Restocking Fees, 30-Day Free Trials

A 30 day return home trial offer......

How do you know the amp you are buying "as new" has not been sent out as new before, or a couple of times before you?

In the case of the dealer in question here I would hope any equipment returned would not be resold as new but would be sold as used and discounted the 15% + at least an additional 5% to 10%.

If the dealer is honest about the resale of a returned piece of equipment how does the manufactures warranty work?

Maybe the dealer resales the returned item as a in home demoed unit.....
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The OP's post is a perfect demonstration of how "audiophiles" are driving audio dealers out of business.
03-02-13: Br3098

Br3098,

I assume you mean B&M dealers....

There is only one Hi-End B&M dealer left in my area.
His policy, and always has been his policy, you buy it you own it.

If you are serious about buying a piece of equipment and want to hear how it sounds in your home, connected to your system, the dealer will allow the customer to take home an in store demo unit for a few days.

The dealer asks what do dealers do with a returned item? Resale the item as new? Resale the item as used?

I guess a dealer that accepts returns, especially an online dealer, has a returned item section on his web page where buyers can buy returned equipment at a used price..... Surely online dealers don't resale returned equipment as new......

03-05-13: Mapman
"Restocking fee" done on a % of sales price does not make sense to me. It cost the same to re-stock a similar sized amp for example whether it costs $500 or $50000.

You are missing the point. The online dealer may be calling the charge a restocking fee, but, if the guy is honest and doesn't try to resale the equipment as new, he is using the fee to offset the cost to resale the unit as used, open box, demo, or what ever the dealer wants to call it.

Would you pay $25K for an amp that somebody had in their home before you? Or would you demand a new unopened factory fresh sealed unit?

A little background on pricing. The cost a dealer pays most of the time to the manufacture/Distributor for a Hi-end piece of equipment is 60% of the manufactures retail set price.

So using your $25K priced Amp the dealer will pay, up front before delivery from the manufacture, $15K + shipping....

I can hear you now.... 40% PROFIT!

Well first are you going to pay the dealer $25K for the amp? Maybe things have been slow and the dealer discounts the amp to you 10% off.

30% profit WOW!

Well that might be if the dealer is running the business out of his basement of his home and has a full time job doing something else. Even then I would bet the guy has a line of credit with a bank and will borrow the money from the bank + interest to buy the amp.

But I doubt that is the case. Would you buy a $25K amp from a guy that operates out of his basement?

If the dealer has a store front he has overhead costs.
Rent.
Utilities.
Phone, Yellow page buisness ad.
Internet hookup.
Advertising costs.
Insurance costs.
Any employees? Costs, costs, costs...
Showroom inventory?
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Deduct overhead costs from the 30%

But isn't there a difference when one buys direct from the maker via Internet? If I return something for whatever reason, and the maker tests it out and confirms it functioning like new before reselling?

Is the equipment then resold as "B" stock? Discounted "B" stock price?

New is new....

Back in the 1970s I bought a new Nak cassette deck from a B&M dealer, paid full price. Factory fresh.

Got the thing home took it out of the box hooked it, played with it for a while and then, LOL, sat down to look through the owners manual.

To my surprise a salesperson's business card, one of the dealers employees, was stuck between two pages......
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