Charging A Fee To Demo An Amplifier In A Brick & Mortar Store

If you really want those amps and the store has opening hours, bring cash ! It has never failed me, if you take out a big enough stack you will get your demo for free, and if you tell the owner of the store you don’t need a recipe for the full amount you can probably walk out of there with the amps for 15K. This works with cars too.

Well theres your snswer.... its s CA dealer 🤦‍♂️

I spoke with this retailer sometime ago regarding a different item and decided not to deal with them because he seemed very dubious.

Tubes have a short lifespan.  Suck it up if you want to lower the time left on them.  This is why you do not buy tubes.

First of all, I’ve never seen a dealer ask for a payment to demo equipment. I have a local dealer who brought in new Usher speakers for me to demo that he didn’t carry before. He also brought Revel Studio2 speakers over to my place for an in-home demo, which I ended up buying.

in terms of this dealer, I’d negotiate a deal where you agree to pay $500 for an in-home demo for a $500 reduction in the sales price, and the demo fee can be either applied to that reduced cost if you buy or a store credit for something else.  If the dealer thinks you are serious he may be willing to do this.  If you buy, he gets rid of this used inventory and you get a deal.  If you don’t buy, he gets compensated for his time.