Jamey, I've changed my post slightly. Hope it meets with your approval. While the link could definitely be beneficial to some customers it could conceivably take trade away from some sponsors too, but then again so could Danielsson's decision to sell direct and save me some money in future :smokin: .
Its slightly different over this side of the pond, as there aren't any sponsors over here (excepting Hardy, Carron and Snowbee) and most of these don't sell direct anyway. If I'm buying from abroad then its generally driven by price as the customer service can't really happen so much over a couple of thousand miles.
I still find it difficult to accept that I can buy British made tackle from a US supplier and still save a whole heap of money over buying it in the UK. Same with Swedish tackle. Even accepting that the VAT man takes his bit I still think we're getting ripped off.