Why no price disclosed

[NewAge]

Can someone please tell me why some piano shop advertisements, do not openly reveal the price of some used pianos, but indicate POA - price on application.

Now I know that it's the policy of some piano manufacturers not to openly communicate their new retail prices (and I can guess why....... ), however why this POA with used pianos?

I wonder how many shoppers are like myself and have a distrust (perhaps unwarranted) over shops who do not adequately price their products, and I'm certainly not restricting this comment to piano or musical outlets.
Over the years I have rarely purchased anything from a store where the product was not clearly labeled. And the same applied even when we were house-hunting. Those agencies who displayed photos of properties without prices displayed were boycotted without a second thought.
Hence my original question; surely an ad may create a little more interest if an honest price was displayed. Or am I missing some fundamental business practice?

[Colin Nicholson]

I know exactly what you mean - its annoying! POA ??
I'm not sure of the exact answer myself, but I think it could be down to "psychological price building" - and yes, why not just reveal the price.

I was pricing up some castors yesterday for an upright piano - I tuned it, and all four castors were missing as it was sat on 4 blocks of wood. Lovely house, and the piano was in the dining room with laminated flooring - but what a ghastly site looking at the piano!!

So I then turned to my Piano Parts Argos catalogue! - and everything seemed reasonably priced. So just out of interest (or bordum), I checked out the price for Brass Concert Twin Wheel Castors (with brakes) for a grand piano, and it said "£POA/set"...... EH? so I think its to discourage the faint-hearted person who would rather prop their piano up with a library book - and anything over a whopping £500 is never mentioned - and also to make it out that everything else in the catalogue is cheap(ish) - hence, why spoil a reasonably priced catalogue by throwing in a silly price!! However, I've never seen pianos priced with POA - that must be desperate & obviously the retailer is frightened to death to reveal the true price...... however, car show rooms are better at it...... they sometimes never reveal any prices on their cars - so it makes the customer ask them what price it is. I also think its like putting a "sold" sign on a piano that really hasn't been sold, but to give the customer the impression the shop is hectic - and "ha ha" - you've missed out on this piano! Seen it, got the T shirt...... allsorts of tricks there are in the salesmanship business, and many "play hard to get" ---- why though? surely they are cutting their nose off to spite their face>

We'll leave it there.....

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

When I'm buying things I'm always looking for prices. I walk away if the prices isn't displayed. So yes, I agree that it makes no sense.

I can only assume that the people who use the POA for used pianos are either

A) Not organised enough to maintain their website
B) Too expensive to dare listing their prices online
C) They want you to phone so they can perform a sales pitch to you and persuade you to buy or visit

It would not be good use of my time if people phoned me asking for a list of price of all my current stock... so I just publish them clearly online instead.

[Barrie Heaton]

POA is uses to get you to ring, if you can talk to a client you may get them to come in or if they say we have seen them for £XXx Arr well sir we can better that, it will be £xxx and we can offer you xxx as well. Piano sold ! but if the price is on the site that bit is lost Also, in Yamahas case I understand the dealers are not allowed or suppose to advertise more then 20% lass than RRP on the internet so a call can be fruitful.


to Colin
As to the the big casters they are so expensive the supply houses only get them in for an order, they have to pay the current price and with that amount of Brass the price will not be what it was last month, so to cover themselves its POA



Barrie,

[mdw]

Also, in Yamahas case I understand the dealers are not allowed or suppose to advertise more then 20% lass than RRP on the internet so a call can be fruitful.

Barrie,

They are not meant to stick them on ebay either but countrywide seem quite happy to disregard the dealer agreemet they signed and Yamaha dont seem to be doing anything about it so not worth the paper etc.

You also find a load of very old out of date prices advertised on the net including pianos that are no longer made. Theres a couple of sites with the whole Tozer uk range from a few years ago still showing.

[Barrie Heaton]

You also find a load of very old out of date prices advertised on the net including pianos that are no longer made. Theres a couple of sites with the whole Tozer uk range from a few years ago still showing.

As Advertising standards go if you advertise a piano at price you have to sell it at that price and the web is now coved for UK retailers with TS

So if you see that C3 at 2006 prices you could demand it @ that price they may say its out of stock would be interesting to see if you would get it. Dixsons got stung a few years ago they have an expensive camera on their site and one of the website mangers had missed off a few "0" it was selling for £20 instead of 2000 something like that, the court said they have to sell them at that price to all those who had got them on line and some that had come into the shop before a certain date.

Dixsons little notice saying that they can't be held responsible for any inaccurate info on the site did not help them

Barrie,

[k.anderson3454]

I agree. They should put the price upfront. I think they do this to really get the attention of the buyer.

[hammer man]

The reason that some supply houses mark parts such as brass castors POA is that the cost of the parts keep increasing due to the cost of raw materials. Piano wire and brass castors have increased in price 3 times a year over the last 2 years.
As for pianos, I am guessing that when one dealer sets his price in stone another will undercut him to get the deal. Sad really.

[joe]

Hi HAMMER MAN its the BIG MAN hows business?,all the treads speak sense selling is an art and those days are gone now as the internet sellers have discovered the art also by offering trade + v.a.t. retails prices no salesmanship or technical expertise there,the Piano Trade in the U K is killing itself slowly with price slashing suppliers greed and retailers reluctance to trade in the new-age with dignity not forgetting the guy who tunes a few joannas and thinks he owns Harrods.