Music Trade Review
Issue: 1922 Vol. 74 N. 13 - Page 3
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
REVIEW
JIUJIC TIRADE
VOL. LXXIV. No. 13
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at^373 4th Ave., New York.
April 1, 1922
****** Copies io cent.
$2.00 Per Year
Terms and What They Indicate
T
HERE are, apparently, a great number of piano merchants who, for one reason or another, believe
that the easiest way to sell their instruments is to offer them on a basis of low terms and make the
buyer the dictator of the method by which the instrument is to be paid for. There has been consider-
able talk in the trade of the scarcity of misleading and questionable advertising, advertising of the type
which attracts the attention of legal authorities, but it would seem about time that there should be some atten-
tion paid to the advertising that is calculated to give to the piano trade the reputation of being more or less of a
low and long-term proposition.
It is a rare experience, indeed, to pick up one of the daily newspapers of large circulation without finding
therein several advertisements of piano houses, not only offering pianos and players at low prices, but offering
them on terms that are little short of ridiculous—"Nothing down—three years to pay," "$io down—the rest
in small instalments," and so on, all sensationally presented.
On another page of The Review, this week, there is shown a collection of clippings from a score of adver-
tisements that appeared in the daily papers in various parts of the country within the last couple of months.
Lined up together, these low r terms make a showing that should be calculated to cause careful thought on
the part of those who have the future of the industry at heart.
When low terms are advertised the prospective purchaser sees an instrument listed at several hundred
dollars offered to him without any down payment whatever, or for a down payment that represents only two
or three per cent of the total price of the instrument. The figures are plain and are emphasized.
Regardless of what terms the retailer may demand in the matter of monthly instalments, the fact that he
advertises to put a valuable instrument in a customer's home without any payment, or at a ridiculously low pay-
ment, is likely to create an impression regarding piano selling methods that is going to do the trade no good.
The disciple of low terms will argue that having once placed the instrument in the customer's home, after
the soundness of credit has apparently been established, he is given an unusual opportunity through the exer-
cise of salesmanship to keep it there. He will also argue that in many cases the low terms advertised are simply
bait to get the customer in the store, where a much more satisfactory deal can be arranged.
But in the face of all this the impression the public gets is that pianos and players can be had without
the expenditure of any really significant amount of money and that the final payments need not be made until
several years after the contract is closed.
It means that the retailer with a piano or player of reputation, honestly priced, who demands terms in
keeping with the value of the product he offers, is regarded with suspicion by prospective purchasers who are
not given to looking behind the veil in the matter of piano terms.
Small down payments and low terms mean repossessions, and repossessions hurt business. They mean
double selling, collection and legal expenses and trouble generally, and have a marked influence on keeping down
production of new instruments. The logical course has always been to arrange terms that will give the pur-
chaser a heavy equity in the instrument in a comparatively short time, for the individual who, within a few
months, has an investment of several hundred dollars in a player-piano is not going to allow that piano to be
repossessed without making an effort to meet his obligations. On the contrary, the man who has had the use
of a valuable instrument for a year or so, and has paid for it an amount much less than the rental price, is not
worrying so much about the repossession bugaboo. He has little to lose.
The question of low terms is not simply one of questionable competition—it is one of disturbing the
soundness of the trade and endangering its future, so far as selling methods go. It took the conditions brought
about by the world war to put the piano business on a basis whereby the dealer could demand terms in
keeping with the product he was offering. It is regrettable that this basis has not been maintained.
THE
REVIEW
JIUJIC TIRADE
VOL. LXXIV. No. 13
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at^373 4th Ave., New York.
April 1, 1922
****** Copies io cent.
$2.00 Per Year
Terms and What They Indicate
T
HERE are, apparently, a great number of piano merchants who, for one reason or another, believe
that the easiest way to sell their instruments is to offer them on a basis of low terms and make the
buyer the dictator of the method by which the instrument is to be paid for. There has been consider-
able talk in the trade of the scarcity of misleading and questionable advertising, advertising of the type
which attracts the attention of legal authorities, but it would seem about time that there should be some atten-
tion paid to the advertising that is calculated to give to the piano trade the reputation of being more or less of a
low and long-term proposition.
It is a rare experience, indeed, to pick up one of the daily newspapers of large circulation without finding
therein several advertisements of piano houses, not only offering pianos and players at low prices, but offering
them on terms that are little short of ridiculous—"Nothing down—three years to pay," "$io down—the rest
in small instalments," and so on, all sensationally presented.
On another page of The Review, this week, there is shown a collection of clippings from a score of adver-
tisements that appeared in the daily papers in various parts of the country within the last couple of months.
Lined up together, these low r terms make a showing that should be calculated to cause careful thought on
the part of those who have the future of the industry at heart.
When low terms are advertised the prospective purchaser sees an instrument listed at several hundred
dollars offered to him without any down payment whatever, or for a down payment that represents only two
or three per cent of the total price of the instrument. The figures are plain and are emphasized.
Regardless of what terms the retailer may demand in the matter of monthly instalments, the fact that he
advertises to put a valuable instrument in a customer's home without any payment, or at a ridiculously low pay-
ment, is likely to create an impression regarding piano selling methods that is going to do the trade no good.
The disciple of low terms will argue that having once placed the instrument in the customer's home, after
the soundness of credit has apparently been established, he is given an unusual opportunity through the exer-
cise of salesmanship to keep it there. He will also argue that in many cases the low terms advertised are simply
bait to get the customer in the store, where a much more satisfactory deal can be arranged.
But in the face of all this the impression the public gets is that pianos and players can be had without
the expenditure of any really significant amount of money and that the final payments need not be made until
several years after the contract is closed.
It means that the retailer with a piano or player of reputation, honestly priced, who demands terms in
keeping with the value of the product he offers, is regarded with suspicion by prospective purchasers who are
not given to looking behind the veil in the matter of piano terms.
Small down payments and low terms mean repossessions, and repossessions hurt business. They mean
double selling, collection and legal expenses and trouble generally, and have a marked influence on keeping down
production of new instruments. The logical course has always been to arrange terms that will give the pur-
chaser a heavy equity in the instrument in a comparatively short time, for the individual who, within a few
months, has an investment of several hundred dollars in a player-piano is not going to allow that piano to be
repossessed without making an effort to meet his obligations. On the contrary, the man who has had the use
of a valuable instrument for a year or so, and has paid for it an amount much less than the rental price, is not
worrying so much about the repossession bugaboo. He has little to lose.
The question of low terms is not simply one of questionable competition—it is one of disturbing the
soundness of the trade and endangering its future, so far as selling methods go. It took the conditions brought
about by the world war to put the piano business on a basis whereby the dealer could demand terms in
keeping with the product he was offering. It is regrettable that this basis has not been maintained.
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