Posting Prices Publicly

Mike said:
Thanks for the kind words. The reality is that this is an important discussion to have maybe just to gauge public opinion if nothing else. That being said, regardless of what some people may want to see, the manufacturers, at the end of the day, have a different perspective and they need to do what they feel is best. If that means keeping global markets happy by being more discrete with pricing, than so be it.

But I do believe things will continue to evolve with respect to this topic and many others, just as they have within the past 5 years.


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Totally agree with this. As in the retail sector of any business genre there will always be the slight anomalies of said differences between online & bricks & mortar. The time it takes to demo, hear, feel, taste, etc are all relevant to the fact of companies wholesale prices as well as their "fine tuning" to their bottom line when they notice this. Long story short, as mentioned previously in this thread, a recommended retail with reference to a bricks & mortar lateral pricing plan for "their" circumstances needs to prevail. Between countries, pfft
 
brad225 said:
You are wrong bzr. He may be a person whose opinion you don't like but that is where it ends.
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bzr, Brad is correct, I know Gordon personally and his opinions, like many of us here, do become overly 'passionate' at times.
 
brad225 said:
You are wrong bzr. He may be a person whose opinion you don't like but that is where it ends.
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Perhaps to you. But to me when someone comes onto a site & lets their emotions get the better of them resulting in denigrating comments as in the unfairness of the members & the one about this wouldn't happen on that site etc.
I haven't been here for months & see this person as an example 3 times within 10 mins,... but hey, maybe the forest is in the way of my trees.
By the way it's not his opinion, it's the logic!
 
Mike said:
...But I can also understand the manufacturers perspective as they have to deal with the customer in the UK who says, “$21,600 USD in Pounds is $16,150, so why do they retail for $25,000 pounds?” There is obviously a lot more involved in terms of shipping, duties, a distributor to handle all these things, etc...
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case in point...

over the past month i have been researching a piece of gear from a small but well know european manufacturer. they are a high-quality but low unit-volume manufacturer. in terms of online price discovery, the available sources are limited to european reviews and the e-commerce sites of european distributor/dealers.

while their customer base is primarily european, they do have significant distribution worldwide. this mostly consists of small distributor/dealer companies who handle a few boutique brands and do all the sales their country -- i.e. no dealer network.

having decided to go ahead with this purchase, i contacted the US distributor/dealer to begin the process and to get a price quote...

i was astounded to learn that US pricing is at a 40% premium to european pricing (ex-VAT, currency adjusted). sure, there are incremental shipping costs relative to european deliveries -- but that is about it as both geographies have the distributor/dealer model and (based on the experience of others with other direct european purchases) there are no import duties.

even though the additional 40% would not have been a deal killer per-se, i would have just felt foolish and a chump to proceed with the purchase... so, here is a concrete example of non-uniform and opaque pricing being the direct cause of a lost sale.

moral of story: stick with mike :)
 
Isn't 40% standard markup? Maybe a European dealer is also a duel NA distributor so the product is stepped on twice. Much like most gear. EU Plant, EU Distributor, NA import Distribution, retailer to customer. Sounds more like the small company has not worked out its worldwide distribution. Or they are not that interested in the world market?
 
Kingrex said:
Isn't 40% standard markup? Maybe a European dealer is also a duel NA distributor so the product is stepped on twice. Much like most gear. EU Plant, EU Distributor, NA import Distribution, retailer to customer. Sounds more like the small company has not worked out its worldwide distribution. Or they are not that interested in the world market?
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its a well established company, quite well known beyond the EU; US distributor/dealer is not an EU entity; apples to apple sales comparison:

EU plant > EU country distributor/dealer > EU customer
vs
EU plant > US distributor/dealer > US customer

my potential sale is certainly immaterial to the manufacturer and to the US distributor/dealer. just pointing out a case where pricing opacity was not in the best interest of anyone involved.
 
aKnyght said:
no clue really -- free market + profit motive? i could speculate further but it would be only that.
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To clarify, there is a 40% MSRP price increase in the US price over the Euro price?


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Mike said:
To clarify, there is a 40% MSRP price increase in the US price over the Euro price?
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yes... illustrative example:

EU distributor/dealer retail price: 100 EUR including 20% VAT

backing out the VAT: 100.00 / 1.20 = 83.33 EUR

converting to USD: 83.33 * 1.21 = 100.83 USD​

so, assuming one in the US could buy directly from a EU dealer the price in USD is $100.83

US distributor/dealer quoted price: $140.00
______________________________

note: 1.21 is the current USD/EUR exchange rate
 
aKnyght said:
yes... illustrative example:

EU distributor/dealer retail price: 100 EUR including 20% VAT

backing out the VAT: 100.00 / 1.20 = 83.33 EUR

converting to USD: 83.33 * 1.21 = 100.83 USD​

so, assuming one in the US could buy directly from a EU dealer the price in USD is $100.83

US distributor/dealer quoted price: $140.00
______________________________

note: 1.21 is the current USD/EUR exchange rate
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Ironically, it’s not much different going the other way. US products are about 40% more in Europe. For example, the $63k M2’s are approximately $102k in Europe (when currency is translated).


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I recently purchased a new cd player, my budget was $10,000. I searched different players from 4 companies. It was quite difficult comparing the technical specs, features, type of analog output stage and prices. If all of the prices were posted it would have been a heck of a lot easier to determine the "pecking order" of each model. The one I bought was the one where the MSRP and actual prices were easy to find and the specs were clear and thorough. I still don't understand companies that make it hard to spend money with.
 
I'm for posting the prices online. I live in an audio desert. I have to drive 3 hours to the nearest brick and mortar store and then I am limited to the brands he carries. I have bought a number of items without hearing them because I have no choice. Say I am deciding between two turntables. Having to call a dealer (or two) to find out the msrp's of the tt's is a waste of my time and a waste of at least one of the dealer's time. If I can find the msrp online, then I could possibly eliminate one choice and start a conversation with the dealer who offers the one I have decided to buy.
 
I noticed that prices are published in the ads in the back of one of the British audio mags, including all their McIntosh items. Seems there are different rules for different markets.
 
The Audio Industry is a small little business, with some very silly little players in it. They are not sophisticated, for the most part, and are simply trying to survive. Buy something if you want and can justify... or don't, but comparing different corners of the world and their Markets is silly as well.
 
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