Your thoughts on buying from dealers vs. direct?

[Taylor Livingston]

I'm curious to hear your thoughts about buying boutique pedals through dealers vs. buying direct from builders. This question is not just about IE, but in general. Of course, if you first find out about a pedal by looking at a big effects website, then you'll likely want to purchase through there. But what if you already know about a pedal, want to buy one, and you're looking at the builder's website?

Do you have a preference as far as which you prefer? What factors would make you decide on one or the other?

[bugzaney]

I prefer buying directly from the builder, something about the pedal coming straight from the masterminds is appealling.

[jmoote]

I prefer to buy direct and have enjoyed my transactions with you and other builders, but often dealers can offer a better price with free shipping etc. which makes the decision harder. I understand why your direct cost has to be higher than wholesale (time spent dealing with customer, processing order, etc.) but the dealers don't seem to care and must be selling at impossibly small margins.

[Chankgeez]

I always prefer to buy direct if at all possible. I'd like my money to go straight to the builder. No middleman.

That being said, I bought my Xerograph Deluxe, for example, from Prymaxe. I was buying a couple other pedals at the time. So, it was purely a matter of convenience. Sometimes price is a factor, especially if there's a big sale going on. My buying habits are never cut and dried. I'm a complicated consumer.

The effects pedal market is significantly different now for all (producer, retailer, consumer) than it was 10 years ago than it was 20 years ago than it was 30 years ago than it was 40 years ago than it was 50 years ago. Unless a person's lucky enough to live near a great guitar shop, I think nowadays most of us obtain our pedals by way of e-commerce. I've built great relationships with both builders and retailers over the course of multiple purchases. All things being equal, however, I think buying direct from the builder is best. For boutique pedals, it's a more human experience interacting person to person with a builder.

Taylor, let me turn the tables on you. What benefits do you see for boutique builders selling through a dealer network vs. selling direct?

[Taylor Livingston]

I really appreciate your feedback, everybody.

Taylor, let me turn the tables on you. What benefits do you see for boutique builders selling through a dealer network vs. selling direct?

This is tricky to answer on a public forum. We currently sell through a number of dealers, as well as direct, as you know. Some of the reasons that it's worth having a dealer network:

- Having pedals available in other countries can work out much better for people outside the US. I'm not certain how the financials end up working out, with import fees, shipping, etc. but ultimately I know a number of people would prefer to buy from somebody in their country, if only to get it sooner and, in some cases, to be able to speak to someone who speaks their language better than I do (I try my best with Spanish, but have to get by with Google Translate for anything else - who knows what crazy, offensive things I might be saying accidentally!).

- For a lot of builders I'm sure it's nice to have someone to handle the individual packing, shipping, etc., especially for one-person boutique shops. These days we are set up to do this pretty efficiently so it's not something that makes a difference for us. Likewise, some builders are not very good with email contact (though this is becoming rarer - I remember buying a custom pedal about 10 years ago, and having to wait a week to get a response on any message to the builder. These days I doubt that's very common.)

-The major thing is increasing visibility, and providing a place to purchase that you know you can trust. In this sense, having dealers is a form of advertising.

The way I approach it if I'm going to buy a pedal from another builder, is that if I run across it on a retailer's website, I will purchase there, since they are the ones who brought it to my attention. Often retailers will even have created a video for the pedal that got me interested - this is a really important service that they provide, so I buy through them. Otherwise, if I find out about something through forums or another situation where the builder him/herself has gotten my attention directly, it makes sense to me to buy direct.

[Chankgeez]

This is tricky to answer on a public forum.

Very tactful answer. Thank you.

I think most builders would probably prefer to sell direct because it means more money in pocket, but as stated there're some advantages to having dealers.

I'd also like to add that I was planning on purchasing my Xero DLX directly from IE prior to Taylor offering the DLX version (when all of those features were still à la carte options). It didn't end up working out that way, Taylor incorporated all the the things I would've wanted into the DLX. So, there was no need to order custom when the stock version had all the features I was looking for. Obviously, if you want something different from the stock model you'd usually order direct from the builder instead of buying from a dealer.

[yallerhon]

As much as I'd love to buy direct from manufacturers, living in Australia means postage can be very expensive. Thus I try to order pedals in groups through online stores who can do free postage (generally for purchases over $400). This often means a friend and I order things together.

[Eric!]

it makes sense to me to buy direct.

[Jwar]

I've actually only bought direct with boutique pedals. I've bought pedals at GC before but not the cool kind.

I prefer to deal with the builders and not some fake ass store front people. Except Tom. Tom is the shit and I like, really love him. HARD TOM. HARD.

[sylnau]

I always prefer to purchase direct from builder.
Most of the things I want are not available in store here whwre I live.

[MSUsousaphone]

I would usually say direct....but Prymaxe having those deals makes me go to them. I understand why boutique pedals cost more. They sound better and the profit margin is less for the builder since they aren't mass producing them. But 15% off a $200 pedal is too good to pass up.

[hclapp219]

Dealers tend to get my impulse buys as they are generally much better marketers than the builders themselves in terms of emails/discounts. Also it gives peace of mind if your dealing with a new/foreign builder whose reputation is unknown.

[Grrface]

I would usually say direct....but Prymaxe having those deals makes me go to them. I understand why boutique pedals cost more. They sound better and the profit margin is less for the builder since they aren't mass producing them. But 15% off a $200 pedal is too good to pass up.

Pretty much this. There is something nice about knowing that the builder made that pedal for you, with you in mind, though.

[Waterpilot]

I'd prefer to go through the builder but I tend to run on impulse at times. So I'll go to where the pedal is available so I can get it NOW! To be honest though, the discounts are very apealing as well. I bought a couple of pedals from TF just because of the closeout. Had they not been offering so much I probably never would have bought them.

[CliffBass]

I prefer to buy as much of my music equipment direct as possible, from bass to effects. I much prefer the idea of no middle man, money to maker. I think the only area that draws my concern when buying direct is returning a product, sometimes it's just not as easy with a builder than it is with a shop. That and for me it's hard to resist when shops offer upwards of 10% off of pedals that usually cost upwards of $200 and shops usually have free shipping whereas builders usually do not, so the total savings can add up. But then it's pretty sweet when builders honor those deals ( ).