Your customer sells your cue?

[Bob Farr]

I want to ask the fine Cuemakers out there if you feel hurt or betrayed when one of us sells a custom ordered cue that you slaved over for us. Or, are you just thankful for the business.
I've ordered and later sold some beautiful cues and I've never meant any disrespect to the builder I just want to order a new design from someone else. Just can't keep em all and I'm a repeat customer a lot of times.
Just wondering.

 

[TomHay]

Sorry for Post on my thoughts, I no longer make cues so even my opinions from the past do not belong here, as pointed out to me.

 

[GBCues]

Once I sell a cue to you, it is YOUR cue to do with as you please.

If you are unhappy with it and don't tell me, well, there's nothing I can do to remedy that. If I know you are unhappy, I will try to work something out with you.

My 2 cents,

Gary

 

[cueman]

If I made a special deal with someone I would get a little aggravated if they sold it. But on normal sales I do not care what you do with it afterwards.

 

[Chris Byrne]

I once lent a cue to a player to use while he sent his back to the maker for repairs. I later found it for sale in a local pool hall. So much for helping out a friend.
As to the original question. As long as there was no special deal made it is the owners cue to do as they please. About 1 month ago I had a well known player bragging to me about the cue he got cheap from a builder with a long wait list because he said he wanted one to play with. He had no intention of playing with it, he only wanted it to flip it. I told him it was not cool and he was taking advantage of the builder. We did not see eye to eye on that but I will say he will never get a nickle off a cue from me. Crap like that is why alot of builders are hesitant to sponsor players.
As long as there is no misrepresentation when the cue is bought I take no offence if someone sells a cue but I will admit I do not like to see my cues resold as I want to know why the owner is letting it go. I am cool with it now as alot of my customers own multiple cues of mine so I assume people parting with theirs might not like how my cues play. The ones who keep them do. Also there are alot of people who constantly rotate thru cues just to try what is out there.

 

[97Buick22]

I once lent a cue to a player to use while he sent his back to the maker for repairs. I later found it for sale in a local pool hall. So much for helping out a friend.
As to the original question. As long as there was no special deal made it is the owners cue to do as they please. About 1 month ago I had a well known player bragging to me about the cue he got cheap from a builder with a long wait list because he said he wanted one to play with. He had no intention of playing with it, he only wanted it to flip it. I told him it was not cool and he was taking advantage of the builder. We did not see eye to eye on that but I will say he will never get a nickle off a cue from me. Crap like that is why alot of builders are hesitant to sponsor players.
As long as there is no misrepresentation when the cue is bought I take no offence if someone sells a cue but I will admit I do not like to see my cues resold as I want to know why the owner is letting it go. I am cool with it now as alot of my customers own multiple cues of mine so I assume people parting with theirs might not like how my cues play. The ones who keep them do. Also there are alot of people who constantly rotate thru cues just to try what is out there.

TAP TAP TAP !!!:smile:

 

[bdcues]

I once lent a cue to a player to use while he sent his back to the maker for repairs. I later found it for sale in a local pool hall. So much for helping out a friend.
As to the original question. As long as there was no special deal made it is the owners cue to do as they please. About 1 month ago I had a well known player bragging to me about the cue he got cheap from a builder with a long wait list because he said he wanted one to play with. He had no intention of playing with it, he only wanted it to flip it. I told him it was not cool and he was taking advantage of the builder. We did not see eye to eye on that but I will say he will never get a nickle off a cue from me. Crap like that is why alot of builders are hesitant to sponsor players.
As long as there is no misrepresentation when the cue is bought I take no offence if someone sells a cue but I will admit I do not like to see my cues resold as I want to know why the owner is letting it go. I am cool with it now as alot of my customers own multiple cues of mine so I assume people parting with theirs might not like how my cues play. The ones who keep them do. Also there are alot of people who constantly rotate thru cues just to try what is out there.

Agree with this also. Don't mind when someone sells one of my cues but I do feel a wee bit of pride when someone sells all their cues... except mine. Once someone buys the cue it is theirs to do with as they wish and not mine to worry about.

 

[rhncue]

Selling one of my custom built cues does not bother me in the least as long as they've been paid for before selling them. I seldom receive a deposit when a cue is ordered and once completed I let my customers know that they can return the cues for full amount after a week or two of use if they don't feel the "hit" is to their liking. I've had a few customers in the past (Scott Kitto's son Steve and a fellow who get's on the main forum whom covers tables, Jason Taylor) for two, who got their cues and promised to be back in a day or two when they were paid only to never see them, the payment nor the cues again. Someday we will cross paths and one of us isn't going to like it.

