Mark,
I came to this discussion after trying to respond to an announcment by Moss Motors "Save 50% now at Moss Motors" I used the link to check out what was on sale and could not find ONE item that was 50% off! This is the kind of advertising I don't think we need on this site. I was going to post " What items are 50% off as I couln't find them?" but was unable to. Being able to ask that question in the forum gets it more exposure than 1 person sending an e-mail to the vendor. Most of the mods I've added have been from NAM supporting vendors but I don't like to be misled Like this. Just my .02$.
Dan

 

In the future PLEASE use the Contact Us form to let me know about this as I will contact Moss about this to get clarification. I don't want vendors to provide misleading information (I'm not saying Moss did in this case because I've just been made aware of this) or more importantly having information out there that is not accurate and creates confusion.

On this specific case I'll contact Moss to get clarification.

Thanks

Mark

 

I agree with Mark, it is a very symbiotic relationship. We all need each other for the site to continue to get better. I don't believe in the statement "It is Mark's site and he can do with it whatever he wants". From a technical perspective it is his site and he can do with it what he wants, but it wouldn't last long as a site if he did this literally. There are so many things that need to be balanced to keep the community together.

Mark, do you have requirements for vendors to meet on this site? For example, do you look at their practices to see if they are an acceptable vendor and that they perform their services well. Do you check past clients at all? I know this takes time, but people also trust these vendors because they are on this site. I personally try to support the vendors on this site, but within reason. Some charge exorbinant fees. I will definitely not support a vendor when the price is such as with this manual. 30% higher than I can get elsewhere, is very high. I have to think of my pocketbook above my feelings.

 

Currently the requirement is that they offer MINI-related products and services. The goal of NAM is to put all MINI-related information in a single location so that everyone can collect, analyze, and, ultimately, draw their own conclusions. Given this I depend on the membership to make me aware of problems with vendors, other members on the site, etc. as between all of the background tasks I work on to support the site there is very little time to investigate and review each vendor, his products, pricing, etc. In fact I have no information on who has purchased from the vendors on the site so my ability to follow up directly with them is almost zero.

What I have been wanting to do for some time (after I get some other pressing projects out of the way) is to have a rating and review system where vendors as well as products would be reviewed. The main difference however is that all ratings for vendors would be reviewed by NAM and the vendor prior to posting. This would give the vendor the opportunity to resolve any issues that may have been simply a miscommunication. Until I have something like this in place the best method is to use the Contact Us form in the event there are concerns you have relative to a vendor.

With this in mind an issue was raised about the 50% off sale that Moss was running. After I learned of this I made a simple call to Shawn Calberg at Moss and asked for clarification. After he looked into it he learned that their creative department had used banners created for the catalog and that the close out items that were 50% off were not being listed in the same area as the sale items. To resolve this Shawn added the products that are 50% to the sale item area of the site and has updated the post to reflect that the general discount store-wide is 25%. The 50% was an "up to 50%" discount depending on the item.

The update with Moss is how I would like to see it work between our members and vendors. If something doesn't look right, is confusing, or isn't as advertised please use the Contact Us form to contact me. I'll place a call and hopefully can find a quick resolution. Vendors are typically very open and will work to resolve any confusion that may exist.

Mark

 

Good point.

Case in point would be Mighty Mini

 

Who is to say the 7ent is gouging? Perhaps they didn't get the same deal as Amazon with its buying power.

 

ooooooo...ooooooo.. I hate those automated 'press 1 to have your call routed correctly' systems since you mentioned that I think I might be willing to pay $30 just to talk to a nice, friendly flesh-and-blood person

 

I agree 100% with this. I hate the machines that you have to go through to get to a person that may or may not be able to help you.

My company will never put in one of those since only two people here to answer the phone anyway. Message machine EARLY in the a.m. and LATE p.m. The rest of the time we answer it LIVE

Not everyone charges the same from vendor to vendor on this site anyway. 30% seems way high but it is like mom/pop competing with Costco. But then mom/pop will give you service and sell you a $.99 bag of chips.

Earl

 

Thanks Mark for the attention given to my original concerns.I WILL use the contact us with similar concerns in the future.One last tirade: businesses like Amazon operate on lower margins for two reasons,A. that they are able to BUY in larger volumes and as such get better prices,and B. that they SELL in enormous volume and can make up in that volume what they may lose in a lower price.That is also true of smaller companies.If 7 ent. had even come close to Amazon's price,IMO they would have sold 10 times as many of these books as they will being so far away in price.
10 books @ 100 bucks = $1000
100 books at 67.50= $6750
Nuff said.

 

Let the buyer beware. That's the rule of purchasing. It is what i use to decide to spend my hard earned money. It doesn't matter if a vendor here is price gouging. It is my job to examine the costs and value to me before I give anyone my money.

As far as locking vendor threads to comments is a good thing to do. It forces a dialogue between the vendor and it's customer through the use of pms or email.

On the issue of "David vs Goliath" and the retail industry: We all have choices to make. Usually the choice we make is in proportion to the value of the item, it's availability to us, and our budget. Some of us can't support an over-priced vendor even if we wanted to.

This is Mark's forum and income we support. He has been fair in his presentation of info and opportunity to learn for mini enthusiasts. If it were mine I'd also have an amazon sidebar (like other sites I've visited) that helps support my site so I'd participate in that income stream, small as it is, if a user decided to buy from them. Capitalism is alive and well. If a vendor is offended by the link to amazon, then he needs to evaluate his pricing structure and make sure he is offering value with his higher prices.