Free electric strings and free shipping

fronobulax

Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods
Joined
May 3, 2007
Messages
24,708
Reaction score
8,836
Location
Central Virginia, USA
Guild Total
5
"Bait and Switch"...

walrus

Free promotional set - one per customer. Quantities limited, when gone "sold out" will show.

I'll give them a pass. Bait and switch usually involves a bit more misdirection initially, IMO. This just sounds loss a "loss leader" or something to get people to the site.
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
I'll give them a pass. Bait and switch usually involves a bit more misdirection initially, IMO. This just sounds loss a "loss leader" or something to get people to the site.

I think Walrus was using the term loosely, but I was actually trying to make a humorous observation on the short amount of time it took for 'em to sell out between first post and his post. Age of the internet and all.
Bait & switch was a big issue with car dealers, who by the time I was in the business, had to be able to prove that the "One only at this price" was actually in their inventory and available for sale on the day the ad appeared. That's why you'll not those ads now have the VIN of the specific vehicle(s) being offered at that price.
I agree I think the ad was actually a site visit driver and I think they're smart enough to realize aware it would be far better in the long run to honor as many of those offers as they could, for the future shopping it's likely to cause.
I actually like those guys because they offer that D'Addario PB025 single I'm always on about, at a reasonable price.
SO, guess what, they get my EJ-16, and my extra light and Silk'n'steel (for my nephew) business too.
 

walrus

Reverential Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
23,956
Reaction score
8,019
Location
Massachusetts
Right. Now they end up with (perhaps) lots of disappointed potential customers, who may not come back.

The short item lag between the ad and the stock being out is the classic "bait and switch" - intended or not.

walrus
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
Right. Now they end up with (perhaps) lots of disappointed potential customers, who may not come back.

The short item lag between the ad and the stock being out is the classic "bait and switch" - intended or not.

walrus

No, technically, "Bait & Switch" is offering something you never had , with full premeditated intention of offering a higher priced item when customer is in store.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait-and-switch]From the usual source:[/url]
In the United States, courts have held that the purveyor using a bait-and-switch operation may be subject to a lawsuit by customers for false advertising, and can be sued for trademark infringement by competing manufacturers, retailers, and others who profit from the sale of the product used as bait. However, no cause of action will exist if the purveyor is capable of actually selling the goods advertised, but aggressively pushes a competing product.
and:
Likewise, advertising a sale while intending to stock a limited amount of, and thereby sell out, a loss-leading item advertised is legal in the United States. The purveyor can escape liability if they make clear in their advertisements that quantities of items for which a sale is offered are limited, or by offering a rain check on sold-out items.
Which they did.
And which is why I thought you were using the term loosely.
:friendly_wink:
 

F312

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2008
Messages
2,760
Reaction score
958
Agreed - the question is: did they have any?

walrus

Apparently they had some because mine have shipped. Free is good when you can get it.

Thanks Kitarkus

Ralph
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
Apparently they had some because mine have shipped. Free is good when you can get it.

Thanks Kitarkus

Ralph

Right.
And will you shop them for your next string purchase?

In my professional sales career, in both retail and wholesale in several industries, I've never seen B&S actually used in a place I worked at, but several of a national retailer's local stores were nailed a couple of years back for offering a sale price on bread that was never available.
I'd hazard the negative publicity associated with that being plastered in the newspapers probably cost 'em far more than they ever made on customers who showed up for bread that was never there for several weeks running.
The pitfalls outweigh short-term benefits these days, and as Frono mentioned, the real benefit is having somebody actually come in and look around even when the ad states limited quantities. They're not gonna be "pi--ed off", but they wanna see what other good deals might be available even if the one that drew 'em in is sold out
Example of "win" for the retailer could be a situation where a courtesy discount is offered on an item that isn't on sale.
Yes it sounds awfully close to bait & switch, but they really have no legal obligation to offer it and the alternative is saying "No, we're not gonna try to do you a favor at all".
THEN you've just pushed a fresh prospect away forever.
Something that's often forgotten about retail:
A price tag is technically an "OFFER to TREAT".
You can walk up to a register and say "Will you take $9.00 for this $10.00 box of candy?"
While the register clerk may not have authority to accept the offer, I guarantee you a store manager does.
Our culture simply likes to streamline the retail purchasing process and do away with the "haggling" so prevalent in other cultures but in fact any smart retailer (and wholesaler too, for that matter) will accept reasonable offers if they make sense.
Bear in mind that's exactly what happens when you haggle over a car price.
For that size of purchase most people are willing to put up with the hassle even though most of 'em universally hate it.
The Consumer Fraud departments (frequently under Weights and Measures) in any city or county routinely check ads for bait &switch, especially car dealers and big retailers, they don't wait for complaints.
It's one of the reasons rainchecks got popular for simple stock-outs on a sale item: for a retailer, a return visit is a good thing.
But yeah, for giving away free strings, I'm entirely sympathetic to limiting your loss and counting it as advertising dollars..
 
