Will Internet Distroy High End ?

Hi Stokjoc. As it happens I just posted the following to start a thread, and which probably belongs here...

"I have decided to go back to dealing with dealers I know, or can meet face to face. I have grown sick of the rudeness of sellers, in particular, and occasionally buyers when transacting over the internet. One part of me wonders if I am cutting my nose to spite my face, so to speak. But I find a pleasantly transacted deal has an effect on my enjoyment of this hobby and maybe even causes me to feel better about the equipment acquired. I am interested in how others have fared with internet transactions in this regard.

"This post is probably an over-reaction to a recent discourse with two dealers on the internet whose primary focus in their correspondence in reply to my enquiries was about the consequences of me failing to meet my side of the bargain - stated so indelicately by both as to seem more like an accusation. My reaction to both was to tell them I had no interest in entering into a contract with someone who clearly was going to be unpleasant to deal with. As it happens both are connected with this site (but I will not name them)."

There has always existed a secondary market in audio equiptment just as there is one in autos, watches, paintings, etc. How can someone buy the lastest fad item from their dealer until they have moved yesterday's fad item? For many years I was a member of AudioMart a print journal of audio only adds. It was much the same as Audiogon except to play you had to be sponsored by an existing member. Fundamentally it was no different than Audiogon. But actually there are a few differences. The greater exposure of the net, democratization, if you will, has led to much higher prices for used gear and likewise, with more players in the game, there seem to be many more flakes out there, not to mention those that just don't understand the obligations and protocols for entering into a transaction.

I think my only local dealers that are going to go down are the one's that need it, but that are just making not quite too little to force them out of their misery. That'll be just fine with me because then I won't have to go driving all over town to compare CDP's, they will all be at the one or two shops that make it.

Some one has to buy new high end gear if it is mostly available from dealers only. If not, we will all be trading some pretty old gear pretty soon! I would not have the stuff I have if it was not for the internet. Even new stuff I bought from my old hometown dealer back home 500 miles away. For those who always want the newest thing, being able to sell their old gear quickly should help dealers and even help dealers unload their trade-ins quickly. Cash flow is king.

The internet has already all but destroyed hi end.The biggest problem any dealer has is having to match a price someone got on the net. When i was still in the business we would loan out equipment for home demos all the time. We never pressured them into thinking if they took it home, they'd have to buy it. One example, we had a customer who wanted to buy a turntable. I spent some seven hours over a two week period explaining the product and convincing him the money spent on a Rega 25 with Grado cartridge was money well spent. He listened at length to the table at the store, never any pressure...that was not our style. He finally decides to take it home for the weekend and calls me on Monday and says he loves it...I'll be in a little later to write it up. He rolls in about an hour before close and asks if I can match a price he got on the net. I'm doing a slow burn and he wants 25% off. I tell him to forget it, and asked him how he looks at himself in the mirror, jerking us around like this. I then told him what he was doing was F***king Bull***t and to hit the road. That was the first time I ever unloaded on a customer....he walked out of the store with his head hanging and feeling real guilty...which was my intent.This, believe it or not, happened all the time. I'd guess for every 50 pieces of gear we sent home for demo....2 would actually buy. Word usually got back to us that they ended up buying it on the net. They come in, pick our brains, we spend hours educating them..and then they buy it on the net from someone who usually has little to no overhead and can still make a profit selling it at 25-30% off. I don't begrudge someone trying to get the best deal...but you can't have it both ways. People like this totally soured me on the business, as it has others. Between these kind of people and home theater (don't get me started) I left the business I loved. Oh how I long for the days up until the mid eighties...when CD came out. Don Mclean had it wrong, the day the music died was when they came out with the CD, which spawned all this other crap.It's now 4:36 AM and longplate is done ranting.