Xmusic - Price Matching

raindog.promo

I saw this on Xmusic's twitter last night.

WE WILL MATCH ANY VALID QUOTATION FROM ANY LEGITIMATE EUROPEAN OR UK ONLINE OR OFFLINE SUPPLIER. WERE PREPARED 2 MATCH THE BRITS ND GERMANS!

I just happened to be considering buying a Boss RC 50 looping pedal http://www.thomann.de/gb/boss_rc50.htm

Saw this and e-mailed them saying would they price match it.
Ronan in HiTech emailed me back saying yes, I rang them asking could I pay at that price using credit card. Connor then rang me back saying yes indeed and it's being delivered tomorrow.

Fair play Xmusic.

They also told me the price matching is for current in store stock, so anyone looking to get a good deal, now's your chance.


The Pedal:



\m/

A7X

Severe win

Dord

Sweet! :eek: :cool:

*cuts up credit card*

:pac:

A7X

Now if only they had the exact same stock as thomann...

Seziertisch

That's new, I asked a couple of months ago about matching a UK price (with the appropriate VAT difference) and it was a no-go. Thus, I took my business elsewhere. Good to see they are getting with the programme.

CianRyan

Aaaaaaaaagh, what a terrible time to be broke!:mad:

Patricide

I was just about to start a thread on this, i say fair play to the lads at Xmusic, if its in stock on there site from now on im deffinatly going to give em my buisness. Its great to see an Irish site keeping up with the foreign competition. Take that waltons/musicmaker/perfect pitch and whatever others im forgetting!!

mr_fruitbowl

^ agree, fair play to them!!

Do they have more stock in the actual shop? I find their choice of amps online a bit thin.

Zangetsu

Got an amp today, headin down to get a few pedals in the morrow :pac:

raindog.promo

I think this was missed judging by a few of the last posts.
Just to point out:

raindog.promo wrote: »

They also told me the price matching is for current in store stock, so anyone looking to get a good deal, now's your chance.

I don't think it's an indefinite offer and I don't think it will apply to any new stock Xmusic takes in (although I may be wrong).

artvandulet

Here's the offer so yis can check those terms and conditions...



Fair play to 'em I say.

raindog.promo wrote: »

I don't think it's an indefinite offer and I don't think it will apply to any new stock Xmusic takes in (although I may be wrong).

It reads different to me. I'd say it probably is ongoing and applies to stock that Xmusic carry, as in brands they stock and not just stuff thats IN stock. And notice that the pricematch includes delivery charges which is only right.

rcaz

Wow, that's really good. I like the way they seem to be taking this as a challenge rather than a necessity.

Now, I wonder if they've gotten that Tele in that they said they'd ring me about when they receive it eight months ago... :rolleyes:

Smiler

El Pr0n wrote: »

Wow, that's really good. I like the way they seem to be taking this as a challenge rather than a necessity.

Now, I wonder if they've gotten that Tele in that they said they'd ring me about when they receive it eight months ago... :rolleyes:

Hiya

What Tele you waiting on. Is there a deposit down?
Gimme the details and I'll look into it for you.

Mick

raindog.promo

well, my pedal arrived this morning as promised. Just plugging it in now. Xmusic FTW!

It's always the same though, new equipment usually means having to get more stuff to fullly use it's capabilities. I'll be back to get some more leads and midi cables. It never ends.............

Smiler

raindog.promo wrote: »

well, my pedal arrived this morning as promised. Just plugging it in now. Xmusic FTW!

It's always the same though, new equipment usually means having to get more stuff to fullly use it's capabilities. I'll be back to get some more leads and midi cables. It never ends.............

Looptastic;)

Quattroste

I've only had good experiences in XMusic. I asked them to match the price of a Pox X3 live and they did it. I bought stands and they gave me a discount without asking. I'l go back but I doubt they could match the TC Elecs Nova System for €370

mattfender

Smiler wrote: »

Looptastic;)

ha!:pac:

domrush

smiler mate do you have any highway one teles in blonde with Maple neck?:D
cheers

macfanatic

its retail suicide. Best of luck to them. they should be able to match Roland / Boss products seeing as the head of Roland Ireland is a director of X Music so they will have wholesale margins there to play with. its all eating into their operating costs which are huge compared to the other music stores. watch this space

artvandulet wrote: »

Here's the offer so yis can check those terms and conditions...



