Specifically speaking, I was wondering why msfitoy's earlier post regarding a possible new manufacturer was pulled. It seems to me that it didn't violate any rules since it didn't really specify any specific products or company.

In addition, the fact that it was pulled makes it impossible for the aforementioned company to decide if it should enter the market or not since it has no way of testing the market and seeing if it's a profitable investment. NAM is the main website for MINIs in the US and it's the perfect venue for a company to gauge the market.

It would be a shame if NAM was responsible for stifling the MINI aftermarket because it's restrictions on non-existant product promotion are so strict.

That's the philosophical and logical side. If we're just looking at money, NAM can make a lot more from a company that actually decides to service the MINI aftermarket than from a company that has no way of gauging interest and thus not even bothering with the MINI aftermarket.

 

The post was pulled because it is consider market research and is therefore covered by our site posting guidelines. That said doing market research on NAM is different than advertising for an existing product or service and therefore the costs are much less. Regardless we require an agreement to be in place for research since we've had many cases where vendors wanted to "research" when in fact they started taking pre-orders, promoting the product, etc. Additionally when we are working with someone on market research there are features that we can provide that helps to gather higher-quality information that what can be gleened in a simple forum post. For example providing a poll, home page article, etc. helps to get a broader base of responses than a single thread would.

I haven't had a chance yet to follow up with msfitoy but will do so in the next few minutes.

Mark

 

Thanks for the information Mark. I understand your guidelines. Although, I don't know how this company will receive your response to their probe...As you've read my original post, they are a Tier One supplier to the Detroit automotive industry. It would be a shame if they walked away from this community over a few dollars...they are the first "Big Gun" to express not only serious interest but have the capability to address the dirth of after market MINI body parts...

 

Have them contact me. Everything would be confidential and I can help them with the data collection methods we have available on the site. You have my email address in the PM I sent you so have them contact me. I'll make sure we can help them build a business case. I'd like to see a nice looking wide-body kit for the MINI as well.

Mark

 

Will do Mark...

Well...what are you all looking at? You're all just gonna have to wait now