dale perry cues
- Thread starter buck15
- Start date
He makes a pretty decent cue. you could have done alot worse. but i personally lobe th way they hit. i feel that his cues are worth the money he is getting for them. let us know how you like it when you hit some balls with it.................mike
it seems the best deal on a dale perry cue is buying directly from dale perry on ebay... its unbelieveable but i think he is undercutting his own dealers.. which doesnt make much sense..
good luck with it when you get it.. i am sure you will like it!
he makes some really nice designs..
chris
good luck with it when you get it.. i am sure you will like it!
he makes some really nice designs..chris
wow it's really weird that he gets dealers n yet undercut their prices..ChrisOnline said:it seems the best deal on a dale perry cue is buying directly from dale perry on ebay... its unbelieveable but i think he is undercutting his own dealers.. which doesnt make much sense..
good luck with it when you get it.. i am sure you will like it!
chris
Agreed
The endless 1 of 1's, the Ebay selling/undercutting...just doesn't sit right with me as a retailer.
True story...I had one of his cues on Ebay a couple of years ago. While the auction was still going on, he contacted the high bidder!!! Not exactly sure why he did that, and what was said, other than he confirmed that the cue was authentic and a great cue. But, he also told the bidder that for future purchases, the bidder could buy from him directly!
I got this from both horse's mouths. I couldn't believe it!
Nice cues...questionable business practices.
Gene
Believe it or not, most cue buyers do not buy on Ebay, but you're right Chris. That is why I no longer sell his cues unless I get a direct request.ChrisOnline said:it seems the best deal on a dale perry cue is buying directly from dale perry on ebay... its unbelieveable but i think he is undercutting his own dealers.. which doesnt make much sense..
good luck with it when you get it.. i am sure you will like it!
chris
The endless 1 of 1's, the Ebay selling/undercutting...just doesn't sit right with me as a retailer.
True story...I had one of his cues on Ebay a couple of years ago. While the auction was still going on, he contacted the high bidder!!! Not exactly sure why he did that, and what was said, other than he confirmed that the cue was authentic and a great cue. But, he also told the bidder that for future purchases, the bidder could buy from him directly!
I got this from both horse's mouths. I couldn't believe it!
Nice cues...questionable business practices.
Gene
Cuedog said:
The way I understand it, Dale was building a pretty nice cue and was wholesaling to dealers. The cues became populer so he went and got him a nice new shop with a ton of new CNC lathes and mills on a lease/buy scheme. Now he is not selling enough cues to pay all these bills so when payments are due he has to dump his cues on e-bay for quick cash. One of his dealers told me this and he is very upset because he can't even get his wholesale money back out of the cues he had purchased.
Dick
buck15 said:
Hello, I do not think the quality is really there in the cues I have seen. The shaft wood was B grade and the cues appearance also reflected the low price paid. The cues I tired also had a hit that really was not solid. However, this is to be expected considering the price paid for his cues, which is low for the work involved. I suspect that this is just another case of getting what you paid for, because lets face it, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. I also think that any cue maker who uses eBay as their main sales platform will never get what their cues are worth. Due to buyers looking for deals and not understanding what they are buying in the first place. So to make a profit cue makers must cut corners by using materials that are of a lower grade, and by taking advantage of the publics lack of knowledge. I suppose in retrospect you always get what you paid for but, you do not have to like it.
Craig
manwon said:
I've got 3. Look good. Hit great. The 1st one I bought for $700
before I realized I could get them quite a bit cheaper has a
killer hit. I've got some nice cues, Mottey, Bender, Scruggs, Kikel,
and this cue,hit wise, is right up there with them. I've got a Ebony
& snakewood Perry that's very nice also. The Speedster isn't as
good but it's decent.
PoolSleuth
Banned
buck15 said:
I have only seen one of his Cue I felt the Workmanship (Fit & Finnish was very good), I did not hit with the Cue so I can not comment on it.
When you get the Cue if you love the hit, than you should be a Happy Customer. If you do not like the Cue. Other owners will argue that his Cues are GREAT.
Cue to mes is like ARGUING WHAT CHINESE Restaurant is Best. As BEST, GREATEST, etc. are subjective terms, and like Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder....
Some people HATE Chinese Food, I could it it 3 x 7 x 24 x 365 and never be bored
I have a 1/1 that I paid too much for.
That said, the construction / fit / feel / hit are all pretty good.
