Are we allowed to post links to awesome Ibanez deals on any of the sub forums?

[ironfistx]

I looked through all the forum descriptions and didn't see any related to this. I know we cant post eBay links.

But sometimes certain companies have big sales on Ibanez guitars that Jemsite members might be interested in and it would be cool if we could share those with each other.

For example, right now a certain retailer has pink RG1XXVs for $707 shipped, which would represent a substantial savings over the normal price if someone happened to be in the market for one of those guitars.

I also wasn't sure where to ask, so I asked here.

[Rich]

1. Any retailer advertising that price are in violation of their dealer agreement with Ibanez.
2. The forum sponsors would match any other retailers price.
3. Those same sponsors pay quite a bit to advertise here so no competing links are allowed. You can't even post a link to MF.com, and many others on this board for that reason.

ie. http://www.***************.com

[Stealthtastic]

ahhh if only rich was in Canada :\

[ironfistx]

Originally Posted by Rich

1. Any retailer advertising that price are in violation of their dealer agreement with Ibanez.
2. The forum sponsors would match any other retailers price.
3. Those same sponsors pay quite a bit to advertise here so no competing links are allowed. You can't even post a link to MF.com, and many others on this board for that reason.

ie. http://www.***************.com

You're right, I forgot about the MAP rule. Does Ibanez actively look for vendors who violate those rules?

Yeah I didn't think we could post links but I figured I'd double check before doing so. I know different forums have different rules about that.

[Rich]

Feel free to post them in the Ibanez.com forum

Thanks for asking, well done.

Ibanez has gone as far as to hire a company that does nothing but search for violators. I'm not sure why because they're fairly weak in their punishment for doing so. You'd basically get a call to say "please stop". Gone are the days when JD would just yank your authorization and tell you to pound sand. But most of the manufacturers are walking on eggshells about it since the MAP lawsuit is still ongoing.

[ironfistx]

Hmm, they should hire me.

Maybe the vendor in question is no longer an Ibanez vendor and is just getting rid of leftover stock, hence they don't care about violating the MAP. They only appear to have the pink one listed.

That being said, they have a ton of other Ibanez guitars, so that's probably not the case.

Who is JD?

Cliffs notes on the MAP lawsuit? Sounds juicy.

[Rich]

At this point in the year we'd all love to blow out XXV's. Some of us actually follow our dealer agreement though.

http://www.metalinsider.net/shady-bu...action-lawsuit

I'm sure there's alot more out there if you search, I just did a quicky.

[ironfistx]

Rich,

Just so I am clear, advertising a price on your website under the MAP is violating the terms of being a vendor, right?

But it is legal to do the "add to cart to see price" thing that Amazon and some other online retailers do, right, because technically that's not an "advertised" price?

I am aware of at least one site that makes you log in as a special member in order to see the lowest possible prices, which are sometimes a bit lower than the normal prices. Is that the same kind of thing?

Re: price fixing, I have noticed that just about every retailer has the same prices on everything. I guess if everyone advertises the MAP and free shipping, they can't really go any lower. Hmm.

Question: Can a retailer sell new gear on eBay for under the MAP? Seems like a legal grey area. I'm sure they could sell used gear for whatever they want, but does marking new gear as used create inventory problems?

I also notice that Ibanez (and just about every other brand) is listed on Guitar Center and Sam Ash's list of coupon exclusions. I find it funny. Every other day I get an email from GC saying "save 10% (or however much) on purchases of $199 or more, 15% on $499 or more, and 20% on $999 ore more!" And then you view the list of excluded manufacturers, and it is this big:

