I have been a small dealer for a long time and can tell you that it depends on who you talk to and what your relationship is. If someone Emails me and asks my best price it is list. If someone comes in and is willing to negotiate a price that is fair to both of us I am open to it. I have been a dealer for a considerable number of high end products and have never been ask to give assurances that I would never sell below retail. What is expected is that you do not engage in blatant discounting to get sales outside your territory. It is expected that you give good customers some consideration, how much depends on circumstances. A really high end store has an enormous overhead and you will rightly pay for the convenience of being able to hear a large selection of expensive components in the same place.