If I knew then what I know now, the money would have gone to a lesser known maker and would have had one built for me.
Problem is, I now own a cue that as good as it is, I can never get out of it what I paid.
If I did, I'd feel like I robbed the sucker.
That said, the construction / fit / feel / hit are all pretty good.
If I knew then what I know now, the money would have gone to a lesser known maker and would have had one built for me.
Problem is, I now own a cue that as good as it is, I can never get out of it what I paid.
If I did, I'd feel like I robbed the sucker.
rhncue said:
That's silly, all he is doing is wholesaling to the public direct and I believe he has dropped all dealers. It makes sense, he is selling it appears 2 to 4 cues a week making anywhere from 1 to 2 thousand a week just selling on ebay. He also makes contacts through ebay for people who order custom cues or need repairs what ever. Beats sitting on your hands waiting for a dealer to place an order every six mouths if you are lucky and hopefully they pay you. Ebay is a legitimate market place and he has found a nitch, more power to him, he has made a smart business decision in my opinion.
He has been selling long enough on there now to make me feel he can keep it up indefinitely, who needs dealers. It may not be what others cue makers want to do but it seems to work for him, I also believe more then a few cuemakers are jealous of what he has done. I seriously doubt he is broke.
My nephew by the way sells high end $50,000, $75,000 cars through ebay earning himself in the low to mid six figures a year. There was a time he stood out in the hot sun trying to grind out a living selling cars like a lot of the suckers selling car still do. Maybe Dale is ahead of many of the other cue makers who like to criticize with his thinking.
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looks like i opened a can of worms..lol..
tell you what.. i like the way alot of his cues look and i believe he does a nice job, some of them has ugly designs but so do all the cue makers.. anyways... i think that is the major problem.. not that he is selling them on ebay.. but the fact that the dealers that were faithfull to him by buying some of his cues for their stock and then finding out they cant even get wholesale for some of them is the real crime.. and t he reason they are selling under wholesale is because he is selling them cheap direct.. it may be working out for him but that it is a bad buisness practice..
ya know.. at valley forge.. i was looking at a viking.. and for shits and giggles i asked the guy at the Viking booth how much.. he quoted me retail.. i laughed and told him .. i would never ever buy a cue from him when i can get it cheaper from the resellers.. he laughed and agreed.. told him noting agaisnt him.. he said the real reason they go to shows is really just to show their stuff.. they really have no intention on selling anything especially by giving people killer show deals because they make the promise to their resellers they wont undercut them.. because thats where all their sales come from.. i applaud them and all the other cue manufactures that wont comprimise on that standard... the trick is to find the dealer looking to make the least amount of money and your golden.. but by doiing things that way they keep everybody happy..
chris
tell you what.. i like the way alot of his cues look and i believe he does a nice job, some of them has ugly designs but so do all the cue makers.. anyways... i think that is the major problem.. not that he is selling them on ebay.. but the fact that the dealers that were faithfull to him by buying some of his cues for their stock and then finding out they cant even get wholesale for some of them is the real crime.. and t he reason they are selling under wholesale is because he is selling them cheap direct.. it may be working out for him but that it is a bad buisness practice..
ya know.. at valley forge.. i was looking at a viking.. and for shits and giggles i asked the guy at the Viking booth how much.. he quoted me retail.. i laughed and told him .. i would never ever buy a cue from him when i can get it cheaper from the resellers.. he laughed and agreed.. told him noting agaisnt him.. he said the real reason they go to shows is really just to show their stuff.. they really have no intention on selling anything especially by giving people killer show deals because they make the promise to their resellers they wont undercut them.. because thats where all their sales come from.. i applaud them and all the other cue manufactures that wont comprimise on that standard... the trick is to find the dealer looking to make the least amount of money and your golden.. but by doiing things that way they keep everybody happy..
chris
My impression...
I got the impression he does not have dealers anymore. Don't know that for a fact though. I guess he is doing well on Ebay. Only time will tell if this was the right move for the long run. I do not understand the 75% off retail prices offered. I would think it would depreciate the value over time. 5 years from now everyone will know how it turned out I guess.
I got the impression he does not have dealers anymore. Don't know that for a fact though. I guess he is doing well on Ebay. Only time will tell if this was the right move for the long run. I do not understand the 75% off retail prices offered. I would think it would depreciate the value over time. 5 years from now everyone will know how it turned out I guess.
