Don't we complain that there are no -or not enough- brick and mortar stores to shop audio equipment but are now begrudging that store earning enough money to keep the doors open? I don't like paying higher dealer prices for gear either but I also don't and wouldn't work for free -why should they?
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?
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Typically the UK price already includes VAT, so if the US dealer price is another 30% above the already VAT included dealer price from UK, that's a lot. Then again, you will have to consider international shipping cost if it's a heavy unit, as well as possible import duties however I believe amps and dacs and duty exempt in the US. |
Perhaps when we are discussing US dealer mark ups, we should determine what the difference is between a normal mark up…and a total gouge! I think that the OP is trying to minimize the possibility of that circumstance, which I would think that all of us could commiserate with. |
I am not saying all dealers because I do not know all of them. I am referring the the ones I "interreacted" with. I called 2 times each, one before my email with exactly what I wanted and availability for well over U$400k worth of turntables, tone arms and speakers, and the other call a few days later. 2 did not answer, the 2 that did, one asked me how does he know I will buy and asked for a deposit for the privilege of showing that I can afford it, I almost told him to run my CC but that is crazy ask, the other just brushed me off as if I was a child. When I got back home, I went and visit Xmain and Alexia my dealers and friends in Barcelona, I told them what I wanted and where to ship it over a couple of glasses of wine; they arranged everything that afternoon, charged my credit card, and in the evening we went for dinner with them and my partner. When the gear arrived to the USA they hired a gentleman to unbox and level the turntables, all I did was to connect the tone arms, get the stylus in them align them and started to play music in about 8-9hrs. The only bad thing about all this is that my house in the USA is made of sticks, so it appears the floors are sinking... on the weight of the stereo system. 😕 |
hifi dealers doctors, chiropractors, psychologists, car mechanics, contractors, roofers, lawyers, babysitters, teachers there are always good and bad ones, in how they do their work, and how they get along with people they interact - cuz they are people too... bottom line, with internet commerce and widespread online savvy of even elderly consumers, it is harder than ever for stocking, brick-n-mortar hi-fi retailers to survive and prosper... but there are still a good amount that do, run their business well, have customers/clients that value what they bring to the table - but it is harder than ever... costs are high, finding and keeping good employees is very difficult, and while there is a top 1% customer base that is affluent and willing, most others try to bypass these channels to save $... then there is/was covid and all the mayhem that has brought... |
There have been one or two threads here in the last year discussing dealers/salespeople, primarily those in the USA. The prognosis was poor. My modest observation at the time was that it seems to be not entirely due to the intemperate disposition of only the dealers. Read into that what you may.
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Check because after the dealers treated me like I do not exist when I want to spend a few hundreds of thousands I say why buy with these guys, when I have a dealer that my father used to buy from, and I have been buying for more that 28-30 years that treat my family very well. You can ask for 110 and see. Maybe they will sell you one, and honor the warranty if you ship the unit back The only person to treat me good was the Acoustic Signature dealer in CA when I bought a Montana from him, the one that sold me the Tannoy’s was a joke, they sold me years old for new speakers, which I would not mind if they were kept in conditioned storage, but they were exposed to so much heat that the wax was all melted. honestly I do not know how dealers in the USA keep on business |
@builder3 + 1 |
If the dealer is providing a service or benefit for you, they're worth it. In this case, easy to see dealer is providing value. Some non-US equipment may have switchable voltage on power supplies, so ok on this front, but then you have shipping costs, possible duty and warranty issues.
There are some manufacturers using different business models in that they sell direct, bypassing distributors and dealers. |
there are parallel posts on this and other forums, bemoaning the loss and lack of availability of brick and mortar retailers, can’t hear this, can’t try that, can't see the other, gotta shell out money, then risk no lik-eee... then there is this... like so many outcomes in our world, our lives, we get what we ask for, often times |
@mikelavigne good points. In this case, the VAT is listed as included in the local dealer's price, but maybe there is something additional based on overseas shipping. Anyway thanks to everyone for the insights here. |
what are you missing? if you have your friend in the UK buy it or even have it shipped there, they will pay the 20% VAT for Europe, which will negate any savings. the only way to avoid it is if it’s sold for export. so do the math. and every manufacturer has their own distribution rules and levels of enforcement. but it does not hurt to explore the possibilities....except it can put you sideways with the USA distributor. for every action there is a reaction. |
Foreign tonearms are okay to buy direct. But don't expect any after-purchase help from the U.S.A. importer. You're on your own! Paying full price for a tonearm is worthwhile if you have a dealer---such as the late Brooks Berdan, or his son Brian (owner of Audio Element in Pasadena, California)---who charges full retail, but for that price includes expert mounting, aligning, adjusting, etc. And when you buy a cartridge from either (bought in the case of Brooks, who passed away years ago), the price includes not just mounting and fully aligning, but running in the cartridge for a number of hours---to relax its suspension---and then aligning again. Well worth paying full price for imo! |
