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EHX Bans eBay!


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Yeah, it will be harder to get the newer effects from a smaller shop for sure.

 

I still don't totally understand who these 'third party sellers' are though. I guess it's just a way to crack down on the msrp and make everyone's profit margin the same.

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on the other hand, the prices of EHX pedals are more than fair and beside their popularity they stayed the same for years.

 

my local dealer (which is a bigger store) has the following:

big muff pi re 69euro

little big muff 59euro

micro q-tron 69euro

mini q-tron 85euro

small clone 69euro

small stone 77euro

the worm 99euro

 

yeah they have higher price pedals like hog pog dmm etc, but at least they have the same price for years. show me another phaser or fuzz or chorus you can get for less than 80euros. the mxr phase 90 is 85 here.

the ibanez 7 series is about the same range like the ehx pedals. yeah i know you want everything for free and then it wouldn't be cheap enough.

 

they haven't raised the prices in years (at least for the longer existing pedals), if they stay that way i see nothing to complain about, you get great pedals for a great price

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Affordable prices do not forgive anti-competitive market behavior. And you've listed some of their more affordable units, and hand-waved their heavy-hitters entirely as though they don't matter. Danelectro makes a series of pedals, the FAB series, which all run less than $30. Danelectro also makes the miniature series which are between $30 and $70 or so. Boss, the largest pedal manufacturer, even has some units which are only ~$45ish.

 

It isn't a matter of price. This is strange behavior from a company usually viewed as progressive and innovative, and it is somewhat peculiar how they intend to go about it. They are stating a plan without details that seems to violate some of the basic market principles. Is it illegal? Oh, of course not, but corporations more or less author the law, you can buy congressmen all day long if you pay the right lobbiests and frankly all the work's already been done for them there - they're well within their right. But it is of questionable ethic and it definitely targets two parties as the losers: the small business and the customer.

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it would be new pedals by dealers i imagine.

they cant prevent you selling old eh pedals now can they..........

 

 

Yes, they can, and other companies have done it as part of their IP ownership program. The Church of Scientology currently cancels all auctions of E-meters on ebay.

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How does an unauthorized dealer sell pedals that they are not authorized to sell, or is there some other "third party sellers" that fits in there?

 

 

yup, because a dealer can't sell his 20 big muff's that he has stuck in his shop, he gives them to me to put on ebay for him....I become a third party seller and an un-authorised dealer.

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yup, because a dealer can't sell his 20 big muff's that he has stuck in his shop, he gives them to me to put on ebay for him....I become a third party seller and an un-authorised dealer.

 

 

Ah. Thanks for clearing that up. That is indeed different from the Joe who has to sell his POG because he just had a new baby and needs to buy a car seat.

Its still a bold move to fall in line with corporate bullying like that. Small business is the cornerstone of the American free enterprise system. That's a real slap in the face to mom & pop music stores.

I'm sure it will kinda free the conscious of those who clone pedals when cloning an EH pedal in the future.

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Ah. Thanks for clearing that up. That is indeed different from the Joe who has to sell his POG because he just had a new baby and needs to buy a car seat.

Its still a bold move to fall in line with corporate bullying like that. Small business is the cornerstone of the American free enterprise system. That's a real slap in the face to mom & pop music stores.

I'm sure it will kinda free the conscious of those who clone pedals when cloning an EH pedal in the future.

 

I think it cuts both ways though to be honest, I wouldn't be suprised if it was in some part brought about my 'Mom and Pop' stores complaining that they can't shift any EHX pedals because of the low prices on ebay. I know my local small shop can't compete with ebay prices, it could be seen as a move to help their smaller dealers? :idk:

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Hmmm. There may be SOME truth to that although it would seem that the greatest benefit to EH would be to play ball with the larger distributors. That means helping eliminate the competition. I can't say its a major concern for me as I only own 2 or 3 EH pedals from way, way, way back that I don't use anymore and the only piece I plan to own anytime soon is the XO Stereo Polyphase. After that, I'm probably done with EH. I'm moving toward an Axe-FX Ultra. I feel a little sorry for the EHx fanboys, though.

