If you continue the journey in audio always deal with a good and reputable dealer, at the end of the day you will have won much more than the mark up.
Avoiding US dealer markups
Looking at a phono stage by a UK manufacturer. The US authorized dealer monopolist seems to mark up by ~30% from what I could buy this for locally. On a $2200 unit, that's not nothing.
I am considering shipping it to a friend who is local and having them ship it to me, at a relatively small cost.
Seems like a logical approach. I could buy 25-50 LPs with the savings.
Am I missing something?