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

I noticed on another forum that there is an interesting point brought up by a US distributor/dealer about his perception that one of his potential customers bought a top end cartridge ( that he reps) from an off-shore dealer/source...and how he intends to try and stop the practice of ’grey market’ sales. ( At least for the lines that he carries).
This gent seems to believe that because he signed some paperwork somewhere that may ( or may not) give him exclusive rights to distribute the gear in the US, that he has the right to try and prevent anyone abroad from selling to US customers! To that, he wants to have the manufacturer try and enforce his right to do the above. Now, one could ask, what’s the issue with this, right? And here’s the rub, the dear distributor is adding over $8K to this product for the simple task of ordering and having shipped a cartridge from Japan ( Yes, i know the shipping of such a large and heavy item is expensive...and the dealer has to stand by the product...whatever that means when we are talking of a cartridge!) The profit motive is high here, and the opportunity to fleece some of the US consumers is also...so i get that, but to come on an open forum and complain about the practice that one of his potential customers did such a thing....is an interesting marketing tactic, IMO.
So, my question is this..how much will you pay for that exotic cartridge to insure that you are buying it from a "legit" US rep, and not from a grey market...or in this case out of area dealer....what’s fair to you...a few $$s- or the sky’s the limit??
daveyf

Showing 1 response by big_greg

big_greg
6,711 posts
 
You grossly understated the dealer’s expenses. There’s usually some financial commitment to be a dealer for products that can include a payment, commitments to buy and carry a certain amount of inventory, training, travel, not to mention the costs of operating a business.

Grey market items often won’t be supported for warranty service. If you buy an "international" version and are in the US or didn’t purchase it from an authorized dealer, you may be S.O.L. if something happens.

There’s also the issue of education, demonstrations, etc. If you order it from Japan, chances are you’re going on other people’s impressions and making a blind purchase without having an opportunity to hear what it sounds like.

So, those are things to take into consideration.

While I wouldn’t consider it "exotic", when I purchased my Kiseki Blue NS, I chose to purchase it from a seller here on Audigon, saving approximately 35%. I felt it was worth whatever risk there was and had no issues with the purchase or performance.

Just be aware of the potential risks and consider the upside of working with a dealer.
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