I would like to apologize both to Joe and to the members of this forum for my poor choice of words, which served only to stir emotional responses rather than clearly convey the point I was trying to make. Apology accepted
In the world of business, there are Entrepreneurs. These are the people who identify a need, then develop a solution to fill that need. They mock up parts in the shop, and may try a hundred things that don't work before they find one that does. They put pencil to paper to document how those parts are built, and what attributes are critical for them to function properly. They find or develop a supplier who can make them affordably in large scale, and ensure that the quality (material, fit, finish, heat treatment, etc) is correct. They negotiate price, pay upfront for tooling, and pay for hundreds or thousands of parts, often before a single one is sold.Pay up front is the key phrase here.... If you don't pay at all... you don't actually own the parts.
Entrepreneurs rely on Distributors. Distributors have the right to market and sell what the Entrepreneur has developed. Distributors usually pick up a large portion of the costs of inventory, marketing, and processing the sales. Good Distributors protect the reputation of the Entrepreneur by selling only genuine parts, and providing good service. In exchange for their large share of both the cost and the work involved, Distributors earn a share of the profits. Some Distributors, for a variety of reasons, choose to accept lower margins than others. I, too, am thankful for good distributors willing to work for a lower margin.I too am a big supporter of dealers that offer competitive prices but as you stated you like to pay more for things because you are easily hoodwinked into believing the B.S. sales tactics of sellers that charge more for identical items
And I love free enterprise. When I buy from an Entrepreneur, I am encouraging him to continue developing solutions to problems I may have. I am rewarding the risk he took in making that solution a reality. When I buy from one of his authorized Distributors, I am encouraging them to continue sharing in the Entrepreneur's risk and expense, making these solutions available and affordable. Either way, I know that I'm dealing with people who developed the parts, have a real interest in them working right, will stand behind them if anything goes wrong, and can answer questions about their limitations or how they are used. I also know that the parts are genuine, and not quality control rejects, seconds, or blems (unless that's stated up front in exchange for an appropriate discount).No such thing as "rejects" with the ring & pinions from us as they all must pass stringent quality controls before they are released for sale.... There may be other sellers that offer reject parts but we don't.
That's worth a premium to me. Hopefully, I'm not the only one on this forum who thinks this way. But if I am, that's ok. If it "makes you feel better" to pay more for something when it is easily avail. at a much lower price.... I guess you are in the minority.
Entrepreneurs and Distributors both rely on third parties for logistics services. It's one thing to ship a box across the country. It's quite another to coordinate getting pallets of goods into a container on an ocean-going vessel, clear customs in another country, and then route it to the final destination. Most likely what happened here was that parts were lost by a freight forwarder, resulting in them eventually being sold to cover storage costs. Uninformed speculation backed up by nothing except a "guess"... Yea right... A huge overseas container turns up "missing" & no one knows where it came from & where it was supposed to go .... Sounds pretty far fetched to me.
Scripture tells us that when something is lost, we should return it to its rightful owner. The world says "Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers" instead, and while there's nothing illegal about that, it doesn't make it right. I don't know Patrick, and have never done business with him. I also don't know Joe (other than from these forums), haven't done business with him, and have no ill will toward him personally.You start quoting scripture & try to apply it to business deals.... you are one mixed up character.
I do remain surprised that our host would allow this forum to become Classified Ads for grey market (meaning simply, outside of the authorized distribution channel) merchandise, but I will respect their decision and say nothing further on this topic. Glad to hear you are ready to shut your trap on this topic but....before you do..
Please explain to me just what is this "grey market " you keep referring to ?
and when it comes to this mythical "authorized distribution channel".... please explain just who is doing the "authorization" & under what authority do they think they can control any market on anything ?.
Again, I'm sorry for muddying the waters with the "stolen TV" analogy; it was inappropriate and won't be repeated.
