Just curious, why aren't high end radios ever on amazon?

[gpsblake]

I've never seen a radio above a Satelitt 750 on Amazon. Is there a reason why ICOM and others won't sell high end products there?????

Thanks, just curious

 

[HopperD]

I sell products on Amazon and it may have to do with them demanding much lower prices for their products. Amazon wants to remain competitive and a sellers price must be lower than other places. Believe me when I say that Amazon has a team of researchers to make sure they stay competitive.

I'm sure manufacturers of high end radios won't be able to make as much of a profit if they go with Amazon. On the other hand, they get free advertising with Amazon and may be able to sell more equipment.

In some cases it can benefit the seller and some cases not.

 

[trap5858]

in my opinion, those seeking the high end radios want more than just a good price they want support after the sale and I am not sure Amazon is capable of providing it on such specialized equipment, Most who want the high end gear know where to look and know who will support them.

 

[w2xq]

Wirelessly posted (Moto Droid Bionic: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 4.1.2; en-us; DROID BIONIC Build/9.8.2O-72_VZW-22) AppleWebKit/534.30 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/534.30)

I'm not at all surprised that Amazon sellers of high-end consumer HF receivers are nowhere to be found. The marketplace has shrunk. Profit margins are minimal.

The consumer marketplace for self-contained high-end HF table top receivers has been declining for at least two decades. Just look at the shift in WRTH receiver reviews in the annuals going back to the 1980s and 1990s.

JRC ended production of the great NRD-5x5, as did Kenwood with the R-5000. ICOM hangs on with its IC-R75, but it is long in the tooth. Yaesu had the FRG series, but those were also-rans. Drake went out of business. And the beat goes on.

The consumer-level computer-control black box receivers were rough at the beginning, exemplified by WinRadio. Their high-end versions are better now, but for exceptional HF reception there isn't much to chose from.

There are numerous RR threads about aspects of the consumer HF receiver choices that further illustrate the decline of the tabletop. The profit margins are squeezed, badly.

And, frankly, it's very easy for a listener to grab an app or three and load them onto a smartphone. Tunein, radio.com and iHeartRadio cover the world so long as you want broadcaster coverage, not specialties like air, marine or numbers stations.

Just some thoughts, barely scratching the changes...

 

[SCPD]

I'm not at all surprised that Amazon sellers of high-end consumer HF receivers are nowhere to be found. The marketplace has shrunk. Profit margins are minimal.

This is the point right here. The profit margins are way too small for Amazon. Also, there are only a handful of "higher-end" shortwave receivers that are still in *mass* production.

I think at some point you'll see more SDRs but it will take time as their production levels are not very high.

 

[jdobbs2001]

Yeah but now with SDRs are the wave of the future.