Avoiding US dealer markups

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?