Many companies as well as boutique style manufacturers typically have very small marks on certain products in their lineup. The standard dealer "B" mark often doesn't apply so Ketron with their Audya dealer pricing isn't unusual (the Korg Oasys had a similar price structure when it was introduced). Its up to the dealer to decide whether or not he or she should carry that product and if it warrants taking up space on their sales floor. If George felt the MAP to dealer cost difference was too minimal he shouldn't have ordered the Audya in the first place.

There are many customers who will merely use a dealer for their knowledge or to see a product in person only to order it afterwards via online because someone else made them a better deal. There really is no way to stop this from happening and as a dealer one hopes the prospective customer is being sincere in their inquiry and will value dealer support after the sale. Having two prices for the same product simply makes the customer wonder why and in the end it will hurt the dealer more than help.

When I've sold products with marginal profit I did so knowing full well it was more of a convenience for my clientele and definitely not going to make me rich. Sometime just having that product in will help sell many lower priced products for the dealer and I'm sure that may be the case in George's situation. Customers may come to see the Audya only to buy a Tyros 3 or PAX2 when they see and hear them all in person. The fact is most people wouldn't purchase and Audya even if it were $4,000, not because it's not worth the money, but because keyboards in excess of $3,000 simply don't sell well. Arranger keyboards are a niche market and the bulk of arranger sales are lower end PSR's to the home market. TOTL arranger clientele are few and far between and while many people on Synthzone can easily voice their opinion of TOTL products, many people who do bash these products don't actually own an instrument that costs in excess of $4,000 so an Audya would never be a consideration for them. Still people don't seem to have a problem voicing there disdain for a product they'd never actually afford which seems odd to me.