I think I prefer buying my pedals online.

[nixpix]

I find that I'm usually more comfortable with a pedal purchase when I buy from an online retailer vs. local dealer. Why?

1. Online dealers usually have a more generous return policy. It takes a few days for me to know if a pedal will really work for me.
2. I can hear the pedal with MY rig and without the distraction of a salesman or other players in the store.
3. No sales tax. Not a biggie for me but nice.
4. It's easier to have a pedal shipped to me than to drive an hour each way to my favorite pedal store.

I'd say Guitar Center and Sam Ash are a couple of exceptions as far as returns are concerned, since they give a month to return. Also, I must thank all the folks that invest their time doing demos since those really help me when shopping online.

 

[Memphistokid]

To a point, I prefer online also. There's a couple of stores on the island who are cool to deal with but each one has "that guy" who's a brand name, $$$ pricetage snob and is full of s**t, whenever that person is there I just try a bunch of gear out for "research" and chances are buy online. If he's not there and I'm out for blood, chances are I'm purchasing gear that day.

 

[Clark GriswoId]

Yeah, im buying online for 99% of all my gear.

 

[DCMC Worship]

99% of the time, it's either CL, Reverb, or EB. However, I've gotten some good deals from GC's used gear section. I'll only buy used from the stores by me and not their online used gear section. Their ridiculous shipping prices usually off-set the deal.

 

[Johnny Moondog]

Yep - I would say 80% of my gear, came from online purchases (used or new).

 

[dirk_benedict]

For people that treat buying their next piece of gear like its their wife/husband/best friend/dog/new heart transplant, the "risk" of buying online is enough to scare them away. For people that realize that virtually all of these things are variations on commodity tools, online is the place to be!!

If you know what you are looking for and have a little bit of ability to work on guitars there is really not much in the way of "running the racks" any longer. The disaster scenario is easily covered by the stupidly generous paypal and retailer return policies.

I personally gave up the "Excalibur" idea a long long time ago. The fact that there are potentially "better" versions of the guitar I have out there hasn't stood in the way of me playing a gig or writing a song, ever.

 

[derekeugene]

The only thing I prefer about shopping in a store is the "stumble upon" factor. Kind of like browsing around a Blockbuster.

"Oh damn, forgot about this pedal! I'll try it out real quick." One of those things.

 

[jordane93]

Yep - I would say 80% of my gear, came from online purchases (used or new).

Me too.

 

[Haunting Mids]

I never bought a guitar or an amp online and never will.
Pedals, strings and things ? I do it most of the time.

 

[T Dizz]

I find that I'm usually more comfortable with a pedal purchase when I buy from an online retailer vs. local dealer. Why?

1. Online dealers usually have a more generous return policy. It takes a few days for me to know if a pedal will really work for me.
2. I can hear the pedal with MY rig and without the distraction of a salesman or other players in the store.
3. No sales tax. Not a biggie for me but nice.
4. It's easier to have a pedal shipped to me than to drive an hour each way to my favorite pedal store.

I'd say Guitar Center and Sam Ash are a couple of exceptions as far as returns are concerned, since they give a month to return. Also, I must thank all the folks that invest their time doing demos since those really help me when shopping online.

so do I. I don't want to drive around town.. I just want the pedal sent to my door. I do my homework. I watch all the demos.

 

[ObsessedGuitarist]

Two states and one time zone away from the nearest GC, I have little choice but to buy online. I usually buy used anyway, so eBay and Reverb are my main sources. I prefer to play a guitar or amp before buying, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way.

 

[Magic-Sam]

I live in a college town an hour away from two larger cities. It's easier to try things out by buying online and then re-selling or returning whichever the case may be. Almost unlimited selection online, no salesmen and no driving back and forth. Reverb for vintage/used and Amazon Prime for accessories mostly.

 

[MattLeFevers]

I never bought a guitar or an amp online and never will.
Pedals, strings and things ? I do it most of the time.

I would agree with this. If I bought an instrument online the first thing I'd have to do would be to bring it to a store to get it set up and intonated to make up for any abuse it suffered in transit, so not a big time saver that way.

I almost exclusively buy pedals online though, only because I haven't paid full price for a pedal in years. Between all the used, open-box, and on-sale stuff on Reverb and eBay, I feel like a chump shelling out full list price for something.

 

[ellsworthman]

Two states and one time zone away from the nearest GC, I have little choice but to buy online. I usually buy used anyway, so eBay and Reverb are my main sources. I prefer to play a guitar or amp before buying, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way.

Same here. I'm 150 miles away from the nearest halfway decent music store. I buy almost everything online these days.

 

[Flight1311]

I wouldn't know where to go locally to get the pedals I like. It is not like my local shops (GC included) carry Strymon, Empress, Diamond, etc...SO...I order ALL my pedals from PGS or Prymaxe. Plus those places do 15% and 20% discounts.

 

[nixpix]

I'm glad I'm not alone in this. I'm in a big city so Guitar Centers are not hard to come by. There are also a few stores within 20-30 miles that carry boutique pedals, but only one of them carries a wide selection that can compete with the large online sellers. That retailer only gives store credit on returns and their trade-in offers are low, so I don't visit them too often.

As far as guitars are concerned, I've bought two online that I've been happy with. One was from a very consistent maker that I was very familiar with. The other was used and bought from a reputable dealer on 48 hour approval. Both were good transactions but they are the only guitars I've purchased online and kept. I've bought new returned two others, but I knew almost instantly they wouldn't work for me.

 

[Barnzy]

I switched to online pedal shopping last year and will never go back. If I choose to buy something, it's because I already did all the research...I really don't need a second opinion from a sales representative who usually knows significantly less about the retail selection of effects than any TGP member. I don't flip pedals too often and usually keep what I've purchased because I like to revisit old purchases often as I get new gear. Every pedal online I've purchased has been factory sealed and almost every store pedal I've got has been in demo condition (...which I shouldn't care about but do!) I will still only buy a guitar that I have played personally, but effects, pedals, strings and things..even amps... are an online purchase now.

 

[Johnny Moondog]

In recent years, the only time I have bought pedals from a store is a tempting advertised sale on a pedal I am interested in, mixed with a trade in discount of a pedal I no longer want.

Example, traded a spare pedal tuner in, against a "Visual Sound H20 V3" which was already "on sale".

But the rest of the time - I go online for the best deals.

My brother prefers used bargain on local online classified sites.

 

[Kylote]

I think 90% of the pedals I am currently using were purchased online. Guitars, even if my local shop doesn't have it in stock, as long as they are a dealer for it I ordered it through them. Mainly because then I don't have a guitar sitting on my doorstep, and usually buying through them they do guitar set-ups for life on guitars purchased through them.

I bought my small practice amp online, but my larger AC15 at my local store.

 

[winterblu]

I haven't bought a pedal at a brick and mortar store in years.