Ok... gotta chime in a bit more, now...
I keep seeing references to "most." Has anyone here been to most? I've been to around 60, and that was across just 5 states, and only those shops close to the interstate. I've not been to most.
I've also seen complaints of price gouging for profit. That's rarely the case... most B&Ms are between a rock and a hard spot. If they want to stock the newest gear, they need to order direct from China, but to do so requires preorders and massive quantities which they can sell at a reasonable price, but might be stuck with if the device is a dud. Oh, and there's the shipping and waiting, and no return policy. Alternatively, they can buy from US based wholesalers who bought en masse from China. However, these wholesalers are actually selling the B&Ms merchandise at retail (100% markup), which the B&M has to markup again to stay in business while their wholesaler is selling the exact same thing online at a 130% markup, undercutting the retailers they just supplied.
Example: I bought my iPV5 for $90 at my local. They bought it for $45 from the wholesaler. The wholesaler bought it for $25 in massive quantities, and is also selling it retail at $40... yeah, I was allowed a peak at the books...
IF it were a level playing field, I could see bad-mouthing bad B&Ms. It's not a level playing field...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk