Dealer Bias: Do They Really Add Value?

The dealer I go to has spent countless hours with me, let me take home equipment to audition, and has even sent me to other dealers for particuar items that I wanted to hear that they didnt carry. I have spent a lot more money for items I could have bought here cheaper but with out their expert advice, patience, and help I never could have built what I did. I of course gave them my business for it and have always considered the little extra money well spent.

Yes,it's not the quality of the pieces,it's the quality of the music.I find I have to read between the lines,here and with the dealers. I guess it's the "uphill" struggle we enjoy.--?? I mean;do we want it to be that easy? "Winning" against the odds gives satisfaction. Do you want to do the maze?(Mt. road) /Or do you want to take the freeway? One is boring!!

Here's my perception - please help me understand if it's *true* or not.
I think (don't know this for a fact) that the high-end brick and mortar dealers do most of their business with people that find themselves with the $ to spend, but don't want to really "get into" this hobby. They want a nice system (I would think thatWAF is very high consideration in these deals), but don't want to invest the time into understanding it. "I want the best you got" (oooh, there's a line to drool over….) I assume these types of customers help the dealers to pay the bills, because I don't think they make their money from people like us - fairly savvy and into this hobby.
The Internet dealers have got to be putting a huge dent into the brick and mortar businesses. I mean when you can find dealers offering - 40% off - new in box gear, why would you pay full retail?
I find it difficult to pay full retail for ANYTHING, anymore.
Does my theory hold water?

As Woody Allen once said, " the greatest sin in my family was paying retail".

I have to disagree with a few of Angela100's points. First, the audio hobby existed LONG before the internet. I have been involved in audio since I was a child. If anything, there is a continued and steady decline in the amount of people who want to understand the hobby. True, we obsess over so much more now(cables, quality of AC power going into our components, the room, contact treatments, etc.) than in the past. But, many of us are the same people. We are just making progress. A lot of the people I see now(even on the internet) are in this hobby for inexplicable reasons. They must either have no idea what they are doing, or are impossible to please. Only in it for some type of status. Why else would they change gear so much with no rhyme or reason? Unfortunately, this has always been part of the territory, but so much more prevalent now. Secondly, I do not find the internet to be the bargain most hail it to be. How many products on this site can you buy in the box at a 40% discount??? Give me a concrete list of examples. I find many of the Audiogon dealers to advertise their merchandise at LIST PRICE. I have bought most of my equipment through brick and mortar dealers(and have even worked in a dealership), and have found them to offer discounts. Everything I have bought has been at a discount. And, I would even venture to say(via experience) that you may often be more likely to get that 40% discount at a brick and mortar dealer. The dealership I worked at discounted EVERYTHING right off the bat. Not typical, but not an anomaly either. And if you bargained(the same way you do for an automobile), you could get a GREAT deal. Example, I saw new PSB Gold i speakers(retail $2599) go for as low as $1300 for demos, and $1500 for new(in stock or by placing an order). Dealer cost was $1200. And what of used equipment? What had traditionally been something ALWAYS sold for 50% of original cost has changed drastically. Witness the prices asked for in these classified. Or even worse, the obscene prices fetched in auctions. I do agree that the internet has really hit the brick and mortars hard. But, some have also flourished. The place I worked at for example. We were strictly a local dealer. But, when companies like Adcom, Carver, PSB, etc. listed us on their websites, our business skyrocketed. No longer limited to people in the neighborhood, we had people coming in from all over the country(or ordering over the phone). And, when they found out the deals they were getting, word of mouth only expanded things. And before I am labelled a brick and mortar cheerleader, look at a lot of my past posts. I think most dealers are absolute slime(especially the one I worked for).