I have strong views on differences in prices between the UK and other countries.
I also think "some" manufactures think they have some right to (illegally) collude with UK dealers to maintain minimum pricing.
Some manufacturers are skating on thin ice trying to control the market.
Dealers can bleat all day about offering demo facilities and nice cups of tea until the cows come home.
I like others don't need demo facilities or a cup of tea. I'm happy to travel to an official demo/show if it means i save a grand.
So there should be room in the market for boths types of sellers.(e-tailers and bricks and mortar)
I understand the problem of people using demo facility's and then buying elsewhere. But if there wasn't such a price rift, this wouldn't be a problem.
Some argue if all demoing dealers went bust what would we do?
Well we would all have to travel to shows/demos, or arrange demo models to be sent for "in house" demo/trails. (i would love to have 3-4 projectors together at once for a home trial!)
Manufactures like to control the market, and until they stop this practise i'm happy to source certain items elsewhere.
We are not here to support dealers(profits), they are here to support us.
Free trade should be exactly that.
If they don't have a viable business model, they don't have a business.
I have to travel (time and effort?) to give quotes for free (like demo facilities?), and if i'm not impressive enough or cheap enough, i don't get the business.
I would love it if somebody controlled the prices of my business competitors.
I could make so much more money knowing our prices where being kept artificially high.
It's illegal for a reason...
There is history about UK price differences.
The UK car market suffered at the hands of Euro imports.
I bought the wife a Renault Scenic sourced direct from France.
UK price £17,500. Priced paid to a Sheffield based importer....£12,500
Car came with the normal Renault three year warranty, and also came with more standard kit.
Some Jean makers didn't like it when Tesco started selling their stuff.
What difference would it make to the Jean maker "who" sold their stuff?
They would make the same profit margin per item.
They argued it devalued their product by selling it too cheap.
Resellers/dealers also argued they couldn't compete.
Well you don't need demo facilities or make tea to sell Jeans, so it's all bull.
Now don't get me wrong, i don't directly blame UK dealers.
They have to make profit to stay in business, like all businesses.
Some dealers would love to lower their prices to compete.
But they know the backlash from the manufacturer......suddenly having a shortage of stock???
It would help if companies like JVC didn't operate as independent territories.
This splitting of the markets allows companies to charge different rates to different countries. (UK = £££s)
This stifles cross country trade, and doesn't allow for a global market.
At least in Europe this isn't allowed, and JVC UK will have a hard time refusing to deal with any euro sourced model.
BTW, just re-branding/naming an essentially same model doesn't exclude it from being recognised as not being sold in that region.
Finally...
People need to do some research before buying from any non UK dealer.
First thing, comparing UK to US prices doesn't tell the whole story.
The Americans don't pay tax at source, but do still have to pay it locally.
This varies state to state, so goods are not as cheap as it first appears.
Any legal import will have to include duty and VAT.
Regarding non EU warranty claims.
You have to judge the likely hood of needing attention.
A memory stick is unlikely to breakdown. A projector more so.
It is not that expensive to ship something back to it's source country.
But to make it worth while, you really need to be making quite a saving.
Ironically, lately i have found my time is usually better spent sorting out a deal with a UK dealer.
There are bargains to be found, it just takes time and effort...(oh and if you get a good UK deal DON'T come on here telling everybody....or the dealer might suddenly find it hard getting stock!)