>I'm confused.  Why would I pay a premium to order through a
>distributor if I can order direct from the manufacturer?

Can you actually order the quantity you want from the manufacturer, or is 
your order below their MOQ? That is where the distributor comes in, they 
order at the manufacturers MOQ and split the order between people who want 
less than the MOQ.

The MOQ may not be a quantity, but a value, so the distributor may still 
only order what you want of a part, but that order gets bundled into a heap 
of other orders on the manufacturer to make up the minimum value order the 
manufacturer will deal with.

You have to pay for this service by the distributor adding a margin onto the 
manufacturers price. 

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