Originally Posted by Hiro11

I don't just "claim" it, here's proof:
https://www.bicycleretailer.com/nort...g#.XO0zr25OlPA

Prior to 2016, Shimano used to be absurdly overpriced in the US when compared to Europe. It's still higher but not the ~40% premium we used to pay buying domestically. Prior to 2016, the pricing was so comparatively low in Europe that QBP's wholesale prices to US bike shops for Shimano gear were actually higher than just going online and buying from Wiggle or whoever. My bike shop would just tell me to go online for Shimano stuff. Shimano was trying to fix this issue and part of this is clearly Shimano throwing a bone to their dealers.

Note that SRAM has, if anything, even more restrictive pricing practices.

There are legitimate reasons why companies set different prices regionally: higher distribution costs, higher import duties, higher regulatory overhead etc. I'm not defending Shimano here, just saying that this is hardly "illegal". This happens in every industry, in fact the US is generally cheaper than everywhere else usually. Ever see what British people pay for cars, electronics and clothing? Yikes.