Originally posted by abacus07 FWIW I did sit in a B&M store when I bought my K-5 and I did really like being able to open it up and mount a few lenses on it and make sure nothing was horribly wrong with it. At the same time I wanted to buy a lens from them (in Taiwan) but it was 60+% higher than the sale price in the US and I will definitely be getting that lens shipped/carried to Taiwan instead.
And this is one of the reasons it had to happen. the disparity was ridiculous, not only did it kill US B&M retail it also is disrupting other countries distribution channels. The ease of cross border shopping has made it imperative for manufacturers to keep a hold on the channel pricing worldwide
You went into a store and took the time of an employee who was paid to help you, the owner stocked the product, and provided the retail space, and the local distributor provides service and supply. Your government likely has some hidden taxes in the price as well. You then took all the incentive for the local people to even be there away buy shopping the grey market (BH Photo I'm sure is not an authorized distributor for Taiwan and they sure didn't send a percentage of the profit there to offset the cost of the locals providing you with service)