I see many Internet stores that have different car audio equipment. I know places like crutchfield and best buy are authorized Internet dealers. How do the other guys who are not authorized sell the stuff for so cheap or get it at all? They are making a profit as well so why the huge price difference? I understand the concept of warranties and service, but it make no sense to me. If I go with store X I can save $2000 on my system. How on Earth does that happen. Either store X is turning a small profit or big "authorized" dealer is turning a huge profit. Help me understand this.
You have to be careful of refurbished equipment. Also depending upon the shop their labor cost may be different because of the quality of technicians. Guys with lots of experience and who are good at what they do usually command higher salaries at the better shops...
A lot of stuff on the Internet, particularly stuff from the New York area, is not meant for the American market and isn't supposed to be sold here.
I picked up a Samsung Yepp for less than 1/2 price but it came in a zip lock bag with a manual and accessories wrapped up in a baggie. All the stuff was there and it worked fine. It was even knew but it was stamped refurbished. That is because there is no warrantee on it. It was meant for the Asian market. I've seen the same unit at Best Buy in a huge bubble pack. ... so I saved over 100 bucks on packaging and yielded any warrantee.
I am talking about a place like www.ikesound.com
I bought a head unit there about 4 years ago brand new in the original packaging. It was $150 cheaper but they state they are not an authorized dealer. So if something goes wrong then you send it back to them and they will replace it for 1 year.
I have been pricing out many items and can save over $2000 by shopping on their site again. The thing is they are not an authorized dealer. They are out of Florida I believe. I know they have been in bussiness for over 4 years now.
I just want to know how or why they can sell the same items for hundreds of dollars cheaper than places like crutchfield or best buy.
I really don't know how they do it, but there sure can be an amazing difference. Just last month I bought a new stereo (deck, amp and subs). I thought I would try to support the local businesses and buy stuff in town. So I started pricing stuff out and I could get the same stuff off eBay for $1000 or spend $3000 locally. I'm into supoorting local small business... but I am not losing 3 weeks pay to do so...
I asked one of the ebay sellers I bought from. He just told me to be an authorized dealer they have to price it a certain amount. The non authorized dealers can price whatever they want and get no factory support or warranty.
I asked one of the ebay sellers I bought from. He just told me to be an authorized dealer they have to price it a certain amount. The non authorized dealers can price whatever they want and get no factory support or warranty.
That is what I would think, but then why would they sell their products to a non-authorized dealer? I know companies like Oakley only sell their products to authorized dealers. If someone is selling Oakleys below what Oakley has set the price to be they no longer will let that dealer sell their stuff.
To sell more products is what I suppose.
Some authorized stores have a webstore with a different name, they buy the merchandise under the authorized name and sell on there webstore as well as ther regular store. That is why you have to send the merchandise back to them if it needs warranty repair, if the company finds out by tracking the serial #, they will loose there contract with them. Also, some webstores have an agreement with authorized sellers, the authorized seller buys the merchandise for them, and the unauthorized seller sells it thru the web.
That is what I would think, but then why would they sell their products to a non-authorized dealer? I know companies like Oakley only sell their products to authorized dealers. If someone is selling Oakleys below what Oakley has set the price to be they no longer will let that dealer sell their stuff.
Manufactures don't sell to non-authorized dealers. It's a well know fact in the electronics industry that things are bought "sideways", meaning that it was originally purchased by an authorized dealer and then sold by that dealer to a non-authorized dealer for a small mark up. The authorized dealer will get a bigger discount do to volume. Now a days you won't see that big of difference in the price of head units (unless it's the top of the line) do in part that there is not a huge mark up on them to begin with. It's also a well know fact in the car audio industry that consumers are only interested in price and not service (case in point is this thread). You can go out and buy the equipment over the internet, but someone has to install it. The consumer takes it to a shop and has it installed, if it breaks then he has to take it back and have it uninstalled....... then has to send it to the place of purchase, then wait for it to be returned....... then take it back and have reinstalled (at a price)...... Where as if you bought it from the local store the install is ussaully less and if there is a problem it is ussually handled in one visit with no incured cost.
And read the fine print, many times if the unit was not installed by a reputable shop then the warrantee is normally 30 or 60 days from purchase. You'd be suprised how easy it is to tell when the product was not installed by a professional.
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