Last edited:

walrus

Reverential Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
23,956
Reaction score
8,019
Location
Massachusetts
Ralph, you lucky dog! You got the one package...

OK, OK, sorry! :devilish:

walrus
 

Kitarkus

Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2013
Messages
676
Reaction score
15
Apparently they had some because mine have shipped. Free is good when you can get it.

Thanks Kitarkus

Ralph

Hey....I helped somebody get somthin' for nuthin'!.....a'right!....badda bing badda boom. Glad someone got them....I don't have any electrics at the moment so....
 

dreadnut

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
Jun 15, 2005
Messages
16,082
Reaction score
6,442
Location
Grand Rapids, MI
Guild Total
2
I can offer great prices on commodities I don't actually possess.

When I was a kid, I sent 50 cents to the company advertised in the back of a comic book for some "X-Ray Specs." I waited by our mailbox for weeks. They never came. Either that or my brother got 'em...
 

walrus

Reverential Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
23,956
Reaction score
8,019
Location
Massachusetts
When I was a kid, I sent 50 cents to the company advertised in the back of a comic book for some "X-Ray Specs." I waited by our mailbox for weeks. They never came. Either that or my brother got 'em...

I'm surprised you didn't see right through that scam... :tongue-new:

walrus
 

Kitarkus

Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2013
Messages
676
Reaction score
15
I can offer great prices on commodities I don't actually possess.

When I was a kid, I sent 50 cents to the company advertised in the back of a comic book for some "X-Ray Specs." I waited by our mailbox for weeks. They never came. Either that or my brother got 'em...

Gosh I used to love the anticipation of ordering such novelties when I was a kid. Seldom did they actually ever arrive...and if they did...the item was always junk...even to my young and excited eyes. That said, the anticipation was irreplaceable. I also used to write letters to my favorite pro baseball players. The retired guys...even hall of famers...often wrote me back. I still have Stan Musial's autograph around here somewhere and I am getting close to 50 years old now. Geez.
 

Kitarkus

Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2013
Messages
676
Reaction score
15
I'm surprised you didn't see right through that scam... :tongue-new:

walrus

Hey....I AM A REAL DOCTOR!....I ordered my diploma from the back of Rolling Stone in 1978 and have been a practicing physician ever since!
 

F312

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2008
Messages
2,760
Reaction score
958
Right.
And will you shop them for your next string purchase?

In my professional sales career, in both retail and wholesale in several industries, I've never seen B&S actually used in a place I worked at, but several of a national retailer's local stores were nailed a couple of years back for offering a sale price on bread that was never available.
I'd hazard the negative publicity associated with that being plastered in the newspapers probably cost 'em far more than they ever made on customers who showed up for bread that was never there for several weeks running.
The pitfalls outweigh short-term benefits these days, and as Frono mentioned, the real benefit is having somebody actually come in and look around even when the ad states limited quantities. They're not gonna be "pi--ed off", but they wanna see what other good deals might be available even if the one that drew 'em in is sold out
Example of "win" for the retailer could be a situation where a courtesy discount is offered on an item that isn't on sale.
Yes it sounds awfully close to bait & switch, but they really have no legal obligation to offer it and the alternative is saying "No, we're not gonna try to do you a favor at all".
THEN you've just pushed a fresh prospect away forever.
Something that's often forgotten about retail:
A price tag is technically an "OFFER to TREAT".
You can walk up to a register and say "Will you take $9.00 for this $10.00 box of candy?"
While the register clerk may not have authority to accept the offer, I guarantee you a store manager does.
Our culture simply likes to streamline the retail purchasing process and do away with the "haggling" so prevalent in other cultures but in fact any smart retailer (and wholesaler too, for that matter) will accept reasonable offers if they make sense.
Bear in mind that's exactly what happens when you haggle over a car price.
For that size of purchase most people are willing to put up with the hassle even though most of 'em universally hate it.
The Consumer Fraud departments (frequently under Weights and Measures) in any city or county routinely check ads for bait &switch, especially car dealers and big retailers, they don't wait for complaints.
It's one of the reasons rainchecks got popular for simple stock-outs on a sale item: for a retailer, a return visit is a good thing.
But yeah, for giving away free strings, I'm entirely sympathetic to limiting your loss and counting it as advertising dollars..


Strange, I had just bought the new Martin Titanium Core Acoustic Guitar Strings Nickel Wrap Light Tension strings a few minutes before I seen the free offer. Maybe I'll be receiving some discounts because they now have my email address which I'm sure was part of the lure.

Ralph
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
Hey....I AM A REAL DOCTOR!....I ordered my diploma from the back of Rolling Stone in 1978 and have been a practicing physician ever since!

Maybe if you'd practiced your guitar instead you coulda been a successful musician.
:biggrin-new:
 
Top