Local Store J74 Prices

[gregjones]

I try to buy from local boys. A PVC pipe fitting from Billy's Hardware rather than one from Home Depot----that type of thing. Not a lot, but a purchase from a local retailer means a lot to them while a purchace from a mega chain means nothing to anyone. IMHO

I had stopped a a local music store to visit for the first time, just because they're local. They had J75's but no 74's. They said they would order some. Back in town, I stopped by again. They had ordered some J74's. Great, I'll take a set.

$8 plus change.

D'Addario list is $7.00 on their website and Dennis sells them for four bucks.

I can't afford to support the locals at that rate.

What do you think?

How much does your local store get for a set of J74's?

[D C Blood]

Our local Sam Ash (chain) gets $6.99, a tad high, I'd think...

[Douglas McMullin]

$5 plus tax

[300win]

my closest store there $7 counting tax.

[squirrelabama]

Stores in these parts (Portland OR) range from 5.99 to 7.95 per set from what I've seen. No sales tax here. Some shop owners will(might) cut me a break if I'm buying 5 or more sets.

[gibson mandoman]

Isn't there usually a shipping charge for buying mandolin strings from a music retailer? Shipping is normally $5 to $7 for strings, unless some retailers don't charge for shipping. This definitely increases the price of buying mandolin strings online. If you buy local you pay for the strings plus tax. If you buy two sets online at $4 each set, then pay $6 for shipping. Total cost $14. Buying locally, $14 for two sets (priced at $7 a set) plus tax. I don't see there is a huge savings when buying online versus buying at local music store. I might be wrong though, which wouldn't be the first time.

[thistle3585]

My guess is that the strings are higher because 1. they probably didn't meet D'Addario's minimum string order amount so there was a surcharge, 2. they had to create paperwork to bring them in as well as sell them which costs money and time and 3. if you didn't pay cash then they had to pay someone a fee to process the payment. Plus, they probably bought several extra sets that will sit in stock. All that adds up. Honestly, they probably would have been better off telling you they couldn't get them but they chose to have good customer service in hopes that you'd come back and buy something that they would make a profit on.

[Patrick Market]

The last set I bought was $6.95 in St. Louis. I paid cash, and they make my mandolin sound sweet.

I also talked to the store owner a while. Great shop, helpful owner. I'll gladly pay the extra $2 for personal service. Anyway, my $0.02 only...

[jim_n_virginia]

I get J74's and 75's at my locally owned music store in Va Beach (Alpha Music) for $5.99

I think $8 bucks for a set of strings is kinda outrageous. I think the problem is that one particular store.

I mean most locally owned Mom and Pop music stores cannot buy in bulk like a Guitar Center so their products will understandably by a little more expensive. But the SMART local stores will make up for this in individualized service.

For instance Alpha will order any string (or product) I want and usually have it within a week. Also they will sell me a whole box of 12 packs of strings and even knock off a little more.

Also they know my name when I walk in the door. :mandosmiley:

[Michael Lewis]

Any store that sells retail must make a profit to stay in business. The big problem that independent music stores have is that the chains like Guitar Center/Musician's Friend buy in very large quantities and get a significant discount that small shops can not do. It is rare that a big box store will have anything resembling a service department, but most small dealers do. If you want the small stores to be there when you need something you must patronize them with your business.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Try a typical UK price - £8.50 ($14.00 US) & you'll understand why i purchase from well known US store(s). Our dealers would kill (a 'figure of speech' not an actuality,i hasten to add) for the prices the US stores get them for,but the importers,as usual hike the prices up. If i order 10 sets of J74's,i save around £57.00 UK ($91.00 US),a heck of a saving - that's a further 20 sets !!!,
Ivan:whistling:

[man dough nollij]

It's strange that string prices are so out-of-control in Europe. I wonder why-- they are small and cheap to ship. Is there a wacky VAT of 200% or something? :confused:

[Steve L]

It's cheaper for me to buy strings and other stuff on-line at retail than what I can get it for as an employee of a small music store which is almost cost.

