Question for you guys about gear pricing variances

I Have gone over this before, to get consistent good pricing call your dealer, deal with the same person show them loyalty they will show you loyalty if they can over time.

99% of what you will see on line is MAP Minimum Advertised Price, in most cases the dealer can sell it for what they want, but can't "advertise "it for less than the MAP price!

Every Manufacturer has their own rules of what is considered advertising, at one time or another manufacturers have even considered signs, price tags and even written / printed quotes advertising.

Some MAP programs won't let you discount what so ever or discount
or give away other items as a discount ( a good smart dealer knows ways around these rules.
This is not price fixing, price fixing would involve a group of manufacturers colluding to set and having enough market share to control the Entire market of microphones.

This is an example of a special buy, Sweetwater made a deal to buy a couple of pallets got a great price and gets to sell them for less, nobody else will be able to match the deal unless they made the same deal , and know Jeff Radke he bought all they had!
These deals your going to have to look for, sorry!

Know if your smart and your salesweasle is smart loyalty, bring other customers and not wasting the sales weasle's time will get you the best deals, BUT read the fine print and the stated policies of the dealer, because no matter what the weasle says that policy is the basis of what can happen if shit happens. Over all you will find the dealers with the kindest policies have the highest prices, your paying
For those policies, eating gear that has a problem that manufacturers won't cover ( oh the fun of Tascam in the old days) and gear you don't like costs $$$! You may get great service, but man if a manufacturer's in a bad mood or the returns guy , the sales manager the weasel or even the owner is in a bad mood you could get the written policy!
Don't BS your dealer, best way to get the highest prices were
make my receptionist cry ( list times 2 would be your price with half the markup going to her.)
Tell me if you like this one you will buy x more, yeah right.
Tell me you spend X dollars with us a year ( it's all in front of me)!
So and so always gives you the best deal ( I see what you paid)
Tell me your a DJ (list)
Tell me you want Cheap DJ lighting (list plus)

Bottom line it's simple scratch your gearpimp's back they will scratch yours.
Oh those cold calls that you hate, that means somebody needs to move some stuff, if you like that person and want them to keep their job buy something!

For those that don't know I was Full Compass's retail manager, protools specialist and general problem solver for 7 years. We as a Dept had growth of at least 33% every year. I only missed my sales goal one month, I had a fire in my APT building and took a week off!
Yes I was one of top sales people at one of the largest dealers while in a coma for months. So I do know this stuff !

Eric- It is B&H that has the deal.

And yes, I do deal with the same guy at another dealer when I'm buying in larger dollar amounts. I'm talking about these kind of commodity sales. The guy I deal with, who has given me large discounts, has the same listed price as Sweetwater. This B&H deal is 28% less right off the bat. I guess I could have called my guy and asked him to match it, but why bother? I just spent 4K with the guy. I'm not going to haggle about headphones, and I'm pretty sure my guy and Sweetwater buy by the pallet as well. It just seems strange to me, particularly when you Google what you want and you get a lot of the dealers prices. Perhaps B&H has an algorithm that- when they see a person that buys a lot of gear having an uptick in buying - they discount right away and get the sale. I don't know. whatever it was, it worked. I bought the headphones from B&H. 

Actually you try not to buy by the pallet, most large dealers have a deal with the manufacturers that puts all their purchase discounts way beyond the price sheet largest quantity, they may save ordering till they hit a quantity or dollar amount of total items that gives them free freight.
If somebody is publishing an Advertised price on a Sennhieser item below the MAP they bought big and got a discount and a special MAP.
Me, I would want that call, why ? Because I wanted to be your only call!!! A ton of my day to day Buisness was Tape and consumables, these items all had high enough margain that I could discount and still make money, plus get the chance to quote anything else you might be interested in give you a decent deal and try to close it. I also then had the chance to try to move any B-stock, large quantity purchases or stuff that had been sitting to long, or feel you out for deals you might be interested in or stuff that would make me money!
Honesty was always the best policy, I TV client asked " why should I buy these private label dynamics instead of 58's "
" because for your needs they save you $5.00ea and put more in my pocket!"
B&H is not going to invest in some complicated algorithms, not their style. They have expensive NY real estate and political priorities, Now
If anyone is going there it's my old employer, they write their own software!
Also your guy, should know meeting that price is better than letting anybody else have a chance at your next deal!
A hundred pennies equal a dollar some times you have to do it pennies at a time!