What gives with these music stores?

I put a few of my instruments in local music stores to be sold on a percentage basis. Because of the price they can tend to sell slow but they do sell. The music store does not notify me when the sale occurs instead of the agreed 20% to them they seem to want 100%. It is hard as hell to get the money out of them. This is the second time I have had this happen and at a different store. This is starting to piss me off!!

Hmm, sounds like you either:
1. Stop doing business with those stores
2. Be more proactive in checking inventory periodically
3. Get over it

Sign a simple contract.

The situation you are describing Michael is unacceptable and you have my sympathy. It is called fraud. I have sold a number of ukuleles through art "boutiques" and have not had any problems. I'm notified after the sale takes place and receive a check promptly. They take a 20% cut which I believe is fair and I raise the sale price accordingly. Like Bill says, have a simple written contract to protect yourself. Verbal contracts are not worth the paper they are written on is the old adage.

That's pretty much the gold standard for retail. Music biz or otherwise.

Even though there is no hard and fast rule for pricing merchandise, most retailers use a 50 percent markup, known in the trade as keystone. What this means, in plain language, is doubling your cost to establish the retail price. Because markup is figured as a percentage of the sales price, doubling the cost means a 50 percent markup. For example, if your cost on an item is $1, your selling price will be $2. Fifty percent of $2 is $1, which is your markup.

This definition of markup was probably developed to avoid using a term that admits to a 100 percent increase.

There are some on lie auction houses. If they have been in business for a while you should get treated fairly. I have sold some firearms through one of them, I sale was far above what I thought, one was a little short.

We call this 'sale or return' in the UK or SOR for short and it is surely 'sore' doing business like this Michael. I never do SOR - there is no incentive on the retailer to sell your work because they have nothing but your good will to them invested in it and they sure as heck care nothing for that! Get onto social media, develop a following - used to be called a client list; restrict who you chose to be in your 'circle' and make 'em wait for your work. If it is good enough it will sell but on your terms. Plus you get all the dough!

I think Pete's got it right. What happened to you is the norm, not the exception. I don't see what good a contract will do you. What are you going to do, sue them? Not very practical. I did consignment of instruments and various woodcraft off and on for over 30 years before the internet came along to save me. Stores have no vested interest of their own $ in your work. You are not the landlord who will kick them out if they don't pay, not the power company who will turn off the power, or the water company, or the wholesaler who will dump their business in a minute, so you are last on the list to be paid. In their defense, the music bizz is not an easy one, so I do understand their situation a bit, but still don't buy it.Here in my part of the U.S. some stores will do 20-30%, will others are 50% +. Either way, it is still hard to get paid. I still remember one of my first experiences. I consigned a uke to a local gallery. When I checked on it, they said it had been sold, sort of! They put it on a 3 month layaway to one of their board members and I'd get paid at the end of 3 months. In those days I was a starving builder. I never gave them anything again. There are the exceptions, and they are usually based on how close your friendship is to the owner and how supportive they are of your work. Like Pete said, better to work on developing a web presence and get people to appreciate and pursue your work. Luckily I don't have to do social media, but it probably is the way to get noticed fast. Websites are easy and cheap to do on your own. Keep them fresh. I change mine at least weekly. Don't have someone else do your site, do it your self. For better or worse, I can change mine on a whim. It's actually fun to see what happens when you try something new on a site. Good luck. Don't get discouraged.

Solution: UU and Fleamarket.

I just looked at your website, and wow, do you ever do beautiful work! I don’t know what to say about music stores, but would hope that you could post ukuleles for sale here on UU.

While I personally don’t want much more than a maker’s logo as an inlay on my own ukuleles, I sure do appreciate the artistry in those headstocks! That queen bee design is amazing!

Do you make videos of how they sound? I didn’t see any videos on your website.

Bill Mc said:

Sign a simple contract.

Click to expand...

I'm +2 with Bill MC. I've sold some of my art and some of my books at a store down the street from me, and she always has a written agreement and we both sign it. You need some sort of contract spelling out the terms of the agreement, and you need a signed contract for each ukulele that you consign to them. It should stipulate how you want it priced, what their cut is, but also there should be a time period that they have it as well. If they don't sell it in 90 days, for an example, then you either come and pick it up, or you sign another contract. With my books and my art, I always figure my profit on the item, what I actually make after expenses, that is what I split with the person selling it. And I do a 50/50, but on the profit, not the whole thing. That is spelled out in the agreement. Any retailer should understand that. Honestly, I'm not trying to be mean, but just dropping something off at a store to sell without some sort of agreement is sort of amateurish. You need an agreement just to make you legitimate and professional so that they take you seriously, because it sounds like they are not doing that now.