Fair play to 'em I say.



It reads different to me. I'd say it probably is ongoing and applies to stock that Xmusic carry, as in brands they stock and not just stuff thats IN stock. And notice that the pricematch includes delivery charges which is only right.

raindog.promo

macfanatic wrote: »

its retail suicide. Best of luck to them. they should be able to match Roland / Boss products seeing as the head of Roland Ireland is a director of X Music so they will have wholesale margins there to play with. its all eating into their operating costs which are huge compared to the other music stores. watch this space

I wouldn't mind a poll of people on this forum to see where they've made their purchases in the last 6 months*. Is as much internet shopping still going to England and Germany. Has sales in the shops in Dublin city gone up or down? Is there a trend of people taking their business away from the others and to Xmusic?


*I'm not going to set up a poll though

rcaz

Smiler wrote: »

Hiya

What Tele you waiting on. Is there a deposit down?
Gimme the details and I'll look into it for you.

Mick

I was in the shop last October looking for a Mexican Tele, IIRC you only had it in olympic white. I was looking for a sunburst one. I didn't put a deposit down or anything, but one of the staff took my name and number.

It's alright now, I don't have the money to be spending on a guitar anymore. Cheers.

macfanatic

its a few good points but its a pity cos you cant tell the true picture from a forum site like Boards. There are a lot of people out there who do live by the internet and will shop where ever the cheapest deal is. Then there are the people who are regulars to shops and who get looked after no matter what. X cant have taken away a lot of business from the city cos its still an effort to head out there from town. The city shops are offering good deals. High end gear is slow moving at the moment so that has to be a worry for them. People are watching their pennies these days. Sales in all shops inc X Music are down and anyone saying anything else is saving face. The North has damaged Dublin shops more than English or German sites since Xmas.

raindog.promo wrote: »

I wouldn't mind a poll of people on this forum to see where they've made their purchases in the last 6 months*. Is as much internet shopping still going to England and Germany. Has sales in the shops in Dublin city gone up or down? Is there a trend of people taking their business away from the others and to Xmusic?


*I'm not going to set up a poll though

population

macfanatic wrote: »

The North has damaged Dublin shops more than English or German sites since Xmas.

Dunno about that. I have never seen anything music wise up north that has made me get the wallet out. Belfast in particular is quite dear imo

Seziertisch

macfanatic wrote: »

its a few good points but its a pity cos you cant tell the true picture from a forum site like Boards. There are a lot of people out there who do live by the internet and will shop where ever the cheapest deal is. Then there are the people who are regulars to shops and who get looked after no matter what. X cant have taken away a lot of business from the city cos its still an effort to head out there from town. The city shops are offering good deals. High end gear is slow moving at the moment so that has to be a worry for them. People are watching their pennies these days. Sales in all shops inc X Music are down and anyone saying anything else is saving face. The North has damaged Dublin shops more than English or German sites since Xmas.

I've never bought in the North. It was always cheaper elsewhere. I am also one of these people that shops almost exclusively online. I haven't found the time to even make it out as far as X Music yet.

As for people going for the lowest price, I recently bought an amp from a shop in the UK. I would have preferred to have kept the business local and even contacted X music to ask if they were willing to compete. I said I knew there was a VAT difference etc. and wasn't looking for them to match it one to one but that the difference was just too great. They said no, the price listed was the best they could do. The price difference was €120 (including postage from the UK), which on an item costing less than a grand is quite a bit (regardless of whether there is a recession or not).

macfanatic

you said it all there. the VAT difference is great and dont forget the UK shops had it good there for awhile and were buying their stock at a great price compared to Irish shops. Its not a level playing field although sterling has got weaker now so prices should be coming a bit on par. I know people who bought from a shop in Belfast with a website called Totalmusicsupply who got USA Fenders delivered to their door for 800 euros. Tell me thats not hurting shops down south. A lot of UK shops would have bought more stock before companies like fender put up their prices so thats why they can offer such low prices.
cant blame anyone for shopping for the best deals, Ive done it myself with cameras etc. Just wanted to highlight that irish shops buy at a different price to the UK ones so thats why they cant match all the prices out there. X music are brave saying they will match any price and I just wonder how long they can sustain that promise

Seziertisch wrote: »

I've never bought in the North. It was always cheaper elsewhere. I am also one of these people that shops almost exclusively online. I haven't found the time to even make it out as far as X Music yet.

