How much will you pay for an exotic cartridge....

I am thinking about a cartridge upgrade and recently began investigating Lyra Etna Lambda.  Retail price in the US , as set by their distributor, Audioquest, is $8995 for the standard MC model.  

My search led me to a UK dealer and another in the EU, their retail price is 6950 Euros about $7k vs the $9k US price.   I can either pick one up next time i'm in Europe or have my friend mail one to me so the dealer/distributors remain in compliance.   Seems to me the US mark up is being artificially pumped up by Audioquest . Cartridges aren't amps and are easy to ship and they are not going to cause me problems with a different voltage, etc. 

Now I'm not going to waste any local dealers time auditioning the cartridge and am relying on the tremendous word of mouth if I do purchase from an out of country dealer and I'll have to have my usual pro do the install for me for a few hundred dollars as an added expense but I'll still be thousands ahead and i've yet to ask for a discount from any of these dealers.

I support US dealers and buy a tremendous amount from a few great guys on this board each year and I price isn't my only factor in whom I give my money.   But if I were to ask a dealer to sell me a $9k cart for $7k (full EU retail) I'd be considered a low baller!  What could a US dealer do in order to compete with the couple grand weight that has been placed on its US dealer network in the world of Google we live in?

This is a real problem for the Lyra brand and for those US dealers who are trying to sell to internet savvy consumers willing to pay the price of a stamp.

I have a great relationship with many dealers, that is precicesly why I don't want to waste their time on what would inevitably be a fools errand.  
Fact:  US MSRP is $8995
Fact: EU MSRP is $6995

This i s a music forum in the end so I'll put it simply and quote Kenny Rogers " You've got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away and when to run".   

I don't want to waste peoples time chasing after what, at best, will be their potential to match a price I can simply press a button and buy online from an authorized dealer in the EU.  I wont owe anyone anything for the amazing deal they get me. 

Cartridges are a tough thing to test and buy, hard to demo and short of an install it's hard for a dealer to show value.   I did have a dealer who happened to deal in my turntable once allow me to bring in my turntable and compare it to his with the cartridge I wanted to buy already mounted.   Total dealer effort?  Make room for me to place my TT on his rack.   

Dealers serve a purpose as I've said previously and I wouldn't have been through a few pairs of speakers without them over the last couple of years.  They have helped enormously to trouble shoot and earned high margins on those sales.   I'm simply saying that selling Lyra's to savvy buyers makes the dealer value prop very difficult.   If I was a dealer, I wouldn't be happy with what AQ are doing to Lyra from a price perspective only.   Being a consumer, I'm hopeful my dealer beats the EU pricing but it's not going to be an easy conversation for me to have as a consumer who does value my relationship with my dealer.  Just not to the point of handing over an extra couple thousand dollars.

Grey market goods are still manufactured by the company , they are just distributed through alternate means.  Perhaps a dealer in EU needs to unload excess inventory and sells to an out of territory dealer.   These products are of the same exacting quality we all expect, they simply weren't sold by the authorized dealer the manufacture expects to sell in a specific country.  Nothing "Illegal" about it, in fact the vast majority of the used items on Agon are by any definition grey market.

Someone made a watch analogy earlier in the thread, only real difference is the demand for watches is far higher than for Audiophile gear.   

I imagine it would blow some peoples minds to think there is a wait list for all steel sports model Rolex's.  I remember when I bought my first nice watch after college, Rolex wasn't a great brand and they were desperate for sales.  Now sales people actually laugh at customers who ask to see/purchase the popular models such as a Submariner.   I live near NYC and can't get my local AD to return my calls or allot me a watch.  Leaves me no choice if I want a particular watch to buy it "Used" as there is no other option aside from popular Grey websites that seem to alway have inventory being provided to them.  

This all reminds me....I actually wrote to my Rolex AD yesterday offering to buy an $11k watch (less popular model) and I never heard back from them!!  some business they are in today, hate to see what happens to them when the economy turns.