Experiment

[lonnie]

We have changed to a Reseller only model effective immediately. We have taken our store offline and all sales will now come from our Resellers.

We will only sell to higher volume resellers which will help in the long run since small orders placed with us take a long time and are expensive to ship.

[oscarBravo]

Do you have a list of resellers? I'd be curious to see who offers best value for shipping to Europe.

[nickwhite]

Do you have a list of resellers? I'd be curious to see who offers best value for shipping to Europe.
It's on the site, left column "Reseller List".
http://www.star-v3.com/store/

[oscarBravo]

Oops... so it is...

[knolan]

Checked out the resellers pages - none of them are located in Europe, and none of them quote on their websites rates for shipping to Europe :(


What are the requirements to be considered a reseller?

Maybe we could get something setup in Europe :)

[kbldawg]

they better have a nice web store interface like you guys did or I'm gonna be bummed!!!

;)

[zero10]

Unfortunately they don't, and their web sites don't offer the configuration options that the valemount store did :(
I was pretty bummed out to see this, but I completely understand why it has been done.
I as well am curious about the requirements to become a reseller, since I am in the process of starting up a WISP.

[lonnie]

In order to be a Reseller and be listed on our website you must stock our complete product line and resell, which means re-orders of product. We are expecting orders of cases quantities per item, and the number of items per case varies. This helps you with shipping and reduces your price, which is vital in reselling since quite often the market determines the price and the only way you can make a profit is to purchase your products cheaper.

I will still sell to established high volume customers but they will not get a link to our website. That is reserved for customers who handle our whole product line and in effect become an extension of our store.

We are working on a new store system and we are pretty sure it will be a step forward. We tried to have it ready for the switch but software quite often takes longer than expected. The new file manager and signup form is a sample of what we are working on.

[luka]

I have checked with two stores and both of them have cheaper shipping to Europe. First one has cheaper boards but takes more for shipping, and second one has cheaper shipping. I got quote of about 100$ for ten boards which is much cheaper than old way.

[ninedd]

...none of them quote on their websites rates for shipping to Europe :(Hi. We ship worldwide. Shipping rates in our Store are calculated in real time, depending on where you are and what you are buying. Feel free to experiment at www.BuyWispGear.com/store and see.

The cart takes size, weight and of course your location into account. In some cases, you may get wierd looking results, like 5 board being 1/2 as much to ship as 6 boards, but that would be because 6 boards required a larger box (or two boxes) maybe.

Also, we will be adding all products. The timing of this switch caught us a bit off guard, but we will be pleased to supply any combinations / configurations you want.

[ninedd]

Unfortunately they don't, and their web sites don't offer the configuration options that the valemount store did :(Hi. We're working to make our store very configurable, and will be adding all the products that Valemount has. We had really just been selling the WARs and Radios, thinking that the larger antennas etc are available from so many alternative sources anyway. I would hazard to guess that it's better for someone in Europe to get Rootennas from a European distributor than to import them yourself, but we certainly will add everything over the next few days.

[ninedd]

they better have a nice web store interface like you guys did or I'm gonna be bummed!!!;)www.BuyWispGear.com is pretty nice I think. :) And you can select WAR's with multi-configurations of POE & Radios much like the old Valemount store did.

[cephlon]

www.BuyWispGear.com (http://www.BuyWispGear.com) is pretty nice I think. :) And you can select WAR's with multi-configurations of POE & Radios much like the old Valemount store did.

I always liked oscommerce layout.

Do you offer quantity discounts for 10 or more?

[zero10]

Hi. We're working to make our store very configurable, and will be adding all the products that Valemount has. We had really just been selling the WARs and Radios, thinking that the larger antennas etc are available from so many alternative sources anyway. I would hazard to guess that it's better for someone in Europe to get Rootennas from a European distributor than to import them yourself, but we certainly will add everything over the next few days.

I'm not trying to pick on your web site or anything, and my comment wasn't aimed at any store in particular, but I was a big fan of the valemount store.
Unfortunately, I am located very close to Valemount, BC, and it is very practical for me to drive and pick things up as opposed to shipping them, so if I now have to buy from a store in Alberta or SK, that would be a large change of plans (and costs).

As I said, I am in the process of starting up, so there is no expected order quantity or anything, but I would like to run a store as well as offer a WISP (for various reasons), so this opportunity sounds pretty tempting. Unfortunately there have been some very major changes in my personal life, and I might be moving back to Calgary, which would really shut this whole plan down. For this reason I am hesitant to put anything in stone, and at this point I am just curious :D

Thanks for the information, and I eagerly await to hear more information about the new store system.

[ninedd]

Do you offer quantity discounts for 10 or more?Yes, we have posted prices for WAR boards in QTYs today, and will add more items / prices / discounts in the next week. Qty prices are up to $15 cheaper than our regular price (which is already $10 under list) on Qty.

It isn't quite as simple as just throwing the items on there, since we integrate with real time shipping quotes, I have to make sure I have accurate weights / dimensions of the boxes that we'll ship things in, and then compare Postal to Courier to whatever for the various box sizes. In some cases, shipper A may be cheaper than shipper B on box size C, but may not even carry box size D to destination X, so it takes as long as it takes to get it right.

... I'm dancing as fast as I can...