Dick

 

[pdcue]

Selling one of my custom built cues does not bother me in the least as long as they've been paid for before selling them. I seldom receive a deposit when a cue is ordered and once completed I let my customers know that they can return the cues for full amount after a week or two of use if they don't feel the "hit" is to their liking. I've had a few customers in the past (Scott Kitto's son Steve and a fellow who get's on the main forum whom covers tables, Jason Taylor) for two, who got their cues and promised to be back in a day or two when they were paid only to never see them, the payment nor the cues again. Someday we will cross paths and one of us isn't going to like it.

Dick

Don't forget Putnum - Or is he a 'partial'?

 

[pescadoman]

I used to break alot of shafts.

Jerry McWorter said it worked out nicely for him. I never managed to break the butt though....

A local bought one of mine and wasn't shooting with it. That kind of bothered me. I saw it in the hands of someone else, so I guess he sold or gave it away.

It would only bother me if he didn't like it and wouldn't give me a chance to make him happy..

 

[Hits 'em Hard]

It would only bother me if he didn't like it and wouldn't give me a chance to make him happy..

Is there a contract signed when you allow a customer to place an order saying he shall be the only owner of the cue? No? Then don't bend over backwards to attempt to please everyone, they may not like the cue for a reason you can't fix.

 

[pescadoman]

Is there a contract signed when you allow a customer to place an order saying he shall be the only owner of the cue? No? Then don't bend over backwards to attempt to please everyone, they may not like the cue for a reason you can't fix.

Well, I'm really not that nice of a person and can't afford to alienate customers....

 

[TomHay]

As a Cue Maker many years ago a man at a local Pool Hall I frequented used a House cue which he had put a cigerette burn mark on.

He had little money and asked if I could make him an exact duplicate Sneaky Pete. The owners would not let any house cues go.

I had but a Hightower basic at the time. I measured the whole cue and cut and sand got it to where it was exact, even put the cigerette burn in same place. I brought it over to him, he hit some balls and his eyes got misty, all he ever wanted. I gave it to him.

That evening he went to Miami, gambled and won. The guy he beat hit some balls with the Sneaky, loved it and he gave the guy cash for the cue and another cue (production) for it.

I saw him again a week later in the same Pool Hall it all started at. He asked me if I could make him another. I would give my reply but that would lead to being on vacation from AZB for a while.

Now you know my stand on those that instant profit from a cue.

How many times have you seen bragging done on how great a new cue in the Cue Gallery is only to find it for sale, unchalked in the Wanted to Buy/Sell section?

 

[Bob Farr]

Thanks for the responses. Some real bad stories here also. I can't believe someone would sell a cue someone made for them for free? If someone made me a cue to play with and didn't charge me for it, I would give it back to them if I didn't need it anymore,- Duh???

My question was more along the lines of: "I order a cue from you and pay full price, wait my turn, keep it and play with it and then sell it to try a cue from someone else". Create some new business out there.
Anyway, I know there are a lot of us out here that just like to buy and sell not for profit but, just to see and try different cues.

 

[VegasSucks]

I dont make cues, I'd like to learn- but that's beyond the point. I make custom jewelry and cut gemstones as well. In the few years i've been doing this I have only seen one of my pieces for sale. It kinda had me thinking when I first saw it, but it came down to the customer was hard up on cash and she needed to just sell it. In the future if I see something of mine for sale, like mentioned above somewhere, i'd just like to know why and if it has anything to do with my workmanship or anything. Other than than that I really dont care- it gets my work in front of more eyes! But my realm and pool cues are pretty far apart, so it's hard to compare. It's just harder for someone to flip my products for a profit.

 

[Snapshot9]

Guess

that I am a little different then, because when I buy/have a cue made, it is for me to play with, and not flip to buy another cue. Now, there are two reasons that I might sell it, if I was dissatisfied with the balance or the hit, but those are the only reasons.

So, this makes me wonder about the guys flipping cues if they are just flipping them to just upgrade or whether they are flipping them because they believe something is not right about the cue.

I see a lot of cues in the for sale section that are sold, and 2-3 months later are being sold again by the buyer in the first transaction. Raises a red flag to me. And since we are in this section, quite a few of the sellers over there have priced some of those cues way too high, and then they wonder why they don't get any offers to buy them.

