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Avoiding US dealer markups

Looking at a phono stage by a UK manufacturer. The US authorized dealer monopolist seems to mark up by ~30% from what I could buy this for locally. On a $2200 unit, that's not nothing. 

I am considering shipping it to a friend who is local and having them ship it to me, at a relatively small cost.

Seems like a logical approach. I could buy 25-50 LPs with the savings.

Am I missing something?

saulh
sns
3,193 posts
 

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.

aberyclark
1,355 posts
 

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. 

larsman's avatar
larsman
1,926 posts
 

@builder3 + 1

petg60
1,486 posts
 

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.

 

astolfor's avatar
astolfor
317 posts
 

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

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