Buying Car Audio on the Internet |
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Buying on the internet is an extremely easy way to compare products and prices and
it has also become very easy to shop. But the online world of car audio is kind of strange. Beware.
First off, there are many E-Commerce Car Audio Shops that are nothing but a web page. Some college kid got him some free web space and now wants to make some beer money, so he has scanned
in a buncha car stereo catalogs and made a nice looking web page.
Some of these have never intended to actually send out products, they just want your money and they will disappear in a short time only to re emerge again with a different name. BEWARE!!!
Many people have sent money and gotten NOTHING in return..
I always search the web page looking for a legitimate street address, I even use street view to see if there is an actual store or a mail drop.. We recently looked up one that was a postal
drop in Brooklyn. They were claiming to be legitimate and were not.
Check to see if they take credit cards and most legit businesses will also happily give you references. One that was popular for a while (and I don't know why) is the so called wholesale club. If you send $40 they supposedly send you a wholesale catalog and you can buy at cost. Do some research first, use Google.com and lookup what folks are saying about a place before you buy. These wholesale clubs usually have many complaints and you will easily find the complaints with a google search.. They never have the good stuff, they sell only refurbished units, and take forever to ship to you (if at all). As far as brands available on the internet, some manufacturers DO NOT PERMIT internet sales. They prohibit internet sales because the FIERCE competition brings down the profit margins and ultimately could put the manufacturer out of business. (dealers would rather carry a product they make money on)... Because 1) manufacturers can promise the retailer there are no other dealers within so many miles of them, this reduces price competition and helps the dealer make a decent profit. Without a decent profit, the dealer would not want to carry products from that manufacturer. 2) some manufacturers don't like internet or mail order sales because the products may not receive professional installation from trained installers. Badly installed products sometimes cause a bad reputation for the manufacturer because of many failures. To be a legitimate dealer for some products, the dealer must sign dealer agreements. Basically legal contracts that agree to the terms the manufactures specify, many times these contracts state NO MAIL ORDER SALES! And no sales to other dealers because they might sell MAIL ORDER... Customers ONLY, in the store ONLY! BUT! 1) there are lots of dealers that are not signed up that would love to have these good brand names. These dealers many not be eligible to be a REAL DEALER for these products because they may be too close (in miles) to an existing dealer, or they may not have a storefront, they may be internet only or not have enough sales volume to meet the criteria set by the manufacturer, or any number of other reasons. 2) there are lots of folks on the internet wanting these products. 3) The legit dealers get BIG discounts if they buy alot of stuff! SO, its quite common for 1) Some legit dealers try to make an extra buck by trying to cheat the manufacturers, ignoring their contracts, they order extra products that they know they can't sell in their stores just to get a price break for ordering a bunch of big numbers, and then so they wont be stuck with stuff they cant sell, they sell some of the stuff sideways to distributors or dealers that can't get those products direct from the manufacturer .. 2) Now the legit dealers have to MODIFY or remove the serial numbers on the products that they sell (in breach of contract) to distributors or non-dealers of the brand so that the manufacturer cannot TRACE the product back to the LEGIT DEALER and sue them for breach of contract. And its against federal law to intentionally modify or remove a serial number off of most electronic gear! Unfortunately, there is alot of this GRAY MARKET stuff selling on the internet.. 3) distributors worldwide to have ANYBRAND a store could ask for. This being the case, from a retail standpoint there might not be a reason to sign up direct with any manufacturer! 4) internet dealers to have EVERYTHING YOU WANT, even though the manufacturers of that product don't permit internet sales. 5) much of the internet stuff might have illegally modified serial numbers. Most of the so called high end car audio manufacturers (put high end brand name here) prohibit internet sales, yet anything you want is available. These products are called graymarket goods. Many have serial numbers that have been doctored and wont have a manufacturers warranty if they ever break.. The manufacturers are looking for the dealers that are cheating them! They are so mad at the bad guys they will deny you warranty service in an attempt to shut them down! (that kinda sucks for you if you buy these goods!) Sometimes the dealer selling you the product doesn't even know the products are graymarket. Sometimes the dealer cheating the manufacturer is cleaver enough to make the altered serial numbers look unaltered, their main concern for him is to have a sellable product that cannot be traced back to them by the manufacturer. It is quite common (and illegal) to to find modified serial numbers of electronic equipment on the internet. It is usually the LEGIT dealer of the products and not the END RETAILER that modifies the serial numbers. Sometimes when you send gear in for warranty repairs some manufacturers will tell you about the altered serial numbers, some go so far as to tell you the gear must be stolen! I think they are only trying to enrage you and give themselves a legitimate way out of doing warranty repairs for you. Maybe the higher ups are telling the service people to tell you these lies, but in reality it really doesn't have anything to do with stolen gear. In the USA there is a law against altering serial numbers on electronic equipment. It has nothing to do with theft or stolen property at all. ANY DEALER that sells these high end brands on the internet will probably be the same. If the manufacturer has a NO MAIL ORDER RULE. Then you will not find ANY DEALER with these products legitimately. If you really want legit products with full factory warranties GO to a store in your town or call the manufacture directly and ask them to recommend a dealer in your area. Back to the tech section |
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