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How much will you pay for an exotic cartridge....

I noticed on another forum that there is an interesting point brought up by a US distributor/dealer about his perception that one of his potential customers bought a top end cartridge ( that he reps) from an off-shore dealer/source...and how he intends to try and stop the practice of ’grey market’ sales. ( At least for the lines that he carries).
This gent seems to believe that because he signed some paperwork somewhere that may ( or may not) give him exclusive rights to distribute the gear in the US, that he has the right to try and prevent anyone abroad from selling to US customers! To that, he wants to have the manufacturer try and enforce his right to do the above. Now, one could ask, what’s the issue with this, right? And here’s the rub, the dear distributor is adding over $8K to this product for the simple task of ordering and having shipped a cartridge from Japan ( Yes, i know the shipping of such a large and heavy item is expensive...and the dealer has to stand by the product...whatever that means when we are talking of a cartridge!) The profit motive is high here, and the opportunity to fleece some of the US consumers is also...so i get that, but to come on an open forum and complain about the practice that one of his potential customers did such a thing....is an interesting marketing tactic, IMO.
So, my question is this..how much will you pay for that exotic cartridge to insure that you are buying it from a "legit" US rep, and not from a grey market...or in this case out of area dealer....what’s fair to you...a few $$s- or the sky’s the limit??
128x128daveyf
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
Cartridges have in general the best profit. They raise with marketing.
No marketing, unknown und also no idea about its abilities:
$1000.00 max
When dipped in holy water: +50%
With a pic Pope listens with it: +200%

daveyf's avatar
daveyf OP
2,874 posts
 
 @chakster  Actually what’s your problem? My prior thread...not post, has nothing to do with this thread. Read my OP again, this time without your preconceived idea.
vortrex
273 posts
 
Most audio dealers are like most car dealers or real estate agents. Completely useless and the buyer knows more than they do. Long gone are the days where an “expert” is needed to tell you about the product. Today’s audio buyer spends far more time researching than a dealer does.  If manufacturers offered buy direct I imagine 99% of the people would do that, even without the huge discount.  Why have two other parties (distributor/dealer) in the middle when you could work with one?  These dealers today aren’t maintaining store fronts or doing advertising. They send an email to someone when you want a product and that’s their “hard work”. I’ve asked dealers in the past about products they represent and they’ve never even heard it!

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Why have two other parties (distributor/dealer) in the middle when you could work with one?

I wonder how can you work with one if they are in Japan and does not even prepared to sell to the foreigners directly? You can’t, so you need a grey market dealer (the enemy of the manufacturer) between you and the manufacturer or a legit dealer (a friend of the manufacturer) in your country. Up to you, but you can’t buy from the manufacturer even if you really want. This is it, the OP’s post is about Japanese cartridge.

They don’t need your USD in Japan, your paypal that ripping-off the sellers and can block entire account with funds because of the one complain from the cheater/customer, or your American Credit Card. Also most of them don’t even understand a word in English. How can you buy from them with warranty and service ? This is why they do have a distributor and dealer they can trust. Let's face it! 






vortrex
273 posts
 
You missed the IF in my post. 
I’m very confident the Japanese could deal with USA buyers direct. I do that with one manufacturer now and the service is impeccable. 
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