From experience, 5-6 years ago, his cues were pretty hot here in Japan. They were so hot, that at one time I contacted him with the intentions of buying several cues to have shipped here so that I could also sell.........because at the time, DP cues here in Japan were selling for at least double their US price. He gave me a certain figure that I agreed to. Then when it came time to give him my personal details and contact information, the moment he found out that I was in Japan, the previous agreed to price skyrocketed. I was basically told to go to a Japanese dealer if I wasn't happy with the deal he would give me.
Now it appears he's done a 180 degree turnaround.
I haven't seen any of his Ebay cues, but I know that he made a good solid cue back then. My personal opinion would be that at the current rate that he's pumping cues out on Ebay these days, I would be very doubtfull as to wether or not he is (can be) as selective with his woods (particularly shaft material) as he may have been in the past. I would be willing to bet that in order to make cues at the current rate that he is, he is using, as opposed to discarding, a greater percentage of woods than he was 5 years ago.
Just an opinion.
dave
Now it appears he's done a 180 degree turnaround.
I haven't seen any of his Ebay cues, but I know that he made a good solid cue back then. My personal opinion would be that at the current rate that he's pumping cues out on Ebay these days, I would be very doubtfull as to wether or not he is (can be) as selective with his woods (particularly shaft material) as he may have been in the past. I would be willing to bet that in order to make cues at the current rate that he is, he is using, as opposed to discarding, a greater percentage of woods than he was 5 years ago.
Just an opinion.
dave
Tokyo-dave said:
You don't know what you are talking about. He is a two man shop making probably no more then a couple of hundred cues a year, about the same he made in the past. The difference is he is in complete control of his business and knows how many cues he can make and will sell. No need to wait for orders from dealers. He sells the cues and when you buy it direct from him on ebay it is finished to your specs, a much better deal then buying an already finished cue from a dealer that may have been sitting around for who knows how long and exposed to what ever environment the dealer has.
Maybe a store with no climate control, 80% humidity at night and 40% in the afternoon after he has been opens for a few hours and turns on the air. Cues that may have been played with, tried out by customers who knows what. On Ebay you are buying straight from him, the cue exactly as you want it with a guarantee.
It must get old having to guarantee cues that dealers may have abused, fly by night dealers that sell from the trunks of their cars, or what ever. Trust me, Dale knows what he is doing and the customer is far better off all around. There is no drop in quality and no mass production, just a well run business by one of the good guys in the billiard trade that is plagued with a lot of fly by night so called cue makers who never keep promises and you are lucky if they even send you a cue when you pay much less stand behind it with the integrity Dale does.
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macguy said:
I think when dealers are selling out of the trunks of their cars the cue manufacturers need to look VERY closely at who they choose. Having a network of legitimate dealers helps maintain your worth over time and reputation for guarantees. It also reduces your headaches of dealing with some of the general public. When you sell to just ANYONE..then problems arise. For example, all the dealers that sell factory 2nds on Ebay under an alias and do not disclose it. These are the same people that used to sell in the back pages of magazines years ago before the internet. I know for years some manufacturers sold to these independants under the agreement they disclose they are not Authorized Dealers and that they are factory seconds. Most never disclosed this. The industry as a whole has a long way to go in terms of regulating itself. Right now its all about money...and very little about anything else.
cueandcushion said:
Even the most legitimate dealers often travel and display at tournaments and the cues are in and out of cars and bounced all over the place, played with, handled and so on. If you buy a cue from one of these guys, when they leave town and the buyer has a problem who do they call, the cue maker. "I bought one of your cues brand new from so and so and it is not straight or makes a noise what are you going to do about it"?
Do nothing or try to pass off blame and you find yourself crucified on a forum like this so you have to eat the problem when you have done nothing wrong. There are many ways to look at it. I think for Dale he seems to have come up with a formula that he likes.
I think he may have started out trying to go full custom, but through ebay, realized that maybe more on the lines of production would work out better in the long run. If you change your way of thinking and think of them as more of a production cue, you will be very satisfied. For a comparable price, he is hard to beat, but don't ever pay what he claims is the retail value, and I would put no added value on the fact that they are "1 of 1" with a Certificate of Authenticity. By strict definition, no two cues are made of the same pieces of wood, and that is almost the logic he is using to justify the "1 of 1" status. Kinda makes me want to gag when I hear it even mentioned.
