Avoiding US dealer markups

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.