How to Buy a Guitar (Safely) Online
Buying Your Dream Guitar Online
Follow these guidelines when buying your guitar online.
Buy from a reputable guitar retailer. A reputable retailer can be an online music store like Musician’s Friend, a national mortar-and-bricks chain store like Guitar Center, or a one-location mortar-and-bricks music store like Elderly Instruments in Lansing, Michigan. (See the section below, “Is this guitar seller reputable?)” You can even buy guitars at Amazon.com.
Verify a minimum 30-day money-back guarantee. Most state laws require online retailers to offer a minimum, 30-day return policy. If the retailer’s site states a less-than 30-day return, I’d find another retailer.
Find the phone number Most online retailers will have a phone number. If you’re making a major purchase, give the number a call. Who are you talking to? Is it a call center? Or is it someone at the actual store location, or shipping location?
Pay with a credit card. If anything goes wrong and there’s a charges dispute, you can possibly get the credit card charges reversed. Such disputes will be harder to resolve if the money has already been taken out of your account. (This should not be a factor if you follow the first tip.)
Save the packing materials. Carefully unpack your guitar and keep the box and shipping materials intact until you’re sure everything is OK and you won’t be sending the guitar back for whatever reason.
Factor in the price of a setup. When buying a guitar sight unseen, I’d factor in the cost of a Guitar Set-up. Perfectly good guitars that are unplayable can play like a dream after a set up. This typically includes minor adjustments to the neck, bridge, nut and frets. Setting up an acoustic guitar is more involved than setting up an electric guitar, so expect to pay more. Call a local shop and find out the cost of a new-guitar set up. (My local music store set up my electric guitar for $30 plus the price of the new strings.)
Buy Your Guitar From a Reputable Vendor
If you’re buying your first guitar, you may not recognize some of the name-brand retailers. Here are some ways to determine an online seller’s reputation.
Is the site popular? Check the seller’s site at http://www.alexa.com. Never heard of MusiciansFriend.com? At Alexa, type musiciansfriend.com into the search box and hit Enter. Click Get Details and you’ll see the site’s current traffic rank and, in some cases, customer reviews and when the site went online.
Who is this retailer, how long have they been online? It’s important to know who you’re buying from and how long they’ve been around. If an Alexa search didn’t provide how long the retailer has been online, go to http://www.internic.net/whois.html and enter the domain name (e.g., MusiciansFriend.com).
Note: While a site with high traffic suggests a reputable retailer, the converse is not true. There are some excellent, small music stores that sell guitars online, but won’t show up as major online retailers. The more important number is the number of years online.
About the Author
Jim Dunkerley makes it easy buy a guitar and start making music. Visit Make Guitar Music for your free copy of The Ultimate Guitar Buying Guide.
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