I have essentially been running a buying service for some high end components no longer sold by any other US Based Supplier. As I read the rules I will not be able to offer that service any longer. Am I reading correctly?
That doesn't hurt me because I don't make enough profit on them to dent my bottom line but I do think it is to the detriment of the membership that I apparantly won't be be able to continue these offers.
I don't know how else to draw the line other than at profit. We discussed this, and your buys specifically, for quite some time trying to see how they could be accommodated.
I don't know what you consider a "dent". What we were trying to avoid was the situation where someone was using member's money instead of their own to make a significant profit.
The only way I could see to accommodate this would be to remove the "on hand or committed to buy" provision. That opens things up to those who want to risk member funds rather than their own while making a profit on the goods and the float.
I'd be very open to hear your specific suggestions on how to accommodate this while protecting members from profiteers who prefer to risk other people's money.
I don't have any suggestions. I just wanted to make sure I actually understood the rule.
If you don't want that activity on your site - so be it. It has been a lot of work for very little benefit other than I did gain some loyal customers and good friends.
With the market research tool I might be able to come up with a way to provide this service to the membership without breaking the rule. Who knows.
BTW. What I mean by not making a dent is that on the Dayacom purchases I've made....my profit has been less than 0 to date. I might make some profit if/when my inventory gets sold.
Jeff,
I'd like to encourage you to find a way to allow the kinds of buys Smitty does to continue to happen.
Yes, Smitty is using our pre-payments as capitol to reach purchase mimums, but I dont see anything wrong with this - we all know and understand what he is doing, and anyone who doesnt want to take the risk doesnt have to. We get the benefit of some great prices on kits -- as long as we dont mind waiting. This is a perfectly valid business model, and this is common on other venues (pre-purchasing wine before it is released comes to mind). It is a business model based on trust.
It is admirable for you to want to help protect IAP members from people trying to take advantage, but I'm not sure that is achievable. Risk is in every transaction we make. The vendors advertizing here are typically small one person (or family) concerns, often run by a retired person. With
any transaction we take risk - who knows when something "unfortunate" will happen to any vendor.
The kinds of deals Smitty does only work with someone with a good reputation. Personally, I would not even think about entering such a deal with someone new to the IAP, and I waited before entering a deal with Smitty until I had a certain degree of confidence. Each of us personally can choose the amount of risk we can tolerate.
Personally, I'd rather have the option to do an advanced purchase deal - guaging risk vs. savings for myself - rather than not have the option. As long as the terms of the deal are clearly layed out, I see nothing wrong with them.
BTW, I have absolutely no association with Smitty, other than I participated in one of his buys.
