One (former) dealer always had price tags on the equipment that were a good 15% to 20% over the suggested retail, and then always had sales with 20% off.... i guess that dealer was able to sell stuff 'on sale' to some customers who did not know.. But they eventually went under. Once burned twice shy i would bet. They went under well before the current economic problems.
At THAT place i always had to know the actual retail price BEFORE I made any overture about buying stuff. Then it was OK.
The problem of selling below the threshold of staying in business is pretty tough.
I can see if a dealer has some stuff they overbought, or just want to free the cash in that (slow moving) product. But they cannot do major discounts on a regular basis and stay in business.
Demanding extreme discounts is sort of like being the vulture waiting for them to die...
I discuss the prices of my stuff, and sometimes we come to a mutual agreement on what would make BOTH of us happy enough.
So I like a little love back too, but it is not a war, nor even an argument.
added: another dealer who did die in the current economic downturn was the victum of inflated dreams. They had a decent store in a strip mall. That store had several rooms for demoing stuff, and they had a good two channel to video ratio (50%/50%)
So they decided to move to a much bigger store, a stand alone which was far more rent, and far more prestigious a little down the road.
Big opening with a huge amount of flat screen stock (this was right about the time of the big growth in flat screens) So the new percentages were 80% video/20%two channel.
Well they then had to go head to head with the big box stores, who could ALWAYS kill them on price.
Took a few years but they gradually stopped all two channel sales. (when that was the original focus of the store) The music side dropped to a few dozen receivers and surround type speaker systems. They went bankrupt.
When I retired , no money was spent there. i spent $20,000. at the store that still stuck to a viable two channel model. And whom had a great selection of two channel stuff. Lucky i have known them for twenty five years..
The other stores in my area are basically hanging by a thread, no product, and no future.