Rent-a-pedal

[Leo_Gnardo]

Here's a unique idea: local store offers hi-buck boutique pedals for rent. What could go wrong? Good luck, charlie....

http://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/msd/4790220481.html

[JoeCon]

Leo,

That's a great idea...for me!! Wow that guy has some $$ to rent out those expensive pedals....

[NickC]

I wonder what his inventory shrinkage will be, and just how bad his reserve for bad-accounts will prove.

Those Strymon pedals are very nice.

[Teleguy61]

Looks like a $1000 hold on your credit card, and then whoever this guy is has your personal information.

[xtian]

Of course he's not going to send them out without a deposit!

[vibratoking]

Looks like a failed business to me. I don't see a real market. The guy that can't afford to buy one, can't afford to rent one either...at least not many times. Then you have a great pedal that you have to get to know while you are on the clock. You don't rent a backhoe if you don't know how to use. The model doesn't work in my mind.

[NickC]

Of course he's not going to send them out without a deposit!

Oh ...... in that case I don't think very many cheap-o muso's will be interested.

I think he could get a lot of interest if he added these marketing slogans to his web-site:

> No credit check!

> No credit card required!

You know ..... follow the concept from the old Saturday Night Live "Making Change" skit. How do they make money, making change? Volume!


https://screen.yahoo.com/first-citywide ... 00088.html

[mhartman]

Sounds like a cloner's dream. We should suggest that he rent out Dumbles and Trainwrecks too.

[Reeltarded]

In a music hub, like Nashville, you can rent a $100,000 guitar out for about $350 per day once per year plus the $150 babysitter fee.

Not worth the trouble.

[ToneMerc]

Looks like a failed business to me. I don't see a real market. The guy that can't afford to buy one, can't afford to rent one either...at least not many times. Then you have a great pedal that you have to get to know while you are on the clock. You don't rent a backhoe if you don't know how to use. The model doesn't work in my mind.

His ad doesn't appear to be marketed as gear rental, but in the context of try a boutique pedal before committing to buy it. I think it's a neat service for the more pricey pedals. However, if one is of the mindset that they refuse to pay more than $100-150 for pedal, the service is most is not for them anyway.

TM

[matt h]

(deleted)

[ToneMerc]

You know, for more hobbyist lawyers and dentists who have a 1k/yr pedal budget, but got burned the last few with more lackluster "original designs" not making them sound like brad paisley.

So it's for the well-off, not the wealthy.

Same folks who made runs on the transferable machine gun market, thus driving up the price so that average working folks can no longer afford them.

TM

[ER]

I always thought it would be cool if somebody did a tupperware party kind of thing where you could get a group of friends together and try out a bunch of pedals in your own rig and decide which one is "it" and then buy it from the "host" and it gets delivered a little later. No overhead, people can buy stuff you have on hand that night or order it through you.

Incentives, prizes, like picks and cables and t-shirts,. Maybe have a raffle for a board/powersupply. The ability to hear and play a dozen wah pedals or overdrives in one night with your own guitar and amp.

Much cooler and more likely to lead to a sale than the netflix model. And to try stuff side by side with other pairs of ears on it and some guidance/rep work from the "host" would be much more valuable than trying thing weeks apart by yourself.

[matt h]

(deleted)

[Leo_Gnardo]

I always thought it would be cool if somebody did a tupperware party kind of thing - snip - Much cooler and more likely to lead to a sale than the netflix model. And to try stuff side by side with other pairs of ears on it and some guidance/rep work from the "host" would be much more valuable than trying thing weeks apart by yourself.

I like your tupperware party idea. However a lot of gear sales is based on defective hearing memory (30 seconds at best in the real world) and failure to conduct any A/B test much less a double blind test. I can see the prospective customer trying the WizBang $695 gadget against his favorite $75 pedal and discovering - he likes the cheaper one better. Or else whatever incremental difference the hi price one promises isn't worth hundreds of dollars more. Yes I could see that happening a lot.

I expect the shop offering rent-a-pedal service has to expect prospective buyers to A/B test at home, in studio or on stage, to their hearts' content. Once the potential buyer discovers the highly hyped gizmo isn't really all it's cracked up to be, could lose some sales there. But at least they collect some rent.