If you wait until you need some other things, that either spreads the shipping cost over several items or meets a price point at which the products ship free in some stores. It makes no sense, for instance, to buy a dozen picks for $4.95 and then pay $6.00 shipping. I just bought 2 microphone stands for $30 for the pair. Buying 3 sets of strings and 2 dozen picks which I'll use eventually brought my total to the point where my order shipped free. Our store just can't do that.

It's impossible for small shops to match prices on things like this and make money. Unless they do lessons or have some niche in the market, it's hard to imagine a lot of small music stores being around in 10 years or so. I've been trying to talk the owner of my store into getting out of retail for years and focus on lessons and maybe just band instruments and used guitars. You can buy $100 dollar guitar packages in department stores and by the time you understand that they don't come out of the box in prime playable condition, you already own it. Small store music retail these days is, in many ways, a losers game.

[AlanN]

Also they know my name when I walk in the door.

Yeah, but what do they call you when you walk out? :))

I imagine strings sales add very little to a local store's bottom line profit.

[Dale Ludewig]

I think small music stores sell strings and picks as a convenience for their customers, not for a profit. And they need to make a profit to stay in business. As they say, "duh!". Even charging whatever price has been mentioned, they're probably still losing money. But I want my local business to be in business, just as I want to be. So I shop at locally owned businesses as much as I can, even if it costs more- up to a point. I think there's a point where support for local vs. taking care of your own interests causes a pause. Factors: what's your time worth? what's their's worth?
Now then, that being said, I don't know if J74's are made by the company that sells them. I've been told that (FWTW) that there are only a few string makers and most companies just relabel them. I string up in the white and toss a set after a couple days so that I can do the finish work. NFI: I buy from Webstrings and use their mediums. Same gauges as 74's. I buy at least a dozen sets at a time but they cost half what other people have to charge and stay in business. I can't tell a difference.
I still support my local business as much as I can.

[Ray(T)]

I'll second what Ivan says. If you think they're expensive in the US try buying them in the UK. Dealers over here tell me that they're not worth stocking and only sell them as a service to customers. UK made strings are just as expensive so its not the duty or the shipping.

I stocked up a few weeks ago from Elderley. In total, 20 sets cost me not much more than half the UK price and I paid $10 shipping + 15%VAT and the £8.00 the postal people charge for collecting it.
Ray

[Ivan Kelsall]

I don't know if it's 'absolutely' true,but it's a fair bet that almost every retail item that you buy in the USA will cost at least double in the UK. Back in '92,i purchased 2 pairs of Levi 501 jeans prior to my last trip to the USA @ £45 UK per pair ( $90 US at the time). While at Owensboro,i went down to the local shopping Mall for a look around & found a store called 'The County Seat'.They sold nothing but denim - shirts,skirts,jeans jackets ,everything. I bought 3 more pairs of Levis - they cost me the same price as one pair of UK bought jeans. The young woman who serverd me was astonished when i told her that her $30 jeans cost $90 in the UK. It's not called rip-off Britain for nothing you know,we have a reputation to keep up !!!,
Ivan:mad:
PS - Ray,i still haven't paid duty or tax on any strings from the US. Maybe it's because i order 10 sets only,i don't know. Try ordering 2 x 10 sets separately,next time & maybe order from Janet Davis. Whatever her store is doing,it's not costing me a bean.

[mrmando]

I don't know if it's 'absolutely' true,but it's a fair bet that almost every retail item that you buy in the USA will cost at least double in the UK.
Except Walker's shortbread, Altoids, and lemon curd...

I've shipped strings to the UK several times, but I don't know what kind of import duties people are having to pay on them.

[Mandophyte]

It's a general rule that when buying most "global" goods the UK price is the same number of pounds as US dollars, this accounts for the "almost twice as much" syndrome.

This one of the reasons why we continually have investigations into the price of CDs and other media items.

