Are internet sales taking business or not?

I think if a retailer wants to compete, they need to be online as well.

Nothing beats the concept of the old brick and mortars where one can go and actually listen to the different gear, but i agree with the customer service, it is pretty crappy.
Ive had about a 50% 50% hit and miss with the brick and mortars. Ive had one place take one look at me and they told me to go to best buy where i could afford the equipment. Had the cash in pocket to buy something during that visit. They certainly diddnt get my money after that.

Ive also been to a couple places where the salesmen were real great, they took the time to show you thier wares, they pointed out not only the positive but negative aspects of the products, and diddnt pressure or hassle you.
But that was the minority.

I guess the thing is they are trying to make a living, and they get paid off commission. I have a hard time trusting any salesman that runs off commission so i take everything they say with a grain of salt.

What gets me are the salesmen who are just pricks, who think that if you walk in thier store and they show you a product, you better be buying thier stuff.

I guess with some very rich people that is how it works, but im not rich, so anytime i plan on buying a set of speakers i find out what is in my price range and try to audition everything. I will probably go to 5-6 stores checking out different speakers, and im only gonna buy one set.

Im certainly not going to give the salesman my hard earned money for speakers that dont suit my purposes in order to prevent hurting his feelings.

There was a forum debate about this kinda stuff a while back, and i was somewhat suprised how many audiophiles who are die-hard brick and mortar supporters get pretty upset if you visit a high end retailer to audition speakers without the intent to buy at that exact time.

I gotta be honest though, if i DO go to a place to check out some speakers and im intending to buy, and say hypothetically, the salesperson starts blowing smoke up my ass, lies, or starts getting rude, im not buying from them. i'd rather order it from the net.

You can no longer tell by looking at a person what they can and cannot afford. If you are in sales you need to be polite to the customer.

My hats off to the Gentlemen at "Soundings" in the Denver Tech Center. I have been there twice, once on a lunch hour to check things out, and once with my fiancee to show her some of the stuff. I had no intention of buying, so i diddnt demand thier attention and tried to stay out of the way, but they were more than polite and very accommodating, very helpful and they had a genuine excitement about high end audio and any discusssion of the matter. Real gentlemen.
Thats a place i will definatly be buying from next time i go there.

There is no question that the internet is crushing high end audio retailers. Think about it, why are you here? we can all say that it is because of poor sales help--they don't care, whatever. But the real issue is that the retailer can not compete with sites like Audiogon when it comes to price and that is the bottom line. We are buying equipment and other assorted goodies at almost half the retail price and most of it is in like new or mint condition( most people on this site take pride in the condition of there equipment). It gives most of us the chance to experiment with lots of different options. You can buy something and try it for a while-decide if you like it and if you don't you can re-list the item and sell it for what you paid of very close to that. There is no retailer I know of that can provide that kind of service. When it comes to cables of any type--they are always better after they have been used for a hundred hours or so. Why would you buy new ones-buy used ones and get immediate gradification--they sound great right out of the box! Yes, you may have to do a little research on your own, but with all info available to us even on one site it's not that tough.I would love to support my local retailer, but the price I have to pay is to high. I purchased a pair of Thiel speakers at my local retailer a few years back , just before I found this site, and was I in for a shock. I found that there were a number of speakers just like the ones I had purchased listed on this site in like new condition with original boxes etc for less then half the price. When I mentioned this to my local dealer he informed me that because I has purchased the speakers from them I had the opporunity to trade the speakers back in and I would recieve a credit in full towards the purchase of another pair of speakers at full retail. What a great deal--for them! I am not sure what they can do to get back in the game. I am sure it is a problem for the manufactures as well--no retailers to sell the stuff, how do you get it out there in the market place. I'm just glad I found this site. I have put together a wonderful system over the last couple of years and really enjoy it. I did not come even close on the first attempt or even the second or third, but this site allowed me the flexibility to explore which is a big part of the fun.

I think there is a demarcation between what naturally fits the internet and what fits brick and mortar. Researching speakers and heavy monoblocks is best done through dealers where it 's possible to listen and a/b. Cables on the other hand are far better handled over the internet, since no dealer can afford to carry a big enough stock of them anyway, and there are too many small designers to have good dealer representation. Cable prices could then be more rational without the middlemen.

In the future, I believe there has to be such a natural split between the two marketplaces. The important thing is that there is some ethics on the part of buyers, since local dealerships will certainly disappear if you research speakers at the dealership and then buy used. It's tempting to do but the result is obvious.

It is really not possible to take business away from high-end retailers by buying online, because the online seller is also a high-end retailer somewhere. I agree with Elizabeth on they should all be online in some respect.

There are also quite a few manufacturers that still prohibit online sales of their new gear. B&W Loudspeakers is one. Note the one dealer advertising new B&W on Audiogon states he will not risk losing his franchise, so you must visit the store to buy it. He also only quotes MSRP $$. He is probably also prohibited from offering a discount online even if you come pick it up at the store. B&W's especially the lower models sell like hotcakes and provide dealers with the cashflow needed to be able to sell the more exotic slow moving gear.

Even if you are buying used equipment, someone had to buy it new first; and you buying it used gives that person cash for more new equipment.

Itsalldark

very good points.

The only problem i see is that constantly buying used gear instead of new gear might hurt the manufacturers.
On the other hand, sites like this also provide an opportunity for smaller companys to get themselves heared.

I must admit though, i would really hate for the brick and mortars to go. You cannot audition a speaker online.

who knows. The internet might be the demise of several high production companys. They built thier products so good, that even if you are the 2nd owner they still perform as well as ever.

who knows eh?

I know if it was not for Audiogon, i wouldnt have had the chance to learn so much about HighEnd audio.

One of the real values is the opinions of fellow audiogon'ers on audio gear. This is the ONLY source i feel i can trust for un-biased information on various products.

This weekend im buying my first used gear off of audiogon. Its a tuner, because i dont already have one. It looks like a real good deal too. Cannot say i feel bad about it.

I guess Ebay and places like Audiogon really do provide the ability for many people to get into High End audio that normally wouldnt be able to afford it.

I would have a real hard time coming up with 3,000+ for a Krell-300il, however, i could probably come up with 1,500.