depending on which dealer you buy from, they may be paying much more than the cost of the guitar itself. And guess who absorbs all of those other costs? The customer. So many other factors add up when you consider the true expense of selling a guitar.
For example, when you - a customer - sell a guitar on Ebay, you could say it costs you the price you paid for the guitar plus the Ebay fees, right? So if the guitar cost you $500 when you bought it, and the Ebay fees are $25, we could say it cost you $525 to sell it. You need to sell it for at least $525 just to break even. But what if you had a few dozen employees help you sell it, and you give them health insurance and workman's compensation? I'll bet you'll need to put way more than $525 in your pocket to sell that same guitar. You might have to increase your price by 20-30% or more.
Let's step on the other side of the equation. You want to buy an XYZ guitar, and you find 2 listings for the same guitar. One is $525 from a seller who's selling it on his own. Another seller has dozens of employees and a huge store and, well, lots of overhead. He advertises the same exact guitar for $682.50. Would you buy the one for $682? I wouldn't. But that's what many uneducated customers do every single day at the big box chain stores.
When you walk into a huge big box store, take a look around. Count the number of employees you see on the showroom floor. Add a couple more for the management you don't see. Add a several more for warehouse workers. Add still a few more for corporate suits with super-high salaries. Now, count the number of guitars you see on the wall. Never mind amps, pedals, cables and accessories. For now, we won't even include high-priced rent, advertising, insurance, operating costs, fixtures or displays. Just figure for every single guitar on the wall, they have a few more each in the back room, and more on the way via UPS. When you pick one single guitar off that wall and look at the price tag the price you are asked to pay helps pay for ALL of these expenses. When you give a big chain store your hard-earned money, only a portion of it really goes to the guitar. So you wanna spend $1000 for a new acoustic? In reality you bought a $650 acoustic and became an anonymous non-profit investor in their company.
In comparison, if you shop for that same guitar at MaurysMusic.com, things are very different. We are a small mom & pop store. There are only 2 of us here. We each wear many different hats and we are very efficient. We have extremely low rent and overhead. We don't pay a board of directors or a room full of accountants. We run this entire business with one thing in mind ... cut the fat, and get these great products to our customers at the lowest prices possible.
Contact us and ask us for the real deal on our acoustic guitars labeled at “(MAP) minimum advertised price”. You found the guitar you want at a big box chain store? That's ok... just get the facts before you spend your hard earned money. Make it go farther ... much farther ... give us a chance to earn your business and put more money back in your pocket. You can’t take the extra overhead home and play it - so why pay for it?
