stereo amps and preamps for rent,what do you think

Welcome to the problem dealers have trying to keep their store stocked with high end gear only to be borrowed and then someone buys it off audiogon.... One of the dealers I frequent said that he has to sell 7 units of an item just to pay for his cost on the floor model. That's a lot of sales plus rent to have floor (demo) models... and you guys wonder why brick and mortor stores need the margins that high end gear offers?? Plus 2 channel gear is a dying market for retailers. Almost all of our local retailers are changing their stores to be hometheater centric because that is where families are spending their money, plus their original 2 channel customers are dying off..

The only reason the cable company makes money is not with the 5% rental but selling cables at full retail because people don't want to pay the 5% rental fee.. but it's also a way to actually save money buying and selling cables on audiogon to find out what fits in your system.

Also shipping cables is a lot cheaper than charging someone $140 for shipping roundtrip on a rental of gear... Honestly the projector rental example really does show what it takes to be profitable. Tube Gear would be impossible. Then you have to also watch out for fraud, as my dealer sold an item on ebay, the guy said it didn't work and he wanted to return it, and the buyer sent back a different serial number which was broken......

If you wanted to do a rental or tweakers (footers, isolation, and maybe power conditioning) that might be another market which would have a lower inventory cost and broader appeal.. still I think this is a great idea but there is no market for it at what people WANT to pay.

things are so tuff out there that many small manufacturers are willing to put products on the floors of key retailers on consignment. the inventory investment to carry a real variety is making it impossible for a proper business model. virtual stores risk less, but in any case renting is accident waiting to happen.

I wonder how successful it would be if Audiogon established an advertising page just for manufacturers who were willing to rent a demo piece of equipment or who offer a 30-day refund period. Would members be interested in that? Jeff

The advantages for the manufacturer to offer this service include: they are not required to cut out the brick and mortar store or distributor; they have the lowest cost invested in the demo; they control the number of demo units on hand and thus their investment level; the investment on behalf of the audio community is spread across many versus one; and they already have the tech support in place to keep the demo operating. Last, they could charge for the service. I doubt they will make money on the rental, but the good ones will increase their sales by getting their product into the hands of more consumers. Last, a list of such suppliers on audiogon is an inexpensive way to get their product into the eyes and hands of their demographic most likely to buy, especially in areas where they have no retailer (not that many retailers will loan you the component anyway).