[Ray(T)]

The £/$ equivalence has always struck me too. Why, therefore, are UK made strings the same price as those made in the US? Economic theory would suggest that they should be cheaper but as we all know economic theory is simply "theory". If a shop has a set of US made strings at a particular price the UK made ones will be about the same. Things aren't priced in relation to what they cost to produce, as the theorists would tell us, but in relation to how much the market is likely to stand.

As for UK import duties, there is a level below which import duty is waived - it used to be if the duty payable was less than £7 but I think that may have changed and is now if the goods are more than a certain value. You then have to pay VAT (Value Added Tax if you're wondering - Its a Europe wide thing) In the UK this currently runs at 15% and is payable on both the price of the goods and the import duty if that is payable. VAT is waived if the value of the goods is less than £18 and the £/$ exchange rate is published monthly. To add insult to injury, the shipping firm add their own charges for collecting the taxes - if its the UK post Office, this is currently £8.

To answer Ivan's question, Janet Davies may be an option but I've never found them as cheap as Elderly. In the past I've managed to avoid paying tax/duty but you can only be certain in doing so if you limit your purchase to half a dozen sets of strings. Its really a matter of balancing the cost of the strings, shipping, the duty payable and the tax collector's pound of flesh to get what you think is the best deal. Admittedly, whether you get charged tax can, I suspect, sometimes be down to whether the tax collector can be bothered to fill in the paperwork. In such circumstances I don't think you could be guilty of tax evasion!
ray

[Rick Schmidlin]

9 in BC

[acousticphd]

Every local music shop I've ever used had discounts if you bought multiple sets of strings, like buy 2/get 1 free, or a larger, discount on 10 sets, and so on. I support the independent retailer's right and need to make a profit, but the margin should be modest on accessories.

If you want to use a local store, it makes sense to personally talk and discuss with the store how much they pay for a certain product you're requesting, and how much they're willing to charge you on one vs. multiple units, and chances are you can work something out. A music store has to carry strings, and it wouldn't make sense to me that they would pay a premium price to order a few units of something so common as J74s. Show the shop owner what J74s cost at 3 places online, and then discuss what sort of deal they can work out.

Incidently, this story is part of why I stopped buying name-brand strings years ago, and I'm happy that several of the local stores I've used in the past 5-10 yrs order in and sell unpackaged, bulk guitar and loop-end strings at price that nearly equals the online deals. This works out well (I hope) for both customer and retailer.

[Luke C]

I pay about $9.00 which includes 13% sales tax here in Nova Scotia. That works out to be about $8.30 USD. For some reason we always seem seem to pay more for our goods than our neighbors south of the border.:(

[Greg H.]

I've got a great place just about 20 minutes west of my house. Tony Williamsons 'Mandolin Central':

http://www.mandolincentral.com/cgi-bin/mandolincentral/store02/perlshop.cgi#mando

has J74s and J75s at $4.50 per set. My understanding is that he doesn't really make any money off the strings. . .. he's more into convincing you (whether your looking on line or in his shop) to buy a new/used mandolin along the way.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Ray - I don't know exactly how it works,but it seems that it depends on how the items are dipatched from the US to the UK,as to whether our Postal Service 'Parcel Force' delivers them - that's when the £8 charge is incurred. However the Janet Davis store sends them,my strings are delivered by normal hand mail. Were your strings sent by either registered or recorded delivery ? - if so,that could account for it. Items that i buy from the US are payed for by MASTERCARD & thus,carry a degree of insurance against loss or theft & don't need recorded or registered delivery.
Re.general UK pricing,i think everything is priced to 'what the market will stand' level ie.what folk are daft enough to pay,especially on 'fashion goods' - well,count me out of that one !.
The last time i was in the UK,i spent a couple of nights at a DAYS INN in Lexington,KY. There were a number of guys from all over the US staying there & of course we got talking. I remember asking a group of guys from Texas,what they thought would happen if gasoline (petrol to us ),was
put up to UK prices (3 x) - their replies are unprintable here,
Ivan~:>

[Ray(T)]

