You can see this happening!

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You can see this happening!

Postby Ray Bohlken » Tue Nov 08, 2011 10:55 am

I read this news article and I have to say I've been expecting this for a while. These taxes would help with the various short falls in state budgets, but having to pay the sales tax as well as shipping would drive the cost of some purchases up so high that folks might reconsider making the buy. I wonder how it would affect Ebay auctions and sales. They mention that in this news, but it's not clear about what would happen...at least it's not clear to me. I occasionally auction things on Ebay and wonder if I would have to collect sales taxes on the stuff I sell.
Ray

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/web-sal ... s-congress
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Re: You can see this happening!

Postby Norm » Tue Nov 08, 2011 11:27 am

I have a friend who owns a music store that has been at the same location under different owners for almost seventy years. The condition that online out of state sales are not required to pay taxes has had a devastating affect on his business. To help defray this he has established his own online vending system

One of the irritating things is when people bring in their online purchases asking for a setup. Some people have the actual brass to demand a free setup "because the factory guarantees it!"

Nobody likes to pay taxes but, particularly at the local level, they are how services like police and fire are paid for (for starters)
...that's how it looks to me...The opinion expressed above is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of this station. Your mileage may vary...

Audio samples: http://www.youtube.com/user/acountrygent/videos
That should do it.
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Re: You can see this happening!

Postby JerryShaw » Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:11 pm

Norm, curious how this would it hurt his business. If it's an out of state sale (no tax), then he woudln't be required to collect the tax nor pay tax on this to the state right? Shouldn't it be a wash?. I would think it wold be a big benefit to a guitar dealer. His customers can save 6% (or whatever the tax rate is) by buying out of state, and not incurring tax.
The buyer would be more apt to buy out of state to avoid the sales tax in thier home state, and the vendor would benefit by getting all of these out of state buyers.

I think it would really hurt Ebay. Where in the past the guy could pay $1,000 for a guitar, Now he'd have to pay an extra $60, Stuff like that can be a real deal breaker.
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Re: You can see this happening!

Postby Norm » Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:00 pm

Norm, curious how this would it hurt his business..."

Local folks, who would normally be his customers, would buy their guitars from out of state discounters.

Then they would bring in the guitars and ask for setups.

He is an excellent priced local dealer...never charged catalog prices, had excellent stock and guitars meticulously checked and set up on arrival.

He could, theoretically, compete with the on-line guys pricewise but having to charge state and local taxes to his local customers would often break the deal. It wasn't just him. It was other dealers in the area, too..
...that's how it looks to me...The opinion expressed above is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of this station. Your mileage may vary...

Audio samples: http://www.youtube.com/user/acountrygent/videos
That should do it.
Norm
 
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Re: You can see this happening!

Postby RandeDager » Tue Nov 08, 2011 9:30 pm

Norm, I agree with you. It's pretty nervy of anyone to expect free service from a business for whom they were never a customer. I even hesitate to ask for any special consideration when my purchases were small.
Rande
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Re: You can see this happening!

Postby Eddie Estes » Tue Nov 08, 2011 10:34 pm

If a store is a manufacturer authorized repair center they should repair it.
They get paid by the guitar company under warrenty.
Same as if I buy a Ford any dealer should repair it according to the warrenty.
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Re: You can see this happening!

Postby Norm » Tue Nov 08, 2011 11:58 pm

I agree with you, Eddie, but my friend's shop is not a designated warranty repair center.

The guy brings in a guitar he did not buy there but bought online, so new you can 'smell the new' (like a new car smell) and wants a free setup. Guy figures he has free tinkering coming because my friend is a close by Gibson dealer and the guy bought a Les Paul on Amazon and since Les Paul's are Gibsons he figures my friend ought to go out of his way to accomodate him

I don't even know what the major companies pay in compensation for a setup. Bet it isn't a lot and may not even cover the actual time/labor and you may even have to do some kind of kickback to be allowed to post "authorized service center'.

The smaller personal attention local guitar shops are being eaten up by online sales and places like Guitar Center.

>shrug< I have my guitars. But it saddens me that my friend, who loves the business and is an excellent guitarist himself, has to watch his business ebb.

Everybody talks the talk in favor of 'supporting small businesses...'
... except when they want to save a buck...
...that's how it looks to me...The opinion expressed above is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of this station. Your mileage may vary...

Audio samples: http://www.youtube.com/user/acountrygent/videos
That should do it.
Norm
 
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Re: You can see this happening!

Postby jay » Wed Nov 09, 2011 9:09 am

Hey Norm...
Local folks, who would normally be his customers, would buy their guitars from out of state discounters.

Everybody talks the talk in favor of 'supporting small businesses...'
... except when they want to save a buck...



This sentiment has been prevalent since Wards, Sears and Pennys found a way to get their stores into every small town in America via the USPS (which also has met its match via the internet) and then Gibsons, Kmart, WM, Sams, Target etc...began to build in every small town, once again threatening local small business and then Al Gore invented the internet and it became the largest retail outlet source...

It does suck for the small business person, but that is the ebb and flow of wealth in the vicious world of capitalism. Certainly your friend took this into account. If he is not an authorized dealer, he does have the option of helping these customers find the appropriate outlet for those "free" services. But you really never want to send a prospective customer somewhere else, when free time is your only expense...eh...its a retail no no.

Govt entities (regardless of what level) are looking for ways to find more revenue to spend. They do not give a rats behind about equality on whatever retail level. They are just trying to get at untapped resources...and there is a huge one residing on the www.
jay kantor
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Re: You can see this happening!

Postby Norm » Wed Nov 09, 2011 10:46 am

My friend helps a lot of these people because, after all, the small business guy uses service as a customer incentive. He's not stupid enough to get harshly negative. It's just that every brand new guitar brought in that someone bought elsewhere and wants serviced represents a sale he might have made had the money playing field been a little more level.

We can pontificate and talk "All they gotta do is..." all day, but the fact is, it's All About Money.

It always comes down to that.
...that's how it looks to me...The opinion expressed above is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of this station. Your mileage may vary...

Audio samples: http://www.youtube.com/user/acountrygent/videos
That should do it.
Norm
 
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Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 12:36 pm
Location: redwood city ca


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