Why are dealers so scared to sell product out of

The aversion to paying list price comes from the fact that with due research you'll find someone who would sell it for 30% off. It's just the market and the law of supply and demand. For a dealer, I imagine, it is better to sell an item at a lower profit margin than not to sell it at all. So, if you're choosing to pay list price, you're being very generous to a dealer for no reason at all.

For people that have a full service retail shop that actually keeps their half of the consumer bargain, I agree, those people should pay full retail price. Since the vast majority of audiophiles do not have such a retail establishment, we should not have to pay full price.

I do not have a dealer providing any of the following:
1. Large inventory of demo-able components and speakers.
2. Ability to visit many times and just browse with no pressure to buy until I'm ready.
3. Knowledgable advice.
4. Post sales service.
5. Trade ins welcome.

Instead, I have local dealers with zero demo stock who have not even heard the product I want to buy. They know far less about the product than I do. Yes, they are willing to allow me to walk in, order the multi-thousand dollar product and let me pick it up (and carry to my car myself) when it arrives and only ask for a mere 40% of the sales price for their service. No thanks.

And yes, I'd love it if all high end was simply sold on amazon at the lowest cost possible to the consumer. Really I don't see what the difference would be to most audiophiles....

Jaxwired, I agree with you. Paying someone a fee in the thousands of dollars just to receive a delivery on my behalf and then swipe my credit card... well, that’s a fee that I’m going to at least try to negotiate.

I have a couple of questions for all of you guys who are buying all of your expensive audio gear on the web:
1- Just where did you go to hear this gear before you decided to buy it, or are the completely accurate and unbiased opinions on Audiogon and other sites good enough?
2- What do you do when a piece of gear needs repair or (horrors!) replacement, and the manufacturer tells you to send your gear to a dealer for service?

The OP claimed that he was looking for a dealer out of state in order to avoid paying local sales tax. I find that sad, personally. Looking for a better price is a different matter. Brick and mortar dealers need to be competitive, but so do online and remote dealers. Frankly, most of the dealers in the L.A. area that I know will cut a deal on gear if that they have a serious buyer, which is a hard thing to judge in the strange and exciting world of audiophile games.

Br3098,

I don't hear the gear before I buy it. I buy it, live with it for a few weeks and sell it if I'm not totally satisfied. Since I buy low, I can sell for little loss. With this sytem I get to home demo everything I buy.

But, if the manufacturers would stop fighting the inevitable change to their business model, they could stop propping up failing dealers and instead focus on more audio shows. Also, as I suggested before, they should be producing high quality videos of their gear with high end pro mics. This is obviously not the same as an in person demo, but it would still go a long way.

If something breaks, then the manufacturer must provide some type of service. Why does that require a dealer? Bryston for example services all their amps themselves.