There is nothing wrong with personnel from a factory or a distributor/importer deciding to sell directly to end users and building that activity into their distribution/marketing plan.

There is also nothing wrong with setting up the traditional distribution relationship and selling at a discount to authorized distributors, who retail into a designated geography.

There is a lot wrong with factory/distributor representatives who have an existing distributor network selling directly to end users at trade shows or elsewhere, asking that checks be made out in the name of the person selling and asking that the transaction(s) be kept from existing authorized distributors.

Russ