As for people going for the lowest price, I recently bought an amp from a shop in the UK. I would have preferred to have kept the business local and even contacted X music to ask if they were willing to compete. I said I knew there was a VAT difference etc. and wasn't looking for them to match it one to one but that the difference was just too great. They said no, the price listed was the best they could do. The price difference was €120 (including postage from the UK), which on an item costing less than a grand is quite a bit (regardless of whether there is a recession or not).

Patricide

macfanatic wrote: »

its a few good points but its a pity cos you cant tell the true picture from a forum site like Boards. There are a lot of people out there who do live by the internet and will shop where ever the cheapest deal is. Then there are the people who are regulars to shops and who get looked after no matter what. X cant have taken away a lot of business from the city cos its still an effort to head out there from town. The city shops are offering good deals. High end gear is slow moving at the moment so that has to be a worry for them. People are watching their pennies these days. Sales in all shops inc X Music are down and anyone saying anything else is saving face. The North has damaged Dublin shops more than English or German sites since Xmas.

I dunno, ive never once seen a shop in the dublin city giving good deals, on guitar/bass stuff anyway. With this price matching i can ser them cleaning up the competition in the city at the very least. And its pretty easy to get to, just pay the 2 euro and get the luas straight out from the city centre, sure its like an extra 20 mins but if your saving some cash i couldnt imagine myself objecting to it anyway.

Strings.ie

macfanatic wrote: »

Just wanted to highlight that irish shops buy at a different price to the UK ones so thats why they cant match all the prices out there.

Yeah, it is very hard when the field is far from level. A lot of it is down the manufactures and the geographic prices they set.
But there are many shops in Ireland who will price match. It is crazy the amount of money that goes out of Ireland in music retail and it doesn't help by giving Thomann a mighty great free advert on this forum via a sticky thread.

raindog.promo

Strings.ie wrote: »

It is crazy the amount of money that goes out of Ireland in music retail and it doesn't help by giving Thomann a mighty great free advert on this forum via a sticky thread.

There was a time when the prices in Irish guitar shops quite simply were taking the piss. Thomann was the only way of getting a reasonable price on decent equipment.

Strings.ie

raindog.promo wrote: »

There was a time when the prices in Irish guitar shops quite simply were taking the piss. Thomann was the only way of getting a reasonable price on decent equipment.

I accept that but times have changed.

raindog.promo

Strings.ie wrote: »

I accept that but times have changed.

I was reading another thread elsewhere on boards where someone expressed the view that people should not be going to Newry to do their shopping as it is unpatriotic and they should be trying to help the souths economy.

Another person countered that he would indeed continue to shop in Newry or wherever was cheapest and that the onus should not be on him to spend more money on home products. If the government want people to shop local then the import/export charges, high rates of rent, wholesalers/retail* charges et al that keep the prices ridiculously high need to be tackled.

Sort out the infrastructure instead of yet again lumping the bill to the public.

I'm all for keeping the sticky for Thomann there. They've provided a service no one in Ireland was willing to provide and have gained customers because of it.
Now if someone comes along and does better taking thomanns customers then they can alter their business practises to win them back.

Whether it's feasible to stay in business by offering the same services/prices as Thomann, we shall see with this new Xmusic promotion. The best of luck to them says I.

Bit of a rant there.




*I'm not an economist, I don't know exactly where the levies/charges and all that are being introduced or what they'te called.

Strings.ie

raindog.promo wrote: »

I was reading another thread elsewhere on boards where someone expressed the view that people should not be going to Newry to do their shopping as it is unpatriotic and they should be trying to help the souths economy.

Another person countered that he would indeed continue to shop in Newry or wherever was cheapest and that the onus should not be on him to spend more money on home products. If the government want people to shop local then the import/export charges, high rates of rent, wholesalers/retail* charges et al that keep the prices ridiculously high need to be tackled.

