my experience with vendors in tunica

L

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i bought a new case from a dealer, dont know why i never bothered to get his name lol.

bought some joint protectors and entered a raffle from omega billiards. dont know why i bought a raffle ticket, i have never won a raffle in my life.

mr. lomax and mr diveny had some very nice cues at what i thought were very reasonable prices.

now before i give my experience with a certain cue dealer let me say this. i know cue dealers are in bussiness to make money and i have no problem with it.

for the most part i did not see too many cues that i thought the prices were out of line . the problem i had was what a cue dealer valued my cue at on a trade for a cue i liked.

before i offered my cue as a trade i priced a couple of cues by the same maker with a similar design that he had for sale. his were priced at 1,100 more than what he offered me for mine.

here is what got me . his cues were 16 points with ebony inlays , my cue is 16 points with ivory inlays. how in the hell is a cue that is an identical design to mine but with ebony worth 1,100 more than my cue that has ivory ?

he said my cue had ivorine not ivory. little does he know i had a cuemaker that was there verify that my cue is indeed ivory and he valued it at about 3 times what i was offered for it as a trade in.

i dont mind someone making a lil money off me but dont try to rob me.
 
OUSooner said:
What kind of cue was it, what did he value it at and who was the dealer?
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its a phillipi. he offered 1,200 trade. i never asked him his name. i have pictures of it on my visiter page. all white is ivory verified by steve lomax.
 
mel_smOg said:
and what he was trying to trade for your cue?
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a jacoby he was asking 3,000 for. i would have gave him 1,000 and my cue. i am still amazed he had 2 phillipi's for sale for 2,300 without any ivory at all " btw i thought that was a decent price for them " and my cue with 16 pieces of ivory is only worth 1,200.
 
Trade business

I spent 20 years in the automotive business, wearing many hats including appraising cars and wholesaling. It always amazed me how people would think they should get more than retail value for their vehicle, it is the same in the pool world. People negotiate, and don't pay retail for a product. With that in mind who can they give you retail, when they sell it for less than retail? Reality is the person who knows the value of your cue is the person in the cue business, not you the individual. It is about Market Values, not Book Value. Book Values are a joke, it is easy to put a value on anything when you do not have any risk on reselling it. For example, how many cars has Blue Book bought and sold? Zero!!

If you want the best value for you cue there are two options.

1. Sell it yourself, then you are not wholesaling it to a dealer who will need to sell it to make a profit. Remember he is the one with the risk.
2. Wholesale it to the original cuemaker. He knows his cues better than anyone and probably feels they are worth more than anyone else.


Second thing, the business deserves a return on investment, and neither you or I know what that number is.
 
Before I lament your experience with you could you post photos of your $2,500 cue?

Keep in mind most cue dealers will work with you if you have a cue they can do something with.

But they do all sorts of things to improve their inventory.

Trade up, trade down with cash, trade even with value, bundle and package, swap, etc.

It's a tough way to make a living.

Most of them do it for the love of cues and the love of being around pool tourneys.

I know Scott Murphy and Joe Salazar were both there.

I would say Scott is easier to deal with because he owns most or all of his cues.

But I think most of the cues Joe has are on consignment.

Hope this helps so that you can understand.
 
robsnotes4u said:
I spent 20 years in the automotive business, wearing many hats including appraising cars and wholesaling. It always amazed me how people would think they should get more than retail value for their vehicle, it is the same in the pool world. People negotiate, and don't pay retail for a product. With that in mind who can they give you retail, when they sell it for less than retail? Reality is the person who knows the value of your cue is the person in the cue business, not you the individual. It is about Market Values, not Book Value. Book Values are a joke, it is easy to put a value on anything when you do not have any risk on reselling it. For example, how many cars has Blue Book bought and sold? Zero!!

If you want the best value for you cue there are two options.

1. Sell it yourself, then you are not wholesaling it to a dealer who will need to sell it to make a profit. Remember he is the one with the risk.
2. Wholesale it to the original cuemaker. He knows his cues better than anyone and probably feels they are worth more than anyone else.


