Avoiding US dealer markups

It’ll be a 240v unit. So it will need to be converted to 120v.

Shipping is not inconsequential, and there may be duties and taxes.

Your warranty is probably void too.

🤔 I knew there would be something.

big boys and girls pay to play

grey market anything has serious pros and cons

The only time that workaround will work is with speakers. With the current shipping premiums that savings will not be what it used to be.

Foreign tonearms are okay to buy direct. But don't expect any after-purchase help from the U.S.A. importer. You're on your own!

Paying full price for a tonearm is worthwhile if you have a dealer---such as the late Brooks Berdan, or his son Brian (owner of Audio Element in Pasadena, California)---who charges full retail, but for that price includes expert mounting, aligning, adjusting, etc. And when you buy a cartridge from either (bought in the case of Brooks, who passed away years ago), the price includes not just mounting and fully aligning, but running in the cartridge for a number of hours---to relax its suspension---and then aligning again. Well worth paying full price for imo!

what are you missing?

if you have your friend in the UK buy it or even have it shipped there, they will pay the 20% VAT for Europe, which will negate any savings. the only way to avoid it is if it’s sold for export.

so do the math.

and every manufacturer has their own distribution rules and levels of enforcement. but it does not hurt to explore the possibilities....except it can put you sideways with the USA distributor. for every action there is a reaction. 

@mikelavigne good points. In this case, the VAT is listed as included in the local dealer's price, but maybe there is something additional based on overseas shipping. Anyway thanks to everyone for the insights here. 

I wish every person that ever thought a retailer of any kind made too much money could magically own their own business for awhile. Pay a few employees, plus the rent, the insurance, the taxes at every damn level, etc, etc.

there are parallel posts on this and other forums, bemoaning the loss and lack of availability of brick and mortar retailers, can’t hear this, can’t try that, can't see the other, gotta shell out money, then risk no lik-eee...

then there is this...

like so many outcomes in our world, our lives, we get what we ask for, often times

Depending on the gear needing to be imported it can make a lot of sense. In the case of the OP, perhaps not as the unit would be as blackdoghifi pointed out, but in the case of a cartridge, or cables, or furniture...that would be a different matter.

If the dealer is providing a service or benefit for you, they're worth it. In this case, easy to see dealer is providing value. Some non-US equipment may have switchable voltage on power supplies, so ok on this front, but then you have shipping costs, possible duty and warranty issues.

There are some manufacturers using different business models in that they sell direct, bypassing distributors and dealers.

I purchased the PRO-Ject pre box s2 when it first came out from A UK dealer for $299. The price here was $479. It had a wal wart  with multiple plug adaptors for whatever country it was being sold in. Shipping was only $20 some dollars. 

@builder3 + 1

If you continue the journey in audio always deal with a good and reputable dealer, at the end of the day you will have won much more than the mark up.

Check because after the dealers treated me like I do not exist when I want to spend a few hundreds of thousands I say why buy with these guys, when I have a dealer that my father used to buy from, and I have been buying for more that 28-30 years that treat my family very well.

You can ask for 110 and see. Maybe they will sell you one, and honor the warranty if you ship the unit back
. Import fees are nothing to the USA, I am from Spain and bought a house in Seattle, I bought from my dealer here 2 Techdas Aiforce 3 premium with 2 x SAT and 2 Kuzma, brought them to the USA, through a customs brokerage company with shipping, customs and brokers fees I think it was $9-$10k usa dollars. I don’t remember exactly because I shipped also a a pair of Avantgrade Duo XD, CH1 Phono in mono and it’s external power supply.

The only person to treat me good was the Acoustic Signature dealer in CA when I bought a Montana from him, the one that sold me the Tannoy’s was a joke, they sold me years old for new speakers, which I would not mind if they were kept in conditioned storage, but they were exposed to so much heat that the wax was all melted.

honestly I do not know how dealers in the USA keep on business

@astolfor honestly I do not know how dealers in the USA keep on business

There have been one or two threads here in the last year discussing dealers/salespeople, primarily those in the USA. The prognosis was poor.

My modest observation at the time was that it seems to be not entirely due to the intemperate disposition of only the dealers. Read into that what you may.

hifi dealers

doctors, chiropractors, psychologists, car mechanics, contractors, roofers, lawyers, babysitters, teachers

there are always good and bad ones, in how they do their work, and how they get along with people they interact - cuz they are people too...

bottom line, with internet commerce and widespread online savvy of even elderly consumers, it is harder than ever for stocking, brick-n-mortar hi-fi retailers to survive and prosper... but there are still a good amount that do, run their business well, have customers/clients that value what they bring to the table - but it is harder than ever... costs are high, finding and keeping good employees is very difficult, and while there is a top 1% customer base that is affluent and willing, most others try to bypass these channels to save $... then there is/was covid and all the mayhem that has brought...

I am not saying all dealers because I do not know all of them. I am referring the the ones I "interreacted" with.

I called 2 times each, one before my email with exactly what I wanted and availability for well over U$400k  worth of turntables, tone arms and speakers, and the other call a few days later.

2 did not answer, the 2 that did, one asked me how does he know I will buy and asked for a deposit for the privilege of showing that I can afford it, I almost told him to run my CC  but  that is crazy ask, the other just brushed me off as if I was a child.  

When I got back home, I went and visit Xmain and Alexia my dealers and friends in Barcelona, I told them what I wanted and where to ship it over a couple of glasses of wine; they arranged everything that afternoon, charged my credit card, and in the evening we went for dinner with them and my partner. 

When the gear arrived to the USA they hired a gentleman to unbox and level the turntables, all I did was to connect the tone arms, get the stylus  in them align them and started to play music in about 8-9hrs. 

The only bad thing about all this is that my house in the USA is made of sticks, so it appears the floors are sinking... on the weight of the stereo system. 😕

Perhaps when we are discussing US dealer mark ups, we should determine what the difference is between a normal mark up…and a total gouge!
As many folks have eluded to, there are certainly many areas where a local dealer will be worth their extra expense…no question. The issue I believe raises its head when the consumer is at a disadvantage and the US dealer knows this and decides to gouge said consumer. This is quite a frequent occurrence in this hobby!

I think that the OP is trying to minimize the possibility of that circumstance, which I would think that all of us could commiserate with.

Voltage? Import duties and taxes etc. risky

Typically the UK price already includes VAT, so if the US dealer price is another 30% above the already VAT included dealer price from UK, that's a lot. Then again, you will have to consider international shipping cost if it's a heavy unit, as well as possible import duties however I believe amps and dacs and duty exempt in the US.

Don't we complain that there are no -or not enough- brick and mortar stores to shop audio equipment but are now begrudging that store earning enough money to keep the doors open? I don't like paying higher dealer prices for gear either but I also don't and wouldn't work for free -why should they?