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

Dear @daveyf : In reality I’m with the official cartridge distributors but like you I’m against the extremely high profits those cartridge distributors have. This is the main issue why the grey market is growing up because manufacturers and/or official dealers leave us with no other good choice that the grey maRKET.

The cartridge business is already a controvertial subject.

When for the audiophiles " money is no object " then they buy to official distributors no matter what because they are wealthy enough to do it several times they want it.

The other alternative is what I did or do it with expensive cartridges: look in the second hand atractive price market, yes it has some trade-offs but I have not really bad experiences through second hand bougth audio devices and especially cartridges, tonearms or TTs.

R.

Around 350 bucks. The price of the Ortofon Quintet Red MC I recently stuck on a Linn Akito arm...utterly worth it.

My Decca Super Gold retip and Decapod cost around $850 with shipping. It was cheaper new back in 1987.

I am thinking about a cartridge upgrade and recently began investigating Lyra Etna Lambda.  Retail price in the US , as set by their distributor, Audioquest, is $8995 for the standard MC model.  

My search led me to a UK dealer and another in the EU, their retail price is 6950 Euros about $7k vs the $9k US price.   I can either pick one up next time i'm in Europe or have my friend mail one to me so the dealer/distributors remain in compliance.   Seems to me the US mark up is being artificially pumped up by Audioquest . Cartridges aren't amps and are easy to ship and they are not going to cause me problems with a different voltage, etc. 

Now I'm not going to waste any local dealers time auditioning the cartridge and am relying on the tremendous word of mouth if I do purchase from an out of country dealer and I'll have to have my usual pro do the install for me for a few hundred dollars as an added expense but I'll still be thousands ahead and i've yet to ask for a discount from any of these dealers.

I support US dealers and buy a tremendous amount from a few great guys on this board each year and I price isn't my only factor in whom I give my money.   But if I were to ask a dealer to sell me a $9k cart for $7k (full EU retail) I'd be considered a low baller!  What could a US dealer do in order to compete with the couple grand weight that has been placed on its US dealer network in the world of Google we live in?

This is a real problem for the Lyra brand and for those US dealers who are trying to sell to internet savvy consumers willing to pay the price of a stamp.

@bbyer I agree with you. This is a problem for US dealers, although I suspect they really don’t care too much about it! Also, remember that the EU dealer is still making a nice profit at the EU retail price..although I also suspect they are not making quite the ’Killing’ that the US reps and dealers are looking to score.
Now OTOH, if something goes wrong with the cartridge, which although unlikely ( although not impossible, as I stated above, my Lyra did need to be returned to Japan for work under warranty) the US rep has to stand by the product. With a cartridge, I would have to believe that the cost to cover warranty is still pretty minimal...and certainly not thousands of $$.
Another point that I have not made...in the US- the question becomes how many ’middle men’ are involved in the cartridge business...compared to other markets? Nonetheless, the point/question in my OP still stands.