Second thing, the business deserves a return on investment, and neither you or I know what that number is.
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If i made a cue and id have to use a lot of nails, I doubt that i would deserve a return on my investment.:)
 
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me too

Nostroke said:
If i made a cue and id have to use a lot of nails, I doubt that i would deserve a return on my investment.:)
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Good point, could maybe sell it as a model made in 300 AD. Might surprise you what someone would pay for that "collector" on ebay:grin-square:
 
Its the cue market.

From a dealers perspective... Phillippi = hard to move, expect to sit on for a long time unless you are going to blow it out. Phillippi's and a lot of other cuemakers are slow movers right now. Just the way it is.

Do not read into it that he has two for 2300.. if they are consigned, I am sure he has numbers he needs to get to satisfy the consignees. Sometimes taking a cue on consignment is also a risk, can make you look bad if the expectations of the seller are out of whack.

Having two 2300 dollar Phillippi's and a 3000 dollar Jacoby is nuts. Sorry, if you like the brand, just being realistic. These require very specific buyers, and its just a lot of money to try and get based on the available number of those buyers. I would rather have ONE 7600 dollar Bushka or Boti.

BTW I am not saying these cues are not worth the asking price.. just giving a different perspective on the cues from this side of the vendor table.

JV
 
I never understood guys somehow making a living selling used cues. You have to buy from the same guys your customer can but talk them down further and then try to sell it for way more than you would ever pay for it. I think the guys that appear to make a living this way are doing it with mirors.
 
Nostroke said:
I never understood guys somehow making a living selling used cues. You have to buy at Retail or talk someone down and then try to sell it for way more than you would ever pay for it. I think the guys that appear to make a living this way are doing it with mirors.
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Yeah and they are funhouse mirrors... :grin:

JV
 
good perspective

classiccues said:
Its the cue market.

From a dealers perspective... Phillippi = hard to move, expect to sit on for a long time unless you are going to blow it out. Phillippi's and a lot of other cuemakers are slow movers right now. Just the way it is.

Do not read into it that he has two for 2300.. if they are consigned, I am sure he has numbers he needs to get to satisfy the consignees. Sometimes taking a cue on consignment is also a risk, can make you look bad if the expectations of the seller are out of whack.

Having two 2300 dollar Phillippi's and a 3000 dollar Jacoby is nuts. Sorry, if you like the brand, just being realistic. These require very specific buyers, and its just a lot of money to try and get based on the available number of those buyers. I would rather have ONE 7600 dollar Bushka or Boti.

BTW I am not saying these cues are not worth the asking price.. just giving a different perspective on the cues from this side of the vendor table.

JV
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Very well put. It is nice to hear from someone from the other side of the table. Most consumers don't understand the risk, market, and having money tied up on slow moving products. There is a cost too keeping something in inventory. It use to cost me an average of $40 a day to keep a vehicle on the car lot.
 
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Is this your cue that you think is worth over $3000?
 
When I walk up to any dealer's booth with a trade offer, I expect to be lowballed. I think in general they are looking to make at least a 50% profit off of used cues. If they don't get them cheap, they can't turn a profit. You also don't as a buyer expect to pay full retail for a used cue and would assuredly not offer them full asking price for their cue.

I have dealt with most dealers with the exception of classiccues, simply because I don't travel to tournaments where they show up. I never get offended, but I am sometimes disappointed that I didn't come home with a cue they had that I liked. I am always willing to walk away from a deal if I don't get what I want, and they are the same way. Neither side wants to "leave money on the table". Along with Joe, I agree that there is also a huge difference in what a dealer is willing to do with a cue depending on what cuemaker made it. No disrespect to any cuemakers out there, but flippability is HUGE from a dealer perspective, and most fit into the category as hard to flip if the price isn't really good.

I also think many buyers aren't particularly well educated about the cues they own. They may know of a cuemaker and be willing to pay retail or close to it for their cue and place more sentimental value on a cue than what the market actually bears for that cuemaker. I have heard a couple of dealers offer cues at "wholesale" prices, but they are really just wanting market price.

That said, I have a $2800 Jensen that I am willing to trade/sell for a really good price ($850) if anyone is interested. PM me for specs and pics.
 
Hello

Kalki welcome to the board. Don't be afraid to jump in and express your opinion on something.
 
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