http://www.yamahapkowner.com/forum/index.php?topic=15269.0

This info was publicly posted here...

Is a dealer verbal 'quote', over the phone (or privately, over the internet), for a product not yet in stock legally binding?

If not, I would be leery about whether a price quote like this actually becoming reality at the end of the day...

Look, guys, it just doesn't make sense... The MSRP and the MAP have BOTH gone up from the T2, yet here is just ONE dealer managing to quote a price LESS than the T2 sold for (while all the other dealers have gone up in price). Dealer cost hasn't gone down, you can be assured (look at the exchange rates, for Pete's sake!)...

Just remember... if it looks too good to be true, it probably isn't.

The Tyros 3 quote was definitely over dealer cost so the chance of the dealer selling it for that price is plausible. When the Tyros 2 was introduced dealer cost was lower than that of the Tyros 3 but most dealers weren't discounting it and why I'm not sure. Its easy to get a great deal if you know where to look.

I do know that if the dealer lists a lower than MAP price on a web site or in a sales flyer Yamaha would be all over the dealer and threaten to pull the line from them. Most manufacturers have a MAP price and when a dealer advertises a lower price it immediately draws attention to them.

I'm sure Alto Music will have a Yamaha rep contact them after seeing the quote that was given. Granted the quote was a personal quote from an e-mail and should not have been posted on the net, but Yamaha doesn't care. Their interest is to protect their MAP price and make sure dealers sell at a specific price.

I'd like to chime in a bit myself.

I started off about 20 years ago selling and installing car audio systems. Back then you had to give a kidney and your first born to be a dealer of certain products.
But of course then there became distributors then little 1 man garages that had no idea and killed price point service and knowledge. So something I was selling at $699, they would sell at $399 with no knowledge or true support.

The same has happened with my Home Electronics business, I actually buy some of my stuff from Amazon because I can get it cheaper then from my suppliers.

Now in the musical instrument area which I have only been doing for a couple of years, I have noticed that the big box internet places have been able to get rid of service and knowledge by allowing people to purchase a keyboard, use it for 30 days and then return it. I can not in any was, shape or form do this. the only thing I can do is help with the pre-purchase so that hopefully there will not be any returns.

As for the Low, low Tyros 3 prices that are out there, A dealer can do couple of things,

1 is to match or beat that price, in doing that there is no room for answering phone calls, spending countles hours heloing with midi files, vocalizer settings, and so forth, but you will sell keyboards

2 stick to your guns and sell them for the price you choose and include your service and knowledge

Long story short, everyone can do what they want to do, if it's bad business practice, then that store will eventually close. I have been going for almost 20 years so I might be doing something right?

OF course I would love to sell a Tyros 3 for full MAP. that would make paying my bills ( I am a brick and mortar store) allot easier.

But I can't afford to compete with the big guys, I'm not in a highly visible traffic area, or hi-income area, my store is so hidden I can't find it sometimes.

So I'm out of this discussion, if we were all so smart we would all be millionaires.

Having been in my own very small business a while back, ( not related to music ) I understand the concerns of the business owners here on the forum and those that support them. I've always thought them to have been very helpful and I've never felt that any ( George Frank, DanO ) tried to pressure me in any way or oversell here. I have total respect for you guys.


That said, I also feel compelled to speak up on behalf of Alto in general and Chris in particular. Chris is always a gentleman. He never ever has tried to push any keyboard on me, never overhyped any of them, and he understands what I'm looking for and will tell me honestly, "Probably not what you're looking for" if indeed that's the case.

Because of his genuine sincerity, he has prevented me from making a purchase or three over the years, ( way more than that to be honest about it ), especially with software synths and apps. He knows his products and knows his customers. He always takes as much time as I need to explain what he sees and doesn't see in a product, and on those rare occasions when he can't compete on an item, he has pointed me where to go.

Alto was a small hole in the wall store some 25 years ago when I made my first purchase, a small guitar amp that I still have today. They were there for me and helped me out when noone from Yamaha seemed to want to address my buggy psr2000. For many many weeks I tussled with Yamaha. Once they got in the middle, the problem was solved almost immediately.

Quotes are given by email for a reason. It is not their fault that the quote was posted. Yamaha shouldn't try to correct them... they should thank their lucky stars for having dealers like them. Were it not for the way they helped me, after what I went through with the PSR2k, there is no WAY I'd have ever purchased anything Yamaha again. Instead, since that time, I've purchased a Motif, Motif ES, and Tyros 2, Yamaha acousic guitar and a DD65 drum machine.

They are always among the best on prices for any gear, and their service is, at least in my years of dealing with them, impeccable. What's so wrong with that?

AJ