How current are the stock listings on the dearler page?

[adouglas]

Q for the EBMM webmeisters.

In the dealer locator, when you click on the dealer name you get a stock listing (well, not a true stock listing, but what they ordered).

How current/accurate is that info?

Does it get updated when they order, or when the basses are shipped?

Does it get updated regularly, or might I be looking at listings that are several months old?

I'd like to locate a Bongo5 H to have a listen to (curiosity is getting the better of me), and it's a heck of a lot easier to click on a bunch of listings than it is to make a couple o bunch o phone calls.

 

[ghunter]

Here are two examples for you.

First is Bass Northwest, here in Seattle.

Dealer Locator Page
Actual Inventory Page

I bought the 5HH Black/Rosewood there a few weeks ago, but I was there again on Monday to pick up a Bergantino cab and other than mine, the inventory seems accurate.

This is Bass Central on Florida (which I can't comment on, of course):

Dealer Locator Page
Actual Inventory

So it looks pretty accurate, within reason.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

The inventory is added to when the instrument ships from EB, and it is removed from inventory whenever the dealer gets around to removing it. OR, the dealer can call EB and have them remove it if they don't have internet access.


EX. I am removing the envy green from my inventory right now

 

[adouglas]

Thanks, Pete.

So the dealers themselves can update the site? That's cool.

You wouldn't by any remote stretch of the imagination have a Bongo H on order, would you? You are, after all, my local dealer....

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Yes, I can add and remove items from my inventory with the click of a button! I had a used JP come through in white sparkle which I added to my online inventory because I knew the build code.

I have something on order that might spark your interest, gimmie a buzz between 10:30 and 1:00.
(860) 649-6205

 

[slucas]

So the dealers themselves can update the site? That's cool.

Yeah it is cool if the dealer keeps his records up!! I bought a stingray 4HH Blue Pearl/Abalone PG Maple at a local shop a month ago and see it is still on his inventory list today. He has a very small EBMM bass inventory there. The odds of that ax with exact description as mine being another one other than mine are enormous. He only had mine in his shop 2 weeks before I spotted it and snatched it up! I believe you have to make that call sooner or later anyway, right??

 

[Dargin]

We also call and fax dealers and try and help them update it, but some dealers just don't seem to care about it. It's really too bad, we refer customers to dealers on a daily basis using this tool. Pete knows what Im talkin' about!

 

[Steve Dude Barr]

I had no clue this was available to dealers Dargin...does this only apply to those listed as "internet dealers" which I'm not and if not why aren't I?

 

[Hutton]

Is this just a US thing or can those of us in the UK get a list of basses stocked by dealers over our side of the pond?

 

[Dargin]

Steve you are on it. Or you shold be. You have a password and login set up. It's my day off, so call Dan and he'll walk you through it.

Scott

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

I had no clue this was available to dealers Dargin...does this only apply to those listed as "internet dealers" which I'm not and if not why aren't I?

Barr, here's your online inventory, just waiting for EB to fill it up....
http://ernieball.com/mmonline/dealers/dealer_inventory.php?custid=152850


I keep mine current on at least a weekly basis, sometimes I update it a few times a week. It depends on how much time I am on the computer....

 

[Colin]

The view sample link is handy

 

[Steve Dude Barr]

Well it's not that useful for me as I generally don't carry "stock" and I have whatever basses I order sold before they're made but a very unique and handy tool that I don't know exists with any other manufacturer.

I have a password somewhere other than The Hun.net??

Seriously, this is just another example of a service that sets EBMM apart from and other manufacturer that I am aware of. I knew that Strings and Things in UK will shift inventory from one dealer to another depending on customer needs and this is similar in that customers can search dealer inventory to see what's available in the combination they are looking for. Would it be hard to make a serachable database so a customer looking for a specific instrument could search all dealer invetory and find it rather than looking dealer by dealer?

That would rock but also be highly dependant upon dealers updating inventory which would be the downfall in most cases. I wouldn't have the time to keep up with it myself.

 

[adouglas]

Would it be hard to make a serachable database so a customer looking for a specific instrument could search all dealer invetory and find it rather than looking dealer by dealer?

That's an excellent idea, Steve. I'd love to see that.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I approach shopping for gear from a gear-first, dealer-second standpoint. I want to try out the specific bass (or whatever) I'm looking for.

When I first got the Bongo itch I wanted to find a bass with a piezo to try. I wound up bugging EBMM customer service for that info. A searchable database would have been easier/less hassle.

 

[Steve Dude Barr]

The hard part in that would be having the dealers updating inventory when sold..pretty next to impossible I'd think.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

You "can" search somewhat.... if you go to the instrument builder, build an instrument and then click "find it" it gives you the closest dealers with one in stock (within 150 miles?) or, if there isn't one in stock, it lists the closest dealers to you. Of course this only works with instruments on the builder, and the Bongo is not one of them.

 

[adouglas]

Of course this only works with instruments on the builder, and the Bongo is not one of them.

Yep...making the instrument builder more than a little bit out of date.

Oh, well....

 

[adouglas]

The hard part in that would be having the dealers updating inventory when sold..pretty next to impossible I'd think.

True...but it would cut the task of finding a particular instrument or feature a lot easier anyway. If one could narrow down the list of potential dealers from many dozens to a few, then it's no big deal to call those few and ask if they've still got the bass.

 

[Dargin]

You can always call 866-823-2255. works like a charm.

 

[Big Poppa]

The hard part in that would be having the dealers updating inventory when sold..pretty next to impossible I'd think.

Steve it is sooooo easy and most dealers refuse to belive that the internet can sell an instrument they have in stock......it is sooooooooo frustrating and that is whay we have put zero effort into updating it the dealers dont care how many customers we send them. Once again Pete is a rare exception that gets it and knows that we sell a fair amount of axes for him throughout the year....Its found money for a dealer but they wont hold up a very easy end of their bargin