Its never a good thing when you force a consumer to pay more for your product. That makes the consumer examine other options. I guess EH has finally stopped seeing themselves as a smaller company with a big consumer base and started taking up the business models of corporations.

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I think it cuts both ways though to be honest, I wouldn't be suprised if it was in some part brought about my 'Mom and Pop' stores complaining that they can't shift any EHX pedals because of the low prices on ebay. I know my local small shop can't compete with ebay prices, it could be seen as a move to help their smaller dealers?
:idk:

 

this is it in a nut shell,still though authorised dealers are free to use their own websites to sell products for whatever they like,any attempt by the supplier to impose "a price" is price fixing and illegal,the only way to hold retailers to a MSRP (which is not binding) is to have the cost to the seller be so high that the margin they make on the brand after tax is 10% or less i.e Apple,with no room to discount it forces everybody to charge the same

 

my problem with this is,say if staff members are on commission of 1%,well if your making 7~8%,your not going to give 1% on that brand and as a result staff will always try to lead the customer to buy an alternative where they get something from the deal,let's say boss

so the kid who goes into the store to buy a DMM but wants advice first is going to walk away with a dd3 and a metalzone 90% of the time :mad:

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That makes it difficult to buy EH pedals for people outside the US.

 

In Europe a lot of shops don't have them and if they do the prices are twice those in the US. It's always cheaper in the US, but since the $ became a 3rd world currency it's even more interesting :p

 

Or does EH only want to support those European importers who still use a 5 year old exchange rate?

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Great plan, make everyone believe eBay sales end for EHX pedals on April 30th so everyone goes out and buys one. Then they continue to sell them on ebay after :)

 

Maybe EHX will start their own international dealer direct store or something? If not I think it will only harm there business. There is no way I am paying $850 for a Micro Synthesizer whether there is a cheaper option or not. $300ish on eBay or from any international sellers is much more reasonable.

 

I am tired of having to haggle in music stores. I don't find many of the staff that helpful or really that knowledgable on all of their products (maybe only their favourites). None of the stores here have listening booths or anything so only one person in the store can really test out a product on an amp at a time. If they stocked a wide range of products, gave me their best price from the start and had an easy way to test the products without someone playing "insert cliche music store song" or shredding badly then I would maybe consider buying from local stores.

 

The last 2 times I was in a music store they were asking me about certain products. Sigh / end rant

 

Glad I already got the EHX pedals I wanted any way.

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Actually I don't think this is a bad idea, to ban new sales on ebay. Dealers have a contract with EHX, to sell at a certain price, period. If you go on ebay, most of the dealers are doing this, all selling at the same price. You have to wonder why, since there's little advantage of doing this, and then subtract ebay fees. Legitimate dealers are being undercut by less than legitimate.

 

They can't ban used sales, that's just not going to happen. Just new sales. If your local dealer is expensive, there's always MF or place like this. If you want to save money, just wait for someone to flip their 2 week old pedal here or TGP.

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I guess stores must get annoyed with people trying out their products then going and buying them online :) I can understand that but if they want sales then they really need to provide a really sound service so that it is worth the extra money for there help. In reality though you aren't just paying for service at stores but also for their rent of the store, bills like power etc.

 

I find it strange though that when I know exactly what I want and they spend 30 seconds talking to me and have to order it in any way, the price is still much higher then you would expect. All they had to do is make a phone call, or put in an online order form. Not much point when it can be done myself without paying for them and their distributor as middle men.

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Good i hate when companys use 3rd party sites to sell their product.

 

I guess it doesnt matter so much to me when the products are in less of a demand like stomp boxes.

 

but i have seen companies like ticketmaster use auction sites to sell their product, which i think is very wrong.

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