65amps, A Designs, ADAM Audio, AKG, Allen & Heath, Alvarez, American Audio, American DJ, Ampeg, Antoine Courtois Paris, Aphex, Apogee, Apple, Armstrong, ART, Arturia, Audio-Technica, Audix, Auralex, Avalon, Avanti, Avid, Azumi, B&S, B3 Guitars, Bach, BAM, BeatKangz, Bedell, Behringer, Belkin, Benchmark, Benchmark Media Systems, Benedetto Guitars, Besson, Bixonic, Black Cat, Blackheart, Blackstar, Blue, Bogner, Bosch, Bose, Boss, Breedlove, Bricasti, Brio, BSS Audio, Buffet Crampon, Bugera, Bundy, Carl Martin, Casio, Cerwin-Vega, Chameleon Labs, Chandler Limited, Charvel, Chauvet, Cleartone, Cloud, Conn, Cordoba Music Group, Courtois, Crate, Crown, Cusack, Daking, Dangerous Music, dbx, Dean, Death By Audio, Diamond, DigiTech, Disney by Washburn, DLS Effects, Drawmer, Dunnett, Drum Workshop, EBS, Eden, Edirol, Elation, Electro-Harmonix, Electro-Voice, Elysia, Emerson, EMG, Eminence, EMMA Electronic, Empirical Labs, Empress Effects, Engl, Epiphone, ESP, Euphonix, Eventide, EVH, F. Loree Paris, Fano Guitars, Fender, Fishman, Focusrite, Fox, Fuchs, Fulltone, Furman, Gallien-Krueger, Galway, Gator, Gemeinhardt, Genz Benz, Getzen, Gibson, Gibson Custom, Gibson USA, Giffin Guitars, GNI Pedals, Godlyke, Gold Tone, Golden Age Project, Grace Design, Great Divide, Great River, Gretsch, Guild, Guyatone, Hagstrom, Hans Hoyer, Hao, Harden Engineering, Harman, Haynes, Hercules, HHB, Hohner, Holton, Ibanez, ISP Technologies, J Puchner, Jackson, JamHub, Jasmine by Takamine, JBL, Jet City Amplification, Jody Jaz, Jupiter, K&M, Kanstul, Kawai, Keeley, Keilwerth, Keith McMillen Instruments, King, Koll Guitars, Korg, Kramer, KRK, Kurzweil, Kush Audio, Langevin, Leblanc, Lexicon, Line 6, LovePedal, LP, LsL Instruments, Ludwig, Luna Guitars, Mackie, Mad Professor, Malekko Heavy Industry, Manley, Mapex, Markbass, Marshall, Martin, Martin-Leblac, Maxon, Meinl, Meinl Weston, Mesa Boogie, Millennia, Miraphone, Mixosaurus, Mogami, Mojave Audio, Moog, Morgan, Music Man, MusicXPC, N-Tune, Neumann, Neve, Nord, Novation, NS Design, Olympus, On-Stage Stands, Option 5, Orange Amplifiers, Ortofon, Ovation, P. Mauriat, Pacific Drums & Percussion (PDP), Paiste, Parker Guitars, Pearl, Peavey, Pelonis Sound and Acoustics, Perris, Phonic, Pigtronix, Pioneer, Powell, Prelude by Conn-Selmer, PreSonus, Propellerhead, PRS, Purple Audio, QSC, Quik Lok, Radial Engineering, Rainsong, Randall, Rane, Reunion Blues, Rickenbacker, Rivera, RME, Roc-N-Soc, Rockbag by Warwick, Rockbass by Warwick, Rockcase by Warwick, RockStand by Warwick, Rode Microphones, Roland, Royer, Rupert Neve Designs, Sabian, Sample Logic, Schecter Guitar Research, Scherzer, Schilke, Schreiber, Schroeder, Schroeder Guitars, Selmer, Selmer Paris, Sennheiser, Serato, Shure, SKB, SM Pro Audio, Softube, Solid State Logic, Sonare, Soul, Soundcraft, Squier, Stanton, Steinberg, Steinberger, Stephanhouser, Sterling by MusicMan, Summit Audio, Sweet Sound Electronic, SWR, T-REX Engineering, Takamine, Tama, Tapco, Taylor, TDK, Tech 21, Telefunken, Thermionic Culture, Toadworks, Tobias, Tone King, Tortuga, Traveler Guitar, Traynor, True Systems, Tube-Tech, Two Rock, Ultimate Support, Universal Audio, Vestax, Violet Audio, Vito, VMI, Voodoo Lab, VOX, W. Nirschl, Waldorf, Wampler, Warwick, Washburn, Weber Speakers, Western Digital, Xotic Effects, Yamaha, Yamaha Band & Orchestra, Yanagisawa, Zildjian, Zoom, ZVex Effects

I can't even think of many companies that aren't on that list.

More like they should say "save 10%. Just kidding!"

[Rich]

There is no legitimate way of revealing a lower price. Nstuff makes you look in the cart, violation, before I was authorized I had autoresponders [which I thought were ok but I was wrong], violation.

There is no limit on what you can sell a guitar for, you can give them away free if you wish [I have, but please don't ask how to get free guitars! HA], the restriction is on "advertised". If you have a retail store you can price them for whatever you want, the only restriction is it cannot be seen from outside the store. On the internet the only allowed process is "it has to be in direct conversation with the customer". In other words the customer has to contact you first.

The hidden lists, none of them make a difference. MF has a 15% coupon, they could care less what list a manufacturer is on, once they have you on the line they can sell you anything for any price. No different than my coupon matching where i state "restrictions apply", and at the bottom of the page it says not valid on Ibanez products. Of course it is, and it's stupid to even have to put that there, but that's the only way it's "correct" by policy.

[ironfistx]

Gotcha. Thanks for explaining.