Fee for home audition

@ghasley 

i agree with most of your points. This is my problem was regarding the “demo fee”.  I clarify again. I am less than 10 minutes from the dealer. I gave him a clear option of paying full sale price (msrp) and taking the demo out by myself and returning within his specified hour. Even with this option, I was willing to pay a reasonable fee for demo. He insisted on bringing the product himself. Question was whether 5%, 625 was reasonable. Of course it’s his right to business anyway he chooses to. It’s also my decision whether I decide to business with him. 

I am not sure how you dismiss 12500 as not being worthy of his attention. There is no high end dealer who will walk away from a 12500 sale. FYI, my current dealer who is sending me the Grimm has more high end products that the previous dealer can only dream of. I am still not sure if you know the dealer, maybe you are thinking some other dealer.
 

there is a simple approach: charge a demo fee and waive it if the customers ends up buying the product.

For those willing to dig…a manufacturer/ designer of renowned MC cartridges almost begged ( my words ) a prospectus customer to NOT buy his cartridge….. then the peanut gallery of armchair cartridge designers weighed in……

Waytoomuch in this situation the dealer is bad .The OP made it clear about his buying intentions.My 0.2 cents.

@jayctoy @grislybutter @svenjosh 

You may be right @svenjosh , it may or may not be the same dealer. I checked with my dealer and he doesn't charge 5%. He charges a token flat fee of a couple of hundred dollars pending the establishment of a relationship. He does charge 15% if you want to take a new, sealed unit and choose to return it. I don't believe a restocking fee would be considered out of line for fair minded people. That's fair. Its unfortunate that the dealer you describe doesn't reflect the high character of the dealer I've been describing.

Like in most areas of life, we get half the story and burn one side or the other at the stake. I do hope the OP posts his thoughts about the Grimm in his system and praises the dealer who sold it to him. We need more, not fewer, great dealers who take the risk, invest their money in stocking product, pay taxes and support an economy through their entrepreneurial efforts. Peace.