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Post by merton on Sept 6, 2006 3:55:04 GMT
shipped to these places?
Note to International Customers: Grado Labs has asked us to respect their distributor and dealer territories and decline all orders from the following countries: Canada, UK, Mexico, France, Italy, England, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Austria, Yugoslavia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Israel, Slovenia, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Oman, Peru, Argentina, Iceland, Lebanon, Thailand, Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa, South Korea, Antartica, the Larsen Ice Shelf, Timbuktu, Outer Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and, of course, North Korea.
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Post by jelosno on Sept 6, 2006 14:18:16 GMT
Because GRADO has given exclusive distribution rights for these countries to distributors in the resprective countries.
There the distributors make their very own prices. In Germany the RS-1 is waaaaay more expensive than in the US. In order to prevent canibalisation of the German market Grado US will not process orders coming from Germany and will use sanctions against other dealers who will do so. Works for any of the listed markets.
Even here in South Africa they do have a distributor. But the prices here are not that far off from the US ones then they are in Germany. I used to buy in Austria (bordering country) 'cause they were much cheaper there...
Stefan
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Sept 6, 2006 23:07:56 GMT
I remember when the Alessandro branded Grados were first introduced at a major discount plus free shipping (paid $75 to my door for the MS-1).Lasted about a month befor being asked to "cease" with the markdowns or go without more headphones.at least that was the story circulated and how i remember it. My thoughts at the time were it was no more than price fixing and that if Alessandro wanted to make less of a profit on headphones "voiced to Alessandro's specifications" and with their own company name on them why then can they not set the price without crap from Grado ? That Grado uses only authorised dealers I can understand and in fact totally agree with since you know the dealer is at least on the up and up and why many manufacturers will NOT honor any product warrantee/claims on a product purchased outside the factory authoirised circle. Been there and done that and the "that" expensive when it was one of the early Sony Beta machines at $900 (in the eighties.Translates to about $3K now ) A bargain is not always a bargain if the source is somewhat less than totally honorable,the products maybe even being returns or worse used.When you lose control over where and who sells your product you leave yourself wide open for problems when a screwed customer comes crying to the source having no luck with the middle man. That Grado has one of the best warrantees in the headphone business goes hand in hand with controlling product distribution.A distribution network where there are no surporises on any side. BTW-sennheiser is a lot more expensive here and they are mass produced goods while the Grados are still hand made one at a time so the perspective totally different depending on where you sit
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Post by jelosno on Sept 7, 2006 10:29:02 GMT
Yup,
I fully understand that warranty dealer thing.
I also understand the work that goes into a Grado headphone.
Funny thing still is that the SAME NEW Grados with the same new warranty have very high differences in their price in various contries.
For me buying in Austria and not in Germany - pretty much the same price and income structure - the Grados where at leas 20% less expensive.
So the distributor - the one who has the contract with Grado - brings in the goods into the country. From him/her the dealer purchases the products.
So it is the distributor who sets the price range for his country. That is where the differences come from. The service is always the same good one 'cause in the worst case, if you have bought from an official dealer, you can turn directly to the distributor who in turn is linked directly to Grado.
Stefan
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Sept 7, 2006 21:29:27 GMT
I am not sure you are correct on that.I beleive Grado sets the price and that to protect each authorised dealer from being undercut by another just because they either make enough loot to have the ability to operate on less of a prifit margin or if a really big outfit actually able to operate at a loss for a time,from driving competition into "match me or go away forever".This last more common than most think and no more than big fish driving little fish into a small area ready for the eating. The above may br true but also may be something Grado is not aware of since I also seem to remember a simiiar case years back where the one selling cheaper cans in an overlapping market was told to bring their prices in line with the competition or suffer zero resupply of goods hence no lomger an authorised dealership. ---BTW---the above was second hand info so I do not know if it did or did not happen for a fact.Just relaying what i remember So does Grado fix prices ? My gut says yes.Should they ? Maybe.Hand made goods with limited distribution usually mean profit margins are small plus and "hits" on the company name harder to recover from so more control from assembly line to end customer not a bad idea. I should also say if I lived off shore and had to pay the price asked for Grados outside the continental United States I would like most Europeans likely be a Sennheiser fan.Paying $600 for my RS-1 was bad enough and if more would maybe been grounds for a divorce The Ball & Chain : "yes your honor.I am applying for a divorce on the grounds that my husband has lost his grip on reality and shows no signs of ever coming back to planet earth other than to visit"
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