buying from unauthorized internet dealers

I am shopping for receivers and it seems the best prices are always from the unauthorized dealers. (most authorized dealers pretty much sells it at msrp or close to it)
The thing is a lot of those unauthorized dealers have good customer feedback and reviews (epinions.com, bizrate.lycos.com, shopping.com, pricegrabber.com, ..etc)

I am wondering if any of you would recommend buying from unauthorized dealers and just take a chance? I've owned Kenwood, Sony, Harmon Kardon in the past and non of them ever failed.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated,
Thanks,

Jack

From what I've heard and read (I've never used "unauthorized" dealers), if problems occur where factory service under warranty is needed, problems could arise.

Of course, if no problems ever occur, then it's a moot point.

Perhaps some of these dealers have their own "in house" repair facilities but, on the whole, I've always felt safer with "authorized" factory servicing.

So, if you feel lucky, go for it.

FWIW, I've been lucky in that I've had no problems with new equipment since the early 70's. ...but I know how my luck runs. It always rains when I don't have an umbrella.

Personally, I wouldn't go the unauthorized route. Too much of a pain if something does go wrong. A friend of mine used to work at an AV store and product failures are more frequent than you might expect, even among name brand products.

Sometimes what you get with the unauthorized vendor is different, whether that be gray market or b-stock items. A unit purchased from an authorized vendor with a factory warranty and return/upgrade policies are not the same thing as an unauthorized unit with a void warranty and no return guarantee. The little extras that you get from an authorized vendor are what you pay for. Whether or not they're worth anything is up to you.

Try 6ave.com
I believe they are 'authorized' for some good brands.
Also try some 'shopping engines', and always review all pages.
Type the full product "MFG & model ID" into your browser for a web search.