Sort out the infrastructure instead of yet again lumping the bill to the public.

I'm all for keeping the sticky for Thomann there. They've provided a service no one in Ireland was willing to provide and have gained customers because of it.
Now if someone comes along and does better taking thomanns customers then they can alter their business practises to win them back.

Whether it's feasible to stay in business by offering the same services/prices as Thomann, we shall see with this new Xmusic promotion. The best of luck to them says I.

Bit of a rant there.




*I'm not an economist, I don't know exactly where the levies/charges and all that are being introduced or what they'te called.

Sure, I'm not taking a dig at Thomann, they are a very successful business and the reason they have done so well in Ireland is the fault of the Irish retailers responding too slowly to the internet. But I can't help wondering why a massive German company has free advertising here yet Irish shops, who are competitive, don't.

raindog.promo

Xmusic has got loads of free advertising on this board. You also get people asking Smiler questions on this board (on this thread even) about what is in stock and for how much instead of ringing them direct.

Not a bad deal at all.

The other Irish shops don't seem to have done much to warrant free advertising. The advertising comes from people talking about them, so take care of your customers and word of mouth/keyboard typing takes care of you.

macfanatic

Well X Music are a new enterprise which has generated a lot of interest on this site and they have used it well as an advertising tool. It is unfair to be harsh on the other music shops though. Don't forget Thomann are owned by multi millionares who set up that place basically on bogland in a small village/town. No rent and centered in the heart of Europe.
Shops have woken up and are taking action. A mate of mine works a city centre store (who look after me) and he said they get lots of guitar repair /set up jobs that were bought from Thomann, mainly Harley Benton crap that kids are starting out on.
Whatever about muso's out there buying high end gear at the cheapest price it's even more serious if kids are buying cheap starter crap off the net instead of walking into music stores and getting proper advice

There, my rant over

raindog.promo wrote: »

Xmusic has got loads of free advertising on this board. You also get people asking Smiler questions on this board (on this thread even) about what is in stock and for how much instead of ringing them direct.

Not a bad deal at all.

The other Irish shops don't seem to have done much to warrant free advertising. The advertising comes from people talking about them, so take care of your customers and word of mouth/keyboard typing takes care of you.

raindog.promo

macfanatic wrote: »

Well X Music are a new enterprise which has generated a lot of interest on this site and they have used it well as an advertising tool.

There has been a fair few negative comments about Xmusic as well as good. There's no major bias towards Xmusic. How they treat their customers is being reflected on the boards.

It is unfair to be harsh on the other music shops though.

As above, The advertising comes from people talking about them, so take care of your customers and word of mouth/keyboard typing takes care of you.
Search for other threads referring to the other shops. Are they mainly positive or negative?

Shops have woken up and are taking action.

It's a pity it took Thomann taking their business from them to realise they had to change their ways. I can understand dearer prices on items because of being situated in Ireland but some of these shops were just greedy and charging those prices because they could.

A mate of mine works a city centre store (who look after me) and he said they get lots of guitar repair /set up jobs that were bought from Thomann, mainly Harley Benton crap that kids are starting out on.

The first guitar I bought from a city centre shop was crap. It was also missing its frets.

Whatever about muso's out there buying high end gear at the cheapest price it's even more serious if kids are buying cheap starter crap off the net instead of walking into music stores and getting proper advice

When I discovered Musician Inc. I pretty much exclusively shopped there because the staff were sound, gave you good service and good deals. And most of all, I trusted them.

Having staff working on commision is not the best idea imho.

davylee

Patricide wrote: »

I dunno, ive never once seen a shop in the dublin city giving good deals, on guitar/bass stuff anyway. With this price matching i can ser them cleaning up the competition in the city at the very least. And its pretty easy to get to, just pay the 2 euro and get the luas straight out from the city centre, sure its like an extra 20 mins but if your saving some cash i couldnt imagine myself objecting to it anyway.

20 mins
I've over a three hour drive and i've been up there twice this week.Great deal.

