Margin on speaker sales by high end dealer

I got friends that used to be McIntosh, Anthem....etc dealer.   He closed his business cause not getting too many buyers.     In order to be a dealer, you need to pay license fee to those brands.   He can get almost like 50% off from any items.  

McIntosh won't allow them to sell discount price.   If they do, they probably do it under the table, or no sales tax.

What? It's not a GM Dealership for pucks sake. 

zombiedad
 

What is the nature of the licensing arrangement? I thought dealers bought the product marked it up and sold it.