Music Store Owner Needs My Help, I Need Yours

[dadangle]

Hello everyone, I hope you're all doing well.

I'm looking for a bit of advice with, as mentioned, a local music store that I wandered into on monday. The guy is a really good dude and recently had to consolidate three stores into one due to some family bs. His store, being packed to the ceiling, is amazing. With any and every type of instrument and gear you could imagine. I even walked out with an shitty saxophone and an old tube head. But before I left, I had to ask if he sold anything online. He said no but he's looking to start. I think we both actually looked at it like a beautiful stroke of improbable luck. I used to be a professional guitar salesman and now I sell things on websites, and he just happens to have a store full of priceless gear he's looking to sell online. Friendship made lol.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a pro web designer and I don't know everything about IM. But I do know that I can learn anything that I want to and I'd really like to help this dude out. Really, he just wants to sell his stuff for the highest price possible, but his first thought was to buy an existing auction site or have one built, something I haven't done. I however, think that using ebay and a few other music related gear sites would be far better because that's where the people already are. Even at Sweetwater and GC where I worked, I used ebay, craigslist and even fb to sell most used gear that came through, so I really don't think battling with them is possible for a new site. Especially for a pretty limited budget and time span.

So what do you guys think? Should I help him with a new site, or push to use the preexisting giants? Perhaps both over time, but I don't really think that's in the budget right now. But if say, he wants to buy an already established auction site, what's a good route to take and price to pay? All I really know is that I love and miss selling music equipment like that and this dude could use my assistance. I'm open to any and all pointers from anyone who can help.

Thanks everyone, especially bhw.

dadangle

 

[dannyslimited]

Why are you not doing instead of asking.

 

[nanavlad]

why not do both
Start with ebay and amazon, craigslist
You can set them up quickly and be making money to invest in building your own store and ranking it

 

[BillyPart]

Meh. This happens to me all the time. You've stumbled on a charity case and want to help. You can see the future. You can see how the two of you can work together and benefit both of you. You are the "ying" to his "yang". It could be PERFECT.

There's a reason why he's at where he's at. You haven't seen him see the obvious solution and say "No" for no damn reason at all. You haven't got the distinct feeling that while you are in the middle of doing him a favor, he's acting like letting you do that favor is actually doing YOU the favor.

If he isn't willing to sign a contract with a specific payment arrangement, you are at best wasting your time and at worst wasting your time AND money. Small business owners in distress are notorious flakes. Then there's the possibility of drugs, alcohol, other mental health issues, etc...

 

[dadangle]

why not do both
Start with ebay and amazon, craigslist
You can set them up quickly and be making money to invest in building your own store and ranking it

I think that's what we're going with actually. After some time for him to think, he's on board with letting me do what I think is best. And actually BillyPart was partly correct. The dude's got his issues for sure and I'm not 100% about his decision making, but he's not looking to screw me over nor I him. Lol we got drunk last night in his store while I took pictures and whatnot, and I gotta say, he knows absolutely nothing about the internet and if anything, is afraid of it. He was even intimidated by the knowledge that I have but he's willing to learn. We also agreed upon my pay arrangement already. Trust me, I don't fool around with that. So perhaps this is a charity case that could blow up in my face, but I think I'm going to take this chance. I just see too much potential profit to walk away. And I get to work in a music store again : )