Norman86 wrote
ZarK wrote
From the original thread, the guitar is now available for sale at more than 4 or 5x what was paid for it... If the 'facts' are more or less correct, I strongly disagree with purchasing a scarce, sought-after item that has exceptional market value with the knowledge that you're likely to more than quadruple your investment without passing some of that on to the seller... I don't respect the fact that some keep defending this but in the end what I think doesn't really matter. I've said what I felt compelled to say and that's the end of it (for me at least).
Regarding the US/SA buying scandal (lol): From what I've read, my gut tells me that all involved where BS'ing to a lesser- or larger extent. We'll never have the true facts, so taking sides is not on the table for me. People say business is business but I say this is utter BS. The individual has the power to decide how he will conduct him/herself irrespective of the other parties involved. Failing to do this is just selling out and conforming to practice that is plain wrong. To me it's clear that this deal was not handled in a transparent manner. Who was least forthcoming, we'll never know so there's no point in burning any of the parties involved.
I certainly would keep my eyes wide open if I where to ever go into a deal with any of the parties involved, however...
In my experience when you consistently strive to apply ethical business practice, you severely limit the chance of a deal going this way. I wish more traders would realise that they have a massive influence in how deals can be concluded instead of just 'conveniently' conforming to the 'business is business' (utter BS) cliché...
THIS!!!
I certainly would be very careful dealing with graceland guitars. and thats all i have to say on this matter!
Other than ethics. Which people seem to have lost somewhere over the years!
NOT THIS!!!
Has it occurred to you that, given the fact that none of us know the full story, Mark Grace and Graceland Guitars might just be completely innocent? If that is the case, and I'd have to say that I can't come to another conclusion based on what is know, don't you think the bad publicity they're receiving is a bit unfair?
Here are the things that we do know, and put down in chronological order:
1. Mark Grace knows about a 60's burst and two other vintage guitars (a Tele and a ES295 if I remember correctly) that are in Jhb and intends to fly up here to see them
2. He is contacted by the guys from the USA and asked how much he would ask to check out and bring them a guitar (of no particular description).
3. They engage in some discussion but never make any deal.
4. He flies up to Jhb to follow up on his own leads.
5. He seals the deal on the 60's burst - still not having even received the contact details from the guys in the US
Am I the only one who gets the impression that this Clay character was rather clueless and never had any chance of buying this guitar? He merely knew of the guitar's existence but he didn't know who owns it, he was negotiating with a guy who didn't own it (but claimed to) and he thought he was buying it from Braam v.d. Walt and Joe Slovo!!!! I think he was misled (but not by Mark) with a fair sprinkling of general cluelessness of his own.
Who is this Braam guy? Where exactly does he fit in? He claimed to be a co-owner of the guitar (at least he implied as much) yet he wasn't the owner.
I don't have a horse in this race but based on all this, I can not come to the conclusion that Mark acted illegally or even unethically in all of this.
So, I just think your ire at Graceland Guitars might be a bit misplaced in which case I think you're giving them bad rep for something they didn't do.
