Crayon Sky Music

Why are musiciansfriend.com prices so low?

For example the Gibson Les Paul Standard 60s Neck guitar has a price tag of $2,119.99 on “sale” but the list price is $3,178.00. I’ve never seen an item on there for anywhere near the list price. Why? Is their stuff junk? It’s not wholesale, they just have extremely low prices all the time, and I want to know how they make a profit. Especially with free shipping most of the time…
ok obviously this needs some clarification – how can something that has a retail price of $3200 sell for $2100?????????

The answer is VOLUME. Same as Wal-Mart, they sell so much of it that they get it really cheap.

And FYI, Guitar Center and Musicians Friend are the same company. That’s why the prices are the same. So that just shows you, the 2 biggest music stores are 1 company, so you can just imagine the price breaks they are getting from dealers.

Retail price is a bogus number, it’s what the dealer (Gibson) says that their product is worth in the retail market. It’s a marketting ploy to make you think you’re getting a great deal. In reality, Musicians Friend probably pays about 50% of that retail (standard markup for wholesale). Look at it that way.

50% of $3178 is $1589
You’re paying $2119, so they profit $530.

I used to work in wholesale, retail price means nothing to the consumer.

Gibson Les Paul Standard 60′s neck