For the last few months a NAM vendor has been making some understated postings within postings that NAM Vendors without a shop or commercial building are somehow of less value to NAM members or somehow offering substandard service and or products. As one of the many NAM Vendors that don’t have or started in commercial space I’m perplexed by this idea. With some research I found some interesting data.

TSW, one of the suppliers of the NAM Vendor with the issue, is a home based business with all 3 members of the TSW team working other jobs too.
Whalen Shift Machine works out of a building behind his home. Shift ***** are not his primary product.
Vinyl Styles, worked out of his home in the beginning, and congrats on the new commercial space I trust NAM members will help pay for it.
Stance Design was/is home based.
RMW based on his site started at home or is still calling home an office.
Pooch Style is working at home too.
Matt of FES LLC, works from his home office part time.
American MINI Mates is a home based company and I think they are retired or still have other jobs.

If I have listed your company and you were never home based please PM me and I’ll update the list.

Not to mention the 100’s of companies like Microsoft that were started in homes and changed the very nature of daily life.

Some of the coolest cutting edge parts and bling for MINI’s came from guys and gals working at home.

There may be others, and I’m sure that some of the suppliers to many NAM vendors started or are currently home based companies. I know a few of mine are and that allows us to offer NAM members better prices.

I’m also sure that there are 1000’s of NAM members that are home based professionals. That doesn’t count the Stay at Home Mom’s and Dad’s.

Twenty years ago having a home based business was not an easy thing to do. With the growth of the internet and companies like UPS it’s now becoming the common and even governments are sending people home to work.

For those vendors with shops my hats off to you. I’ve owned business’ in retail and understand the cost of overhead and the challenge faced everyday.

However in this decade not all companies need or are served by the overhead of a commercial building. Without unnecessary overhead a company can better serve it’s customers. Had there been a need for me to have commercial space to start AutoXCooper I never would have done it. I do work part time at The Rover Shop and fully understand the overhead issues and stress of running a shop with limited customer base. That’s why we are growing the shop’s services and brands we service.

For those vendors installing parts I don’t understand why it matters where a customer get’s parts for you to install. Whether they buy it from Craven, ALTA, M7, TSW or any of the dealers of those suppliers your margin on install is higher then the part installed on avg. Many shops also have a higher labor rate for customers supplying parts and that make sense because if it’s the wrong part it’s still your time and you should be paid for that time. I have many shops around the states that like their MINI owners working with AXC to help them chose the best parts for them to install.

How do NAM members feel? Does it matter to you where someone is taking your call or replying to your email from an office, shop, car, Starbucks or home?

 

If the parts and/or service is good, i don't really care where it comes from.

 

I don't think it matters at all. As long as everything goes as promised, it shouldn't matter.

 

Since you asked...

TSW, Whalen Shift Machine, Vinyl Styles, Stance Design, Pooch Style, FES and American MINI Mates all create most if not all and stock the the products they sell. You stock little to nothing and are a {eidt} salesman {seilling} the work of others having them drop ship. Not that there is inherently anything wrong with that. The world needs its {salesman}. However, where those of us that give you grief come from is that you often try to take the credit of others work.

 

 

 

Dang, ouch. I bet that guy knocked some teeth out!

I have two comments that answer your question as far as how I, as a NAM member, feel about it.

1) I think, as Nate pointed out, there are different kinds of "home based" businesses. I have purchased from many of our NAM vendors, many of which you named. Service, quality of product, and speed of service are how I qualify good businesses. I don't really care WHERE things come from, however, I would agree that in a drop-ship type business, there is a definite delay, in addition to the thought of why not just order direct. I have done both and after the drop-ship experience, would not go that route again. It took me 3 weeks to receive the product as opposed to 1 week when ordered directly. However, the convenience of a drop-ship vendor (the whole one-stop-shopping thing) may outweigh that for some.

2) I'd like to see some examples of specifically what you are talking about - I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone discredited solely because they are an at-home business.

 

And no quoting yourself as a source.

 

I think that innovators within the community are a large component to the "MINI scene" always growing and staying interesting. It doesn't matter if you've got a NASCAR sized and funded shop, or a workbench in your basement, the people of the community are what make it. And I think it is only fair to acknowledge who the innovators are and give them due credit.

In the position I'm in I've had the unique opportunity to talk with Internet Brands, to make sure we've got ways to help some those "small scale" businesses and make sure that the innovators have the opportunity to make a home for themselves on NAM. (If you're interested in more information on that, please use the Contact Us link on the left and tell us a little about what you do, and I can get you in contact with the right people)

And I think ultimately most of the time most people aren't too concerned with what goes on behind the curtain, as long as they get what they're looking for on their MINI without much BS. I've been a customer of a variety of Vendors here on NAM, there's some that have earned my constantly returning to them, others haven't earned my loyalty.