Kenny_D

An "extra" 20 mins... from the city center music shops. Great for me though. Less than 10 mins from my house but I still buy my gear from the uk or japan because its cheaper

reniwren

Well when it comes to guitar gear Irish shops have a good selection but for bass in general theres slim pickings, most of my gear had to be sourced outside of Ireland just because most places dont stock the brands I want, Good luck walking into a shop and getting a Millennia TD-1 in Ireland, Now I could be wrong.

Rant over

Dord

reniwren wrote: »

Well when it comes to guitar gear Irish shops have a good selection but for bass in general theres slim pickings, most of my gear had to be sourced outside of Ireland just because most places dont stock the brands I want, Good luck walking into a shop and getting a Millennia TD-1 in Ireland, Now I could be wrong.

Rant over

Millennia TD-1? Got big pockets eh?? :pac:

It's not that commonly used, probably the most common DI for bass is an Avalon U5 . I've seen those for sale here in Ireland before. They're not outrageously priced either.

fish-head

Fair play to the XMusic lads.

reniwren

OK Millennia was a bit much to expect i suppose but even stuff like Glockenklang Markbass Schroder or my fav Accugroove i'm sick of Trace Ampeg and Ashdown in every shop

Dord

reniwren wrote: »

OK Millennia was a bit much to expect i suppose but even stuff like Glockenklang Markbass Schroder or my fav Accugroove i'm sick of Trace Ampeg and Ashdown in every shop

http://www.woodandtronics.com/ - these sell Schroder cabs (based in Italy)

For the most part those cabs you listed are fairly pricey so it's not really worth it for a store in Ireland to carry them if they won't sell. Markbass being the exception there but actually MusicMaker sold MarkBass on a trial for a few months and apparently didnt sell any.

It seems to me that you're looking at TalkBass too much. :pac:

Dord

Oh and accugroove are probably the funniest company ever. Their "accuswitch" incident still cracks me up.

reniwren

My Accugroove cab was the nicest cab I hav played through so far anyhow couldnt see myself going back from them, all I'm saying is there's not as much choice, fair play to xmusic they stock EBS stuff and they more than likely dont sell either

Dord

Well, kinda veering OT a little but I'd never buy an Accugroove after the stupid thing they did. The "accuswitch" apparently was able to switch a cab between 4ohm and 8ohm but what it did was put a capacitor in series with the speaker. So, it fooled an ohmmeter into thinking the impedance had changed but it hadn't.

The problem with this is that it could damage the powersection of your amplifier if you used the wrong impedance than what was required.

So, Accugroove sold this (probably) knowing that it was a farce or if not they sold it without fully testing it. They also hid their little capacitor in an epoxy blob so nobody would know how it was done.

reniwren

If you get the chance to try them you wouldnt be dissappointed

Fatgoogle

So were abouts are these guys loacated, the red cow roundabout, ive been hearing alot about them, ill have to head there and check it all out, especially if there going to match england etc.

Also will they order you in stuff to try. Ive really been wanting to put business to Irish shops but, ya know just cant afford to.

macfanatic

Ok point taken on all points. I presume like a lot of people you had a few bad experiences in Waltons ( the commission staff shop) and Music Maker? The other city shops get tarred with this same brush. I used to deal with Musician Inc and always found them good but now, cos of my mate I deal with Goodwins. A small shop but always approachable And great choice of acoustics and Fender electrics for the size of it.
Don't forget X Music is the old Musician / Music Maker set up that were part of the city centre trade so like it or not they played their part in the greed factor.
Sorry to hear about your first guitar but if you were like me and bought it pre mid 1990s then the choice wasn't great. I had Tanglewoods and Epiphone acoustics that were planks when I started so it's an unfair remark to associate that with what's there at the moment
the Harley Benton stuff is crap. It's Thomann's bread and butter that costs them shag all to make in China and it's flooding homes all over Europe. So they are even winning on this stuff never mind the other gear that X and any other shop are battling with :-)
that poster who never got looked after when looking for a tele is an example of a negative post but there could be many more who had the same experience but don't bother writing about it on forum sites. It's not an accurate gauge and many people are not Internet friendly or don't know forum sites even exist!
The posters talking about high end gear are right. We would all love every brand under the sun but we are an island and it's only in the many thousands who play music and break that down even more to how many play professionally. X Music have had to take a look already at some of their lines cos they are not moving. That's the Irish market I'm afraid
the debate will never end :-)

raindog.promo wrote: »

There has been a fair few negative comments about Xmusic as well as good. There's no major bias towards Xmusic. How they treat their customers is being reflected on the boards.


