Has the world gone to flipping?

[classiccues]

Interesting perspective, but totally valid. I have heard numerous dealers groan about picking up a builder that they can't move. And we all see what happened with DP. He had to eat. When survival is compromised, morals & creeds lose value in most humans. It's the facts of life. Self preservation nearly always prevails. Things are great & happy so long as the market is flowing strong for everybody, but a little drought can really clam up some folks. It's never good but it's human. Understanding these dynamics & preparinging for the worst would save a lot of hurt feelings among builders & dealers alike. But dreams & hopes seem to always weigh out logic.

Eric,
And I know it could go both ways with the dealer panicing first and then over discounting the cues. But don't underestimate the consumer, they know it's a buyers market. I had a few offers recently on cues that I posted that if it was face to face, I might have to slap somebody.. lol I was made an offer of over 35% off, and I was like, WTF do people think the discount is? 60%?????

That's why the cuemaker/dealer relationship can get strained very quickly if things are not hashed out in the beginning. When cash and product is flowing you're soulmates, when the economy goes pop, you're a Springer contestant.

JV

 

[Bamacues]

Very few custom cuemakers give discounts, and those who do, give pretty small ones. Also, any dealer "deal" usually begins with an initial purchase of a minimum of 4-6 cues, just to make sure that the dealer is committed to the cuemaker's product. That makes it tough, even for a "dealer"...as JV said, that is a lot of risk. This is especially true for those cuemakers who are more regionally known. I don't really know of any "top-tier" cuemaker who gives discounts....if they have a 4-12 year backlog, why would they?

The same holds true for the legitimate dealers on the production cue level. First, you have to provide your business license and tax ID, as well as proof of a storefront, etc. Then, you have to make a minimum initial purchase and, with many companies, maintain a minimum annual purchase quantity. When the market goes south, as it has recently, the dealer runs a big risk.

Marketing in the used custom cue business has its own risks. You have to try to buy low and sell higher...that is also tough right now. You also have to back the cue with your word when you go to sell it. That means that the dealer can suffer greatly from any non-disclosed issue or problem with the cue. If you lose out on just one cue, with the margin for profit being as small as it is, it can hurt you very badly and could take months to recover from.

Joe

 

[GoTulane]

Totally true!!

Michael, going through cues would not really warrant being a flipper. That's just being a cue nut. We're all cue nuts. I don't know any good builder that didn't blow through countless cues before building their own. Cues are fun. We love them. There's nothing wrong in buying, selling, swapping, etc. It's fun. Flippers that builders don't like are the liars & folks trying to play underhanded angles to get quick cash turnaround. You don't exactly fit that mold.

As for BSing with buyers, I love it. That's the fun of building for me. I get to meet folks from all around the world, all walks of life that share my interests. If I relied on cues for cash then I might get bothered by spending my days BSing & talking cues. But I don't. So I can enjoy myself. Besides, I learn a lot by speaking with everybody. It's fun. Why have passion for something you don't want to share with other like minded folks? It's only human, and frankly it's enjoyable. Cues are fun. My long post was mostly to point out that there's a lot of non-profit time involved in cuemaking and that it's not for everyone. If you don't absolutely love cues & love talking about cues as well as building them, then maybe cuemaking isn't your thing. The pay for building cues is the people you meet, the fun times you share with them, the great conversation, and the craft itself. The money is never going to justify the time spent so if it's not a deep rooted passion then you won't be a happy cuemaker. If you can't be happy, why do it?

Eric,

Yes, BS'ing about cues is great to do, except the wife gets sick and tired of it all the time:grin-square: I need your phone #, so I can stop bothering the wife, son, dog, and cat with my cue addiction excitement:thumbup:

I can understand wanting to talk and share with people, I was just saying I have heard of some people that will really get on a cuemaker's nerve by constantly bugging them(maybe even daily or hourly) about a specific cue being built, even when the timeline for the cue has been established, and the person is just bothersome to the point of annoyance. Look up STALKING on wikipedia.
Talking and shooting the $hit is cool, especially about something many of us love, but I was just stating that it could get to overkill.
I can understand about getting excited about a cue being built for you by a favorite maker, and the excitement is hard to control, so you want to talk about it all the time. Been there!! I guess controlled BS'ing is what I would consider myself able to do.

With my new job, I have a lot less time to BS about cues, because I am more focused on spending time with the family when I am not at work. The new job is 100x better than my last job that I did for 20 years, but I am trying to move up, and concentrate on building my career advancement, which takes hours and time at work. When I was unemployed I had all the free time in the world to BS about cues, and spend time with the family. Though the money was tight, I got to spend so much more quality time with my family, and in a sense it really got me thinking about priorities and what I want to do when I have spare time. But I had to eventually get a job, join the workforce again, and put food on the table, so hi-ho hi-ho, it's off to work I go.

But now I cherish the times I get to spend with the family on the weekends, and the time I get to BS about cues here on AZB. I just like to limit my BS'ing, so I have more time with the family with my limited 24hrs in a day.

Look forward to BS'ing with you soon about cues, especially when we have a specific one to talk about:grin-square:

Michael