 

[carguy]

How do I feel?

A couple years ago a guy at the pool hall, a regular for years, had his cue stolen: a nice Schon-R that he had bought new. After that, I watched him come in every day, pull a cue down off the wall and play, but it was not his usual excellent game. He needed his gun.

This guy and I were not pals. He didn't like me much and I wasn't crazy about him, but it bothered me seeing him come in every every day with a long face. This guy really loves pool, so I offered him a loaner 'til he got another stick. It seemed like the right thing to do. He accepted.

It was one I made for myself several years ago, a wrap-less E.I. Rosewood/Maple 5/16-14/steel joint sneaky pete but with a new ferrule-less shaft and a Morri medium, plain black collars, black butt/white "Hoppe" ring. It was modeled after a Bob Fry cue I had purchased as a quality standard for my own cues when I first started. It was a good stick and, naturally, "hit a ton"

Well, two weeks later he approached me about having a stick built. He wanted a 59" cue, and I happened to have a nice full splice/full splice core curly Bubinga/birdseye cue with a 1" over butt that I was working on at the time. He liked it, he agreed to the price, and we shook hands on the deal. I was stoked because here was a guy that didn't even LIKE me, ordering a stick. Cool. It was a nice compliment. I finished the cue and threw in a little extra ringwork no charge since I felt so good about the sale.

When I brought the cue in for delivery he hit balls for a while and lit up the table. He loved it. "So what do I owe you?" I kind of gulped, since we had already worked that out, and I repeated the price. But what he said next really blew me away. "Yeah, but I need this one too", pointing at the "loaner". Yup, he bought both.
All this about two years ago.

So yesterday I walked into the poolhall and I noticed another regular hitting balls with what looked to me, from across the room, with my bad eyes, one of my cues. It looked most excellent. Even better than I remembered.
"I just bought it!" he beamed. It was that same bubinga cue.

So how did I feel after this guy went and sold my at-one-time latest, greatest, tricked-out-in-every-way proudest creation?
Another smiling face holding one of my cues? How do I feel?
Terrific!

Robin Snyder

 

[VegasSucks]

A couple years ago a guy at the pool hall, a regular for years, had his cue stolen: a nice Schon-R that he had bought new. After that, I watched him come in every day, pull a cue down off the wall and play, but it was not his usual excellent game. He needed his gun.

This guy and I were not pals. He didn't like me much and I wasn't crazy about him, but it bothered me seeing him come in every every day with a long face. This guy really loves pool, so I offered him a loaner 'til he got another stick. It seemed like the right thing to do. He accepted.

Robin Snyder

Great story! Almost the same thing happened to me- My cue was stolen too and it just wasn't the same after that. I slowly stopped going to play because the enjoyment just wasn't in it with a cue off the rack. I tried to buy another cue, but several deals just feel through and I kinda gave up and took some years off until just a few weeks ago when I decided to come back to the game I love. Kinda fickle, I know.. that losing a prized cue could depress and discourage someone so much as to eventually give up and push the game from your life, but I'm sure some of you can relate. I can only imagine what would have happened if I had caught a break from a stand-up guy like you. I really enjoyed that post Robin. :thumbup:

 

[TrueBlue]

Great Question

I want to ask the fine Cuemakers out there if you feel hurt or betrayed when one of us sells a custom ordered cue that you slaved over for us. Or, are you just thankful for the business.
I've ordered and later sold some beautiful cues and I've never meant any disrespect to the builder I just want to order a new design from someone else. Just can't keep em all and I'm a repeat customer a lot of times.
Just wondering.

Great question Bob. I have purchased several custom cues and have to admit I felt guilty about selling them because I know a lot of hard work goes into building a cue. I do not think selling one is nearly as bad as someone criticizing the work of a cuemaker... I am getting into doing simple repairs like changing tips etc...just a beginner so it has helped me develop a great deal of respect for cuemakers. I have had a few cues that did not feel right to me...it wasn't the cue but just my personal preference. I have come to realize when it concerns "me" it is not necessarily the arrow but rather the indian

I am so excited I have a Josey Custom cue arriving anyday...in a moment of insanity I sold a Josey earlier this year.. I have to admit I felt guilty because Keith is such a great guy. I am glad I was able to pick up another. If you guys see me post it for sale later tell me I am idiot so I will come back to my senses.