ScubaSteve
Wow.....what a DB
The only way to stop online throat cutting would be for the manufacturers or distributors to enact a price protection policy and if any online retailer tries to undercut the LDS they get the ax and the manufacurer stops selling to them. But the online business is huge and no manufacturer will ever do that, so here we are back to square one.
I do not see internet selling as throat cutting.....if they are able to make money at it and the consumer is getting the product they want without unknowingly sacraficing something (warranty etc.), then IMO the LDS is the one making the mistake. And cutting the supply to the companies that are trying to provide good product at competitive costs does nothing for the consumer. Granted in some cases there is the warranty issue but not all internet sellers are doing it against the manufacturer's interest. For everybody to "fix" the price (which is essentially what they would be doing it they removed the lower cost sellers) just costs the customer extra money and in the end either pushed sales dollars elsewhere or maybe even prevents people from buying altogether.