With regard to pricing and margins on Lumagen and other products supplied by direct sell manufacturers, surely their initial forecasts would have been based on higher manufacturing costs from low volume production. If a distribution chain is developed, increased demand requires higher volume production with an associated reduction in costs, which should then fund the distribution chain.
I'm not knocking UK pricing of US kit, but a manufacturer who chooses to handle their own distribution should understand the basic principle that dealers need to make a profit too, wherever they are!
UK dealers create the impression that they are buying in at retail and have to add margin on top, resulting in a near dollar for pound price - is this really the case? If these direct sell manufacturers also have distributors in the US, they MUST be providing a margin to them - or they'd have to sell at a higher price than the manufacturer. Isn't it possible that these manufacturers 'know the score' and are pulling a fast one on UK dealers?
Andrew_B