Why are dealers so scared to sell product out of

Brand recognition! Rolex and Ferrari (your examples) are well established and world renown brands. Building brand recognition costs $$$. B&M stores can be good for building brands. If you have already established your brand and therefore have brand recognition, then maybe the direct sales method (web) may work.

Also, contrary to popular thought, B&M stores as a means for audio sales is not dead. Is it changing? Yes, but it is not dead. I would argue that, like every other business, the B&M stores existing today are in locations which still support their existence. This is an example of the laws of supply and demand. Perhaps fewer dealers have larger territories than before.

Sales tax is irrelevant. You are required to pay it regardless of where you purchase it. Thank you Br3098 for stating this. I wasn't sure about CA but I know it is true for my state.

Finally, I echo Tpreaves statement. The reason dealers won't sell out of state is because they are honoring the agreements they signed with the manufacturers/suppliers.

"A couple of dealers I talked to refused to sell product out of state.They said they have an agreement with the distributor not to sell out of state. It's amazing how distributors have such a hold on the retailer. High-end audio Isn't exactly setting the world on fire yet they have all these restrictions for the retailer."

I used to be a retailer for many high end lines. For the most part, dealership agreement are very restrictive. The reasons for doing so are not to try to take advantage of customers or to keep the price unfairly high, but to insure that the customer gets what they pay for and to help insure that the dealer is able to turn a profit and stay in business.

Think of what goes into an audio system. The careful system matching, setup and overall time and effort to get everything working properly is considerable. Its not easy and takes a lot of skill. Equipment makers want nothing less than to have customers listen to their gear at its full potential when they demo it. If not, they run the risk of damaging their reputation. If you want a good example, look at Martin Logan. How well do you think the people at Best Buy are able to set up a pair of their speakers? Not only that, look at the equipment they have. ML ELS's were never meant to be powered by mass market receivers. In fact, they had to change their designs to make them more efficient. Most people think their older models are better sounding. I agree.

As far as selling to someone out of state, they can do it if thee person comes into the store. Not only that, a lot of companies will give retailers permission to ship if the customer has no local dealers.

Even if you can find items out of state, sometimes consistency of pricing makes it useless. The last few days I was searching for a best price for Xbox 'Black Ops 2' for my son for Christmas. $60.00 across the board. I found one place a few dollars less but shipping put it over. Where's the competition for my money?

Mt10425, why should there be competition for "your" money. Is it somehow more valuable than say, "my" money.

BTW, Black Ops 2 sales reached $1 billion dollars in only 15 days. Clearly price is not any issue for their intended market.

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.

This is the key point. Why pay top dollar & a huge markup, just for the privledge of letting them order a product for you? It would be different if they had stock on hand, demo units, knew the products and could make educated recomendations, but they don't.