sec34gtr,
To address your post, I fully understand how the system works but as a customer I have certain basic expectations and while you have valid points as a dealer but please don't give me the 'poor dealer lecture' of the struggling musician trying to make it on the quest for the almighty dollar. What places like GC is downright ridiculous to me and I don't see my opinion changing anytime soon. I've had nothing but terrible experience with them, most dealers I've ever dealt with save for the few I can count on one hand would lie/cheat/steal anything from you to make a profit and THAT is not what music is all about to me.
To pay $1700 for something that is BARELY two years old at this point 'new' from a store like GC, care for it lovingly for those years.. and then be offered not even HALF of what you originally paid so they can sell it at $1350 and make a $550 profit off you and then most likely get another $1350 off someone on something they already sold once is just laughable to me, I'm sorry. I don't care if that's how 'the business works' because in the end, you're just screwing the same poster child you've put up in your post about the struggling musician. I can't afford to take a bath like that on a piece of gear as a 'struggling musician' myself.
Another thing.. my father was sold a guitar from the store manager of the same GC as new... after a few weeks with the piece he found a small piece of paper in the guitar case with some guy's # on it... he decided to call and ask about it and found out someone had custom ordered that guitar, played with it for a few MONTHS and then sold it back to GC, prob took a huge bath on it knowing how shady this particular GC acts, and then GC turned around and sold it as new to my father. After learning this he called them out on it and they were basically like yeah, whatever.
These are the experiences I have. The end user doesn't care about the cost of business, that's how capitalism works, I just want a reasonable product at a fair price without having to get raped on it. I realize gear once sold loses a lot of value, but I'm not going to swallow over half it's value, that's just not realistic.
So if my sympathy for the 'dealer,' in this case someone who's trying to rob me blind, seems waivering I apologize, but you can't sense honesty and integrity through text on the internet so I understand your rant against what I said. Just remember I'm not looking to screw anyone here, in my for sale post on another forum I even described all the stuff I've done to the amp that might make it less desireable to someone. I don't have the time or money to deal with people trying to blatently rip me off, so if my post came across as sour against gear dealers, please try to understand that but I'm not telling someone one thing and showing them another, nor would I hold someone to a quote I was given over the phone.
All in all, I see your side of the argument but please try to consider mine.
edit: I don't want that to come off as any sort of attack on you, this topic has irked me for awhile so I apologize if you got the brunt of my own mini rant