 

one wonders what brought all the moderators to this thread








Apparently, no training of how to click the is needed

 

I was going to post the posts that lead to my post. I thought it would lead to a charge of trolling and that was not my intent. They have been out there for months. Not till someone posted this week a post just about that part of the vendor in questions post that I began to think about this post.

As for drop shipping many vendors here and many other places drop ship product. It's of very little value to anyone to pay shipping twice when once will do the job. For the record when the parts are in stock at my suppliers they ship the same or next biz day out to 99.9% of my customers.

For the record IB doesn't want me to address posts by Nate or pgt so I won't.

 

But, you'll be happy to report them all day long so others can address them, eh? Good to know.

 

Ummm. Can you translate?

And let's keep it on topic, regardless of how well we all get along I think this topic is useful and probably long overdue.

 

But should probably be moved to site feedback

popcorn anyone

Mark

 

Ummm can you all translate moderators, pgt, a/x?
What is going on here mods I sense your hostility towards A/X vendor but don't know why??
Can the Uncool and Unpopular kids know, please?

 

I jus wanna be in the NAM in crowd

 

I get the part where the margin is better on the install than the parts. After all, the installer is selling THEIR talent, but even a small margin is better than none on the parts.

Mark

 

LMAO at video, he must have been trying to stay within the NAM GL's too.

 

I think HOW you do business matters more than WHERE you do business from.

That being said, anybody can start a business that sells other peoples work/products at low-ball prices IMO. But when those prices undercut the established and long-serving vendors in a given community that provide more than drop-shipped parts, you shouldn't be surprised when it's pointed out. It's essentially the same reasoning that WalMart is vilified for.

I'll go ahead and ask what are you (the OP) REALLY bringing to the MINI community at large beyond a low price?

 

No problems with home based parts business.

Usually the vendor has more time to spend interacting with their customers. It provides a respectable income for someone that may need to be at home (kids, handicap, blablabla). Dropshippers are generally more hooked up with multiple wholesalers. This gives them the ability to look at more than one source for the part and get it to you in a reasonable time. This also gives them the ability to ship your parts from a facility that is closer to where you live. Sometimes you just need them parts now!

Dropshippers are Environmentally aware(green). They dont waste our precious resources shipping the parts multiple times! Why would you even want that! I can tell you that most of the non drop shippers the part has to be shipped out at least three times before it gets to you and that is if its being manufactured in the U.S.. Overseas well you get the idea.

to the home business in my opinion.

 

To answer the question in the thread title, no they are not of less value. If the product/service is provided to the level of quality the customer expects, then good value has been attained.

But this thread is not really about that, it's about seeing who can wee wee the furthest in the snow.

Saying one has done "research" and then report said research with disclaimers that this or that may be wrong with the research, sounds more like guess work or hearsay.

To use this medium, and not provide links to the posts/threads in question, just hides the underlying issue,and it comes across as hearsay.It does however makes it very easy to read between the lines.

Now if I may, I'd like to ask the OP some questions.

Did you talk/PM/email any of the vendors that you named, if they were home based, if it was their primary source of income, or any other personal information that was pertinent to this thread? Some of these people are my friends, and I would hate to see improper information about them being spread on the web.

Did you ask IB to get certain members off your case, or did IB censure you?

Now I have never dealt with the OP as a vendor, and I could give a fiddlers fart if the OP operates out of their home. This thread however does not increase the chances of me doing business with the OP.

Mark

 

Might I add, moving this thread to this forum was a good idea(mine) as it does not clutter up other forums with issues that most members could give a bowel movement about.

Mark

 

Agreed, that's why I moved it

 

I was hoping you were not just trying to hide it on me

Mark

 

My prices are MSRP set by the suppliers. I don't low ball prices. The margins in this biz are super small and it doesn't serve my suppliers to low ball prices. Like many vendors I do reward large orders and repeat orders but not even then do I low ball prices.

Hi Mark, I listed them based and named them based on personal knowledge of them that is current or within the last year. I made the offer to change any info that wasn't right because it was the right thing to do.

I think you have been around long enough to know that I can't make IB do anything about anyone, which in part led to this thread. You have also been around long enough to understand why the mods jumped on this thread the moment one of two man members did too. Let's not kid ourselves.

I'm trying to keep this about principles and not personalities.