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Demos - To Charge a Fee or to Not Charge a Fee?

One common dealer complaint is that customers sometimes use them to audition equipment only to later purchase it elsewhere.

How much of that is true is not known but it must happen. Such is the nature of some folk.

Therefore, how about abandoning the time honoured practice of free demonstrations (also shared by the car industry) and start charging a fee?

Would $10 an hour be sufficient? 

Surely, even in quiet part of a quiet day it must cost the dealer considerably more than that to provide the facilities and staff to facilitate a satisfactory demonstration.

I don't know how others may feel, but I'd be more than happy to pay for the service.
cd318

Showing 5 responses by jon_5912

jon_5912
584 posts
 
It makes sense for businesses to charge for anything of value they provide.  The ability to demo gear has value.  I really like the idea of charging since people who want to try something out at the store and then go buy it at the cheapest place online would have to pay something.  Dealers have to make all of their profit from those of us who try not to be bungholes so I'm sure we end up paying more than we otherwise would.  

The idea that the dealer should provide a lot of value for nothing via advice, demos, loans, etc. is a relic of a time before the internet and before such a high percentage of people were selfish turds.  


jon_5912
584 posts
 
@millercarbon the people who will have a big problem with this are the bungholes who want to use the dealer services for free and then buy off the internet.  Those of us who would prefer to have and support local dealers won't have a problem with it.  
jon_5912
584 posts
 
It's completely accurate, just not usual.  High performance audio requires dealers to exist.  Differences are generally subtle and it's important for there to be places to figure out what the differences are.  Most dealers have disappeared.  Whether other businesses do it isn't important.  What matters is who is providing value to who.  The value is the dealer providing the opportunity for a consumer to decide whether relatively subtle differences are worth the cost.  That's way more important than whatever else dealers do.  
jon_5912
584 posts
 
I think if you pay for an audition you've got a strong basis for asking to be left alone.  Otherwise it's an uncomfortable situation where the dealer fears he's being taken advantage of and is antsy about it.  Why not arrange an agreeable transaction ahead of time?  X dollars for an hour of listening while being left alone.  Then everyone's on the same page.  I'm not saying this would work, just that it makes a lot of sense in audio.
jon_5912
584 posts
 
Selling is a cost of doing your business but auditioning is a service provided by a dealer.  It's a service that can be separated from the transaction.  When a person auditions a product at a dealer and then buys it off of the internet, they're separating those two things.  It's different from construction because all construction companies have to accept the cost of selling.  Not all audio dealers do.  Imagine if you could somehow transfer the cost of selling to your competition and use that advantage to undercut them for the actual sale.  That's a broken system.
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