As above, The advertising comes from people talking about them, so take care of your customers and word of mouth/keyboard typing takes care of you.
Search for other threads referring to the other shops. Are they mainly positive or negative?


It's a pity it took Thomann taking their business from them to realise they had to change their ways. I can understand dearer prices on items because of being situated in Ireland but some of these shops were just greedy and charging those prices because they could.



The first guitar I bought from a city centre shop was crap. It was also missing its frets.



When I discovered Musician Inc. I pretty much exclusively shopped there because the staff were sound, gave you good service and good deals. And most of all, I trusted them.

Having staff working on commision is not the best idea imho.

Rigsby

Fatgoogle wrote: »

So were abouts are these guys loacated

http://www.xmusic.ie/pages.php?pageid=2

gagomes

everyone seems to mention/know about Thomann, has anyone ever heard of MusicStore (another huge german store)? As far as I can tell, it's been around for longer than thomann, has got about the same prices. I've dealt with them back when I was in Portugal and now that I am in Ireland. I get their ~100-200 pages catalogue every 3-6 months. I never had a complaint. Last time I made a ~3000 worth order and got offered the shipping costs (They separated it in 3 different shipments which arrived at the same time for convenience and safety - which is worth 45 euros if everything is paid in before hand), an Ibanez hardcase, strings, picks and the price was about 3120 and they rounded it to 3000. I think it's worth mentionin gI didn't order from the site, I talked with the Portuguese sales guy, who's quite an imbecille in terms of customer relationship but provided great deals to me!

raindog.promo

gagomes wrote: »

everyone seems to mention/know about Thomann, has anyone ever heard of MusicStore (another huge german store)? As far as I can tell, it's been around for longer than thomann, has got about the same prices. I've dealt with them back when I was in Portugal and now that I am in Ireland. I get their ~100-200 pages catalogue every 3-6 months. I never had a complaint. Last time I made a ~3000 worth order and got offered the shipping costs (They separated it in 3 different shipments which arrived at the same time for convenience and safety - which is worth 45 euros if everything is paid in before hand), an Ibanez hardcase, strings, picks and the price was about 3120 and they rounded it to 3000. I think it's worth mentionin gI didn't order from the site, I talked with the Portuguese sales guy, who's quite an imbecille in terms of customer relationship but provided great deals to me!

I've been using music store. The main reason being you can pay Cash On Delivery. As I don't have a credit card this is very convenient. Never had a problem with them.

I also get sent their catalogue twice a year, which Xmusic take note, is much more convenient (similar to the Argos catalogue) than the Thomann style big page thing they send out. That doesn't last long and I actually received one from Thomann this morning and didn't bother even opening it.

Patricide

gagomes wrote: »

everyone seems to mention/know about Thomann, has anyone ever heard of MusicStore (another huge german store)? As far as I can tell, it's been around for longer than thomann, has got about the same prices. I've dealt with them back when I was in Portugal and now that I am in Ireland. I get their ~100-200 pages catalogue every 3-6 months. I never had a complaint. Last time I made a ~3000 worth order and got offered the shipping costs (They separated it in 3 different shipments which arrived at the same time for convenience and safety - which is worth 45 euros if everything is paid in before hand), an Ibanez hardcase, strings, picks and the price was about 3120 and they rounded it to 3000. I think it's worth mentionin gI didn't order from the site, I talked with the Portuguese sales guy, who's quite an imbecille in terms of customer relationship but provided great deals to me!

Personally i hate thomann, i had two orders with them both times they screwed it up. Musicstore ive never had a fault with ever. They seemed to have forgotten to send me out the two most recent catalogues and apparently there 5 notes to order now which is a bit bad but still, impecible service and always pretty much the same price as thomann.

However as Xmusic is price matching il be buying anything i can off them, i would like to see my money being spend on an irish shop so it can grow and develop!