Hairymonster:
Aqualung, like most major scuba equipment brands has a policy requiring over the counter sales with specified minimum advertised and/or sales prices.
Aqualung is currently taking heat on the issue, but it's not just Aqualung - it's almost everyone.
These types of policies date back to the earlier days of scuba and was designed to ensure enough margin to keep dive shops in business with the generally low volume by limiting the potential to price war each other out if business. It benefitted the dealers by keeping them healthy and benefitted the companies by ensuring larger and more widespread dealer networks with shops in small as well as large markets. It was a good idea.
In the 70's and 80's mailorder sales became a factor with businesses like Central Skin Divers and Berry Scuba competeing on a cut rate low service basis. Basically the precursor of the internet, but with a much more limited selection of brands that for the most part essentially limited sales to smaller off brand equipment.
However with the current EU situation allowing importation of offshore goods at essentially dealer cost that are then sold through large volume, non-company approved internet dealers, the old pricing strategy has more or less fallen apart. Companies still expect dealers to abide by dealer agreements that usually prevent phone, internet of mailorder sales and/or restrict minimum prices and/or advertised prices, but then do very little to track or control the grey market products beong sold through internet dealers like leisure pro. Essentially, most companies are not overly motivated to stop internet sales as a large volume of their total sales come from internet sales and, for the company, the profit margin is the same either way.
This puts legitimate local dealers in a situation of being unable to compete price wise with low overhead large volume internet businesses even though customers often see, feel and try equipment in the shop that they will then buy on line to say a few bucks. So in essence the dealer carries the overhead and provides a show room for an internet retailer that they are not even allowed to be competetive with.
In the US pricing policies like this border on the illegal as they could be construed as "fixing" prices. However there is a loophole of sorts as the "agreement" is informal in that the company does not require dealers to agree to sell at a given price, it just cancels the dealerships and/or refuses to send more product to dealers who sell below a certain price.
sunkarm:
I bought my apeks reg because John Bennet uses this reg for his deep dive records. If it fine for a 300meters deep record it's sure is fine for me.
Hmmm...The power of sponsorship. There are a number of quality regs capable of that performance, but that does quality in and of itself does not make it the "best" reg for an individuals divers specific needs. Making a decision based soley on that kind of criteria is not the best approach to take.
