What would you do in this situation?(ordered a bass with a deposit down and now don’t want it)

[bloodjunkie]

Ordered an Ibanez Mikro 5 string through Long and McQuade because there was none available at all in my province(possibly even Canada?) and then found a much better short scale 5 string(also Ibanez) locally while waiting for it to show up.

The bass finally came in and I don’t want it anymore but can’t get the deposit back($50 cad) the bass is around $350 - $375 total if I went and bought it. I’m thinking of just eating the cost but on the other hand if I go ahead and buy it to resell I would be the only one in Canada with one.. I’m a lazy SOB when it comes to selling stuff but if it’s brand new and untouched I would feel more confident about selling it online. What would you do?

P.S I will take pics of the short scale 5 I bought for fun, I can’t even remember the model name right now.

 

[Crungy]

If selling it sounds like a chore for you I'd just return it and take the $50 hit for the sake of convenience.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

You'll likely end up either paying for shipping, and/or losing more than $50 off list value trying to resell it anyway, so I'd just eat the deposit and move on. Personally I'm not paying new price for something used, IDGAF how "new" it is, if I want it new for the new price I'll go buy it new myself.

 

[budda]

i put a deposit down on an av2 jazzmaster and got a full refund when i changed my mind. Same with the anniversary squiers - when i tried 5 in store. Weird that its not just a simple refund. Ask if there’s a restocking fee?

 

[bloodjunkie]

i put a deposit down on an av2 jazzmaster and got a full refund when i changed my mind. Same with the anniversary squiers - when i tried 5 in store. Weird that it’s not just a simple refund. Ask if there’s a restocking fee?

At L&M? Buddy on the phone just kept saying “it’s a non-refundable deposit”

To clarify I haven’t even picked up or laid eyes on the bass just got an email that it’s arrived and if I just leave it I don’t think I will be charged a restocking fee(they didn’t say anything about it anyway so I hope not).

I agree too I’m probably going to lose at least 50 anyway going through the hassle of reselling. My only selling point here is there’s hardly any available in the country but that doesn’t mean much really.

 

[spudmunkey]

I agree too I’m probably going to lose at least 50 anyway going through the hassle of reselling. My only selling point here is there’s hardly any available in the country but that doesn’t mean much really.

I can see that being a selling point for something with some collectible value, but I can't imagine someone willing to pay over list for a previously-owned bass that's only $375 when new.

 

[Winspear]

Yep even when new people would prefer to buy from an 'official' source for the same price. After all is said and done and with shipping too I think you could break even at best, and that is probably unlikely

 

[TedEH]

If you were able to get this through L&M then you don't have any kind or rare/exclusive item - anyone could just do the same thing you did and have access to the same instrument, so you have no real leverage to expect a reasonable resale price. The whole point of buying used, for most people, is to try to score a deal over buying something new, so no matter what you do, you're eating some of the cost. Your best bet is probably to attempt to cancel through L&M, maybe you'll get lucky or there was a miscommunication or they'll just be lenient about it and give the full refund, but if not, then I'd just accept the $50 lesson and move on.

 

[GenghisCoyne]

can you see if you can get the deposit as store credit?

 

[bostjan]

So, you paid a $50 non-refundable deposit that the store puts in place in case someone backs out of buying a special order, and want to back out of your special order, but also get your $50 deposit back?

I'd say that's really up to them, but I don't see why they would refund you unless they were in a really good mood. But what could it hurt to ask? Maybe suggest they refund the $50 as store credit / gift card, like @GenghisCoyne suggested, or try to haggle a partial credit or offer to buy something else and try to get a $50 discount. I know that the local music stores near me in New England would rudely tell you to get lost, though.

Do you know any other musicians in your area who might want the bass? If so, maybe your could coax them into buying it straight from the store using your deposit and then receive something of value from them in return. If not, IDK, I guess $50 lesson learned.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

You'll likely end up either paying for shipping, and/or losing more than $50 off list value trying to resell it anyway, so I'd just eat the deposit and move on. Personally I'm not paying new price for something used, IDGAF how "new" it is, if I want it new for the new price I'll go buy it new myself.

Yeah, I don't know how warranties work in Canada (or anywhere outside of the UK for that matter), but once something is in the hands of a private owner rather than a licenced dealer, at least 2/3 of the original value is lost imo. By that I mean I wouldn't pay more than 2/3 of the 'new' price, even including any shipping or seller fees (that's the seller's cost to swallow, not mine), so the OP would probably be looking at a loss of $150+.

I know a lot of mint / excellent condition guitars are listed online for circa 90% of the RRP, but that doesn't mean they sell for that much when a brand new guitar is still available from a store (with an intact warranty) for only 10% more. Obviously this can change once a guitar goes out of production.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

i put a deposit down on an av2 jazzmaster and got a full refund when i changed my mind. Same with the anniversary squiers - when i tried 5 in store. Weird that its not just a simple refund. Ask if there’s a restocking fee?

Did you buy it and then promptly return it, or simply back out on buying it altogether but somehow get the deposit back? If that's a store's policy, they wasted their time collecting the deposit in the first place and presumably lost a small fee to the credit card company.

Years ago, I opted against getting a local store to order in an XPT700 for me, because would have had to pay a non-refundable deposit and wasn't able to try one out anywhere in advance. With it being a non-standard body shape, it seemed too much of a risk...perhaps the store would have been less rigid about the deposit (i.e. have been willing to offer store credit if I changed my mind) had it been a more standard guitar that they had more confidence in selling on quickly.
I later got a used XPT700 for a fraction of the price (only down side is I ended up with the original version with smaller bevels and poorly placed strap pins, rather than the updated version I could have bought new).

 

[budda]

@Neon_Knight_ backed out before it landed in the case of av2, simply did not purchase after in-store trial with the squier.

It may depend on what you order? If the store said non-refundable up front, yeah OP is eating his loss.

 

[TedEH]

I don't know how warranties work in Canada

The general principle of "it's not worth as much as soon as you leave the store with it" is still true pretty much anywhere, I'd imagine - it certainly applies in Canada. A warranty can be transferable, but it's not universal. Most of the time, if I'm buying something used I'm expecting to pay less than new and have no warranty unless I've spoken to the company providing it to confirm it's transferable. I've been bitten on occasion by a used product failing and the manufacturer refused to offer any support because I didn't buy it first-hand.

 

[Yul Brynner]

Go to the store and do a play test and then say you want a refund or a discount for the damage it has (you discreetly bang it around while play testing).

 

[Neon_Knight_]

Go to the store and do a play test and then say you want a refund or a discount for the damage it has (you discreetly bang it around while play testing).

Poor innocent guitar!

 

[bloodjunkie]

^Lol

Yeah the first thing I said was I’ll take in store credit and the guy stone-walled me with “it’s a non-refundable deposit” so there’s not much else to do. I agreed to the deposit and now I’m paying for it. Now I’m worried about a potential stocking fee but hopefully that doesn’t come up.

@bostjan the instrument hadn’t landed yet and it was taking longer than they said it would by over a week but when I made the call it was arriving either that day or the next business day(4 days later) and it arrived 4 days later. It had already shipped from their other location. For all I knew before I made the call I could have been waiting months and months.