DIY COMPONENTS . COM

Any chance of a post-mortem, Bob? I remember you starting that effort years ago. It was a class page Looked to me like it could work. I thought and looked as good as anything Bass does. What do you suppose his secret is? My theory is that he is money laundering for a brazilion drug dealers.

Actually it worked great. I was selling atleast a couple thousand a month in equipment off the page and it was growing. The problem was the amount of support time involved. I was not able to automate the shipping and handling to the degree I would have liked, and I needed to spend a lot of time supporting customers. If you recall I had one that I was not able to take care of in a timely manner come here asking for help. He needed his panel downloaded. I did take care of him, but that did wake me up that my quality of service was slipping.

To be perfectly honest I believe I could build up a site like that to easily rival and surpass my installing company, but I can't do it without sacrificing my installing company.

The only thing I can figure is that RLB spent a lot of evenings and weekends behind the keyboard building his on-line store. Time that I refuse to take away from myself and my family. You do recall he got divorced in that time frame. I certainly don't want to stir the pot, but spending all that time working certainly must have taken its toll.

Bob needs time to fish :-)

Yep its alot of work, and Robert (bass) must spend alot of time on that site .. entering all the products ... imagine if you had to write the code for it also.. :-)

If I was in the US I would be doing the same (but with CCTV), here, cant exactly import then ship back out to the US ... cost would be triple in the end .. and drop shipping doesnt work from here, just too much red tape.

Yep. Over eight years so far, but it's really a full-time job -- not just evenings and weekends. I recently hired someone to help with customer support (returns, credits, changes, etc.) and another to add new product lines to the website.

Actually, the separation was planned long before the online store started to grow. I'm very happily remarried now, spending half my time in the US and half in Brazil.

You made a business and family decision to drop the online store. Your posts here and what little I've heard from customers indicate you treated them well. I wish you much success in selling installed systems or whatever else you may decide to do.

You need a US office or US front man to order your drop ships for you. I don't know why ADI wouldn't be willing to drop ship from local branches to customers for you. That's what Robert did, and I did to some extant. I only shipped the smalls tuff that I kept lots of in stock from my office. Tings like onesy twosy contacts. Etc...

Yep, actually I deal mostly with Manufacturers, but they wont drop ship, except some of the US reps for Asian Products. Robert is right, about the CC thing, and a US Account. I could get a mailbox Etc account here and they give you a US Street Address, etc, but its all still a pain Post 9/11.

Basically only way to do it would be to have a US partner, but then who do you trust these days ..

With CCTV you'd face a different problem. Several CCTV distributors who supply the trade also sell openly to the public. The only way to beat them is to stick to product lines they can't buy wholesale -- where you're on an even footing with them.

There's more to it than that. In order to transact CC sales online you need a US commercial bank account. Due to tightening post-911 regulations that's becoming more of a pain to obtain. US-based credit card processing companies will require documentation before allowing you to process online sales. You could use a Bahamian cc processor but some US card companies decline large ticket foreign orders on the assumption there's fraud involved unless the cardholder notifies them in advance.

You need more than ADI. I have accounts with most major distributors and several manufacturers.

I prefer to drop ship everything.

You can always do all the work and give me 10% off the top for being your straw man. LOL.

BAss must not be concerned about servicing his customers since he can't without a license in FL. Maybe you should have done like him and provide parts only. After seeing all his cusomers coming here looking for him he doesn't seem to be concerned about communicating with them in a timely fashion either. I guess your standards are a little higher.

Actually Robert you had called me and told me personally about some of that situation and I respected your privacy regarding what you said to me on the phone. I did not mention any of it here or to anybody whose business its not. Whatever you choose to share publicly is your choice. My comments were simply that spending all day running your installing company and spending all of your evenings and weekends building your on line store can't have helped.

I have a life outside of my business (I didn't always) with friends and family, tournament fishing, and motorcycling. If I wanted to give all that up I too could run both an installing company and build an on-line sales site. I notice you too have discovered a life outside of business. I applaud you in doing so.

Bob, I wasn't chastising you for mentioning it and I certainly did not consider your comments invasive or even rude. The whole matter is done and I'm glad it's over. As to working too hard, well yes that is a part of me. When I'm in the USA I often spend

Now that we're spending half of our time in Brazil, I'm deliberately choosing to get out more. We go to shows together, tour the islands, visit the best restaurants and even shop together. I draw the line at shopping for her clothes. :^)

This weekend we're going to Morro de Sao Paulo, an island paradise a few hours south of where we live. It's a car ride and two boat rides to the island, where there are no cars -- just endless kilometers... er, miles of pristine beaches, fabulous snorkeling and SCUBA diving ops, and a chartered schooner to take us touring some of the outlying islands.

Then on Monday it's back to work (somewhat intermittently due to the frequent parties that Brazilians love to throw for every imaginable reason). We're heading back to Sarasota the following week where things will calm down enough so I can get some rest... at work. :^)

You mean sell exclusive product lines? I thought you didn't like that...Radionics etc?

Mr. Bass wrote:

"I'm very happily remarried now, spending half my time in the US and half in Brazil."

You're lying again Mr. Bass!

Do you calculate your "time in the business" the same way you calculate your time in Brazil?

"half your time in Brazil". You lying sack of Bass........

Norm Mugford

You expected the truth from Bass? You and Bob Worthy should be out searching for jobs because Bass is a major league power broker and has the contacts to shut you down. He's a bigtime player in this industry. Make nice nice with him and beg for mercy before he unleashes his wrath.

Nope. Lines like Ademco or GE. You'll get the same price that these "distributors" pay.

From the customer's position Radionics is a bad choice due to their exclusivity deals with local firms. If the client doesn't like the service or the ever-increasing price he's paying he's SOL.

BAss wants everyone to believe he's a hot shot....

No matter where BAss is in the road of life.....

He's still a LOW LIFE......

Norm

Bass has stroke in this industry. Everyone knows how much people who operate an alarm company from their house are feared. I'll pray for you, Norm. I'll pray the almighty Bass spares you from his death grip.

Are you kidding me? Tom Polson and Bass are best of friends. Polson spends weekends eating Bassburgers, and sipping on Brazilian moonshine. Why just last week Polson told me how due to the influence of Bass he (Polson) made it to the top level at ADI. Polson said without Bass he (polson) would still be stocking shelves at Winn Dixie. Watch your step Bob Worthy for Bass has you in the crosshairs.

He isn't going to come up from under the radar. He is to smart for that. (is to much credit given?) I think I'll give Tom Polson, president of ADI, a call to see if bASS is a multi-million dollar seller as he claims. I will at least be able to find out if he is the major player he lends himself out to be. He will jump up and down and have a hissy fit that people are going RL on him and will blame Mugford for having me do it. Kicks and Giggles.