I have been friends with previous employees/manager of the ham gear stores and all is not what it seems to the user community. They make very little markup today on rigs, they make their money on the small things (cables, plugs, books, etc) so their profit incentive is to get you into their store to look at rigs and then buy the accessories.
Who doesn't think that the K3 would draw a crowd? The second dynamic is where Yaesu and Icom are headed. They seem to be invested in the 10K rigs (FTDX9000, IC7800). The Yaesu rig isn't even sold at the stores, you order it at the store and then its made and shipped from Yaesu. Not many (any?) stores can afford to stock these for their sales floor so they do not even get you into the store to buy other stuff. I do not see the ham chain stores pushing these radios much (they don't have any real experience with them unless they own them). So the FT2000, IC-7000, k3 rig price class is their premium rig market. I think they would enjoy having them all stocked. All in all its a worthwhile experiment (and it wouldn't either hurt the Elecraft image nor the buyer). Neal k3nc On 7/30/07, Rick Dettinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > That "first consumer purchase" wording is informative - it could > > indicate that sometime in the future I may be able to buy a new Elecraft > > product over the counter at HRO and other ham gear stores. > > > > I really don't know if Elecraft is looking at the sales outlet > > possibility seriously, but if it occurs, the warranty now covers it. > > > > 73, > > Don W3FPR > ================================================= > > I was thinking that HRO couldn't be happy about the K3 as there will be > little reason to buy any other rig. But if they can sell them, that is > another matter. I don't know if there is enough markup in the K3 to > support second party retail sales. It seems like we are getting alot of > radio for the dollar. > 73 > Rick Dettinger > K7MW > > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [email protected] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
