On the flip side, anyone who has personally imported new Sterns to bypass the domestic monopoly would be wise not to enter any details of that machine into a publicly accessible database or they might find that their overseas supplier has suddenly and mysteriously been removed as a Stern distributor!

I would suggest that Sterns efforts to prevent certain sellers from moving product to Australia is bordering on illegal, maybe not in the USA (I have no idea about their laws) but I would bet it is in Australia.

It could be argued that it is a form of price fixing and that brings very hefty corporate and individual fines - I would tread very carefully if I was Stern.

Stern might suggest they are only doing it as certain machines are not suitable for this market - that could be disproved in five minutes by sticking a 50/60 cycles mod board in a machine and playing it.

It is not smart these days to try these types of "tricks" to maintain a monopoly.