Since when will out-of-state retailers save you on delivery costs?

Very happy with ABT, have purchased many things from them over the past 25 years. If you have a chance, a visit to their showroom is worth it. The room sized fishtank is not to be missed.

Sushipup, with the dollar amount I'm spending, most will have free delivery. You can thank Amazon for that! Yes, I've heard good things about ABT.

if you are a builder/developer, wouldn't you have a few local stores that you have been using and get some kind of discount from? anyway, to me, it is not worth the little saving, if any, ( you know that you are supposed to go down to your city hall to pay the use tax for out of state purchases, right?) as most online places will mostly only do curbside delivery for free, white glove/in home delivery is probably extra. Also, it's big hassle if the item is DOA or has concealed damage, etc. Some high end brands won't even let their dealers sell their products online or no discount what so ever.

I am a semi-retired builder/developer. When I was working full-time, we would buy appliances wholesale from GE, Kitchenaid and Whirlpool. I can't get those discounts now. I already have my range, refrigerator and wall oven squared away. The rest of the appliances I'm specifying are GE Profile and Kitchenaid. Consumer Reports has said that ABT is very good.

In every instance where I've found a better price with an online retailer, a local retailer matched the price.

Like einportlandor, local retailers were more than willing to match online pricing.

HOWEVER, in San Diego County, even if I get them to match online pricing, I'm still paying 8% Sales Tax on top of that. It is highly unlikely local brick and mortar stores are going to discount their prices 8% below online pricing, unless it's a scratch & dent or closeout.

I almost ordered a stacked washer/dryer from AJ Madison but I got a small local dealer to come within $75 of the (pre-tax) price. We had to pick it up, but it was worth it to me to give the business to the local guys and have them available for servicing if I need it in the future.

Well, here in San Diego County, all we have generally is Ferguson Showrooms and Pacific Sales, two behemoths. As to my Range (Capital) and Combi-Steam Oven (Miele), I'm sourcing that through Trevor at Eurostoves in Virginia. On the range, no sales tax and delivery is less than $100 to my garage. The Capital factory is 100 miles away from me in Santa Fe Springs, so they are close. If I need service on the Miele CSO, I can get that locally. Welcome to the Amazon economy.

You still owe the sales tax even if you buy from out of state. You'll probably get away with not paying it, but you are required by law to pay it. Amazon collects CA sales tax. Any online retailer with an office in California is required to charge you sales tax.

If you're buying from Trevor, does he carry other appliances or just cooking? At least he's a known quantity. I know quite a few of our members are pleased to shop at ABT stores, but I don't know about their online sales branch. One of the ones you named is known to be mostly a scam--search the forum for more info.

pillog, which company are you referring to being a scam? I did a search and I am not finding anything.

Vonzie, as I said, whether or not the company collects the taxes (which they only have to do if they have a foot in California), you still owe the tax. Be very clear on that. If you choose not to pay it, that's your business, but just because they don't collect it for you doesn't mean you don't owe it. In recent years there have been crackdowns on big ticket items slipping in untaxed, so be aware.

Condo, I was mistaken. It's a different one than the one I thought it was from the list in the OP. I have no reason to think the others are bad businesses, though some may be more or less responsive to issues.

Shopped two local outfits after looking at online pricing. One retailer quoted the online price pretty much. The other asked if I was working with a local contractor. They asked for contact info. To my surprise, they offered me "contractor pricing" which was well below any published price I had ever seen. Must have saved about $1300 off the lowest published price available, online or local, for a range, oven, and microwave drawer (and the microwave was free with mfg promotion).

FWIW, in FL these days a lot of folks who buy online to avoid sales tax get a surprise when the state sends them a bill for it. State government knows what is coming into the state and from where, and I find it impossible to believe that CA isn't at least as tech-savvy as FL, probably a million times more so.

I've done two kitchen renos through aj madison and had no issues. Pretty positive experience.

I've received good pricing bargaining with these guys. I'd strongly recommend a Miele dw.