They came via the local "hand delivery"; or, more correctly, they tried to deliver whilst I was out I had to pay and pick them up from the local post office. I suspect the $10 postage and packing for 20 sets won't pay for any form of recorded/registered delivery. The 10 set rate at Elderly is currently $4.25 a set.
Ray

[KanMando]

Selling strings at a discounted price, and having a good selection of strings just makes good business sense for the local music retailer. How many times have you gone to your local store to buy strings, and walked out with an instrument too? It's happened to me more than once. I would drive ten miles out of my way to buy strings at Mountain Music Shoppe just because of price and selection. Of course, while I was there anyway, I would check out whatever struck my fancy. I've ended up with a couple guitars and a banjo that way.

Bob

[Ivan Kelsall]

Ray - 'normal' delivery means that they just 'stick 'em through' your letter box. If they take them to the Postal depot.,that usually means that it's recorded / registered delivery,for which the PO charges a 'handling fee' & for which you need to sign. The JD store is currently charging $4.57 a set,cheaper if you order either 6 or 12 sets ($4.29),so i'd go with Janet Davis & order 10 sets at a time.As i said,i've never been required to pay for anything other than the strings & postage.
I'll enquire fromJD re.what postal service she uses to send strings from the US to the UK,you might care to enquire the same thing from Elderley to see if they use the same Postal service,
Ivan

[Fretbear]

I know lot of folks like the idea of the brick and mortar shops staying open, but soon even things like newspapers will no longer exist; it is a new world. I buy most of my strings for four different instruments as custom singles, and I haven't bought strings from a walk-in store for over a decade; besides the fact that they don't carry them, I just wouldn't be able to afford them. Places like FQMS offer a selection, prices, and shipping charges that conventional music stores just cannot compete with. I used to hate being reamed in the old days for replacing a single broken guitar string from a music shop, but it was that or nothing. Times have changed.

[Steve L]

Selling strings at a discounted price, and having a good selection of strings just makes good business sense for the local music retailer. How many times have you gone to your local store to buy strings, and walked out with an instrument too? It's happened to me more than once. I would drive ten miles out of my way to buy strings at Mountain Music Shoppe just because of price and selection. Of course, while I was there anyway, I would check out whatever struck my fancy. I've ended up with a couple guitars and a banjo that way.

Bob

I think stocking and selling under $10 dollar items at a loss in hopes that a purchaser will impulsively buy an expensive instrument or piece of gear is the fast track to going out of business. The music store I work in stocks some mandolin strings and no one buys them or even asks for them. I get mine cheaper online and I work there.

I think Fretbear has put his finger on it...the models are changing. Brick and mortar stores will have to find a unique niche or new combinations of things to do in order to survive. I popped an E string on my guitar a few weeks ago and went to the local to get one as I didn't want to break up a set. $2.00 for 1 string. It was nice to be able to get one down the street, but I'm going to order spares online to keep in the house so I'm not in that position again.

I'd prefer to buy an instrument I've actually seen and played, but small goods are different.

[man doh]

Selling strings at a discounted price, and having a good selection of strings just makes good business sense for the local music retailer. How many times have you gone to your local store to buy strings, and walked out with an instrument too? It's happened to me more than once. I would drive ten miles out of my way to buy strings at Mountain Music Shoppe just because of price and selection. Of course, while I was there anyway, I would check out whatever struck my fancy. I've ended up with a couple guitars and a banjo that way.

Bob

I think Bob has nailed it. You need people in the door to sell instruments. You can do this two ways. Lessons and competitive consumables (strings, picks). I have a high end instrument store around the corner which I don't frequent because I have no need to go into because the prices of picks and strings are too high.

[Ray(T)]

There's little chance of me buying a mandolin on the back of popping in for a set of strings. The only mandolin shop in which I'm likely to find something of interest in the UK is over 250 miles away.
Ray

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hey Ray - Thank the good Lord for that !!. We'd be up to our armpits in Mandolins every weekend
& Trevor would need 3 pairs of eyes just to make sure nothing had gone 'walkabout',
Ivan:))