[ninedd]

I am located very close to Valemount, BC, and it is very practical for me to drive and pick things up as opposed to shipping them, so if I now have to buy from a store in Alberta or SK, that would be a large change of plans (and costs).I can appreciate that. Would seem inefficient for them to ship things to me, so that I can stick a label on and ship it back to you. :) I can't speak for Lonnie, but I can say in general terms, this change is better overall, and it ultimately the only way for them to succesfully attract resellers in Europe and South America and wherever. At the same time, if it's WAY better for 98% of the people, it's going to bite for the other 2% - that's the ying and yang of life. (Of course, my life is more like 10% ying, 90% YUCK at times, but that's just me.)
Thanks for the information, and I eagerly await to hear more information about the new store system.We're already adding additional products and updating the site for Quantity price discount breaks. I have posted new lower prices on quantities of WAR boards. It's a sudden change and will take lots of work - and my kids are in Hockey, so you know I have ZERO time on the weekends. I'm working as quickly as possible to get things streamlined and organized and I appreciate the comments or questions anyone has - they can be posted to me from the BuyWispGear.com site. Thanx.

[ninedd]

Hi all. For those that have been asking - I have WARTenna Kits and Complete Units added to the online Store now, with Qty Discounts listed.

[DrLove73]

I must say, that European market wont soon be up and running.
I don't see big resellers in Europe in the near future. In Serbia, only me, and 2-3 others would even consider using WAR, all other will just stick with WRAP, if they use that and not PC's or standalone AP units.

Inet2000:
I was aiming in buying 10xWAR4 with
1xCM9
1xCompex
POE
2xU.FL to N Female Pigtail
and without shipping, in Valemount store, that would cost me $3.277,60 (Nov 06). Shipping would cost me $325,70.
Shipping in Serbia, former Yugoslavia.
What would be your price? (Or other 2 resellers) because your cart says $3,605.70 WITHOUT shipping?

Valemount:
If your resellers can not match your former price for Europe customers, do not count on that market. Mikrotik is in his backyard in Europe and Asia, and you are not very known in those parts. Only tempting support for European customers could wage in your favor. If I had cash, I would start with reselling, but convincing someone with money that it is superior product will be hard to do. Only very low prices, and organized returns/warranty will attract European customers from Mikrotik/WRAP/PC alternatives.

Or at least give them / help them with your old web store, so we do not have to wonder what we are buying, or ask how much it will cost. These 3 new ones combined are not as good as your old one.

[ninedd]

...only me, and 2-3 others would even consider using WAR, all other will just stick with WRAPHi DrLove. The WAR's, which include the V3 license in them, can be had for as little as $109.99 from our store, including the V3 license. If you buy a WRAP (or even a surplus generic PC), and then you add a License, it'll be more expensive. Even forgetting about the higher performance and reliability of the WAR's, they are cheaper than WRAPS and Licenses. :)

Inet2000: I was aiming in buying 10xWAR4 with 1xCM9, 1xCompex, POE, 2xU.FL to N Female Pigtail...What would be your price?The WAR4 is currenly not available in that Quantity. We do have several in stock, but they are already spoken for. Currently I don't have a date or a cost price for what the WAR4 will be worth at that point. The replacement option is of course the 4 Port 425 Boards. Our 10+ price is $259.99, and they have OK availability.

However, the WAR2 is less than 1/2 the price, so for our WISP needs, we have often just installed two WAR2's where we would othewise have put a WAR4. It hasn't been that big of a deal, and the throughput is still really great on a WAR2. As well, it's allowed us to separate antennas more and use less (or no) LMR to do it. If you were wanting a WAR4 for the throughput, the WAR2 and CM9's are not really all that far behind since the Atheros cards do quite a bit of the work. Certainly I'd recommend getting them for now, and swaping out later when WAR4's come available - and use those WAR2's as CPE's at that point. You should be able to download configuration, upload to the WAR4 and do a 2 minute board swap.

To answer your question based on the WAR2 with a CM9 and a Compex card, with POE kit and with two Pigtails, the price on 10 would be $119 in 10+ QTY. The two radios, the POE and the Pigtails would add another $114, so 10 board such equipped would be $2349.40 (if I've done my math correctly). For shipping, I tried to create an address in the cart using 11000 as the ZIP and Belgrade as the city, but I didn't have it correctly formated I guess, because the Postal module yelled at me. I know that some shipping quotes we've done for 10 board orders are 1/2 or 1/3 price from the old Valemount store, but that varies from place to place for sure. If I use the address of a Latvian customer of ours, this is the shipping options the cart spits out....

> Purolator International, 2007-01-20 $266.73
> Parcel Air, 7 to 12 days $108.35
> Parcel Surface, up to 3 weeks $64.45

I should also say... I'm not sure this forum is the right place to discuss exact prices though. We probably should have individual quotes handled through the BuyWispGear.com site. I think it'll end up a mess if we start doing quotes and trying to track orders in here somewhere. We'll be installing Forums on the BuyWispGear.com site at some point, but certainly can do email or online enquiries there now. We certainly can discuss general things here, but individual specifics on orders / prices should probably be handled on our www.BuyWispGear.com site.

The best way to get a real time shipping quote is to register in our cart as a client and then to start the checkout process. Our cart will check with the Postal Service where you are located and give you accurate, real time rates and delivery times for where you are. Of course you don't have to complete the checkout process unless you want to. Without knowing exactly where you are (exact address with ZIP code) we can't provide an accurate shipping quote. We will be adding FedEx and other shipping method as soon as we can. Our initial goal was to be the lowest cost supplier, with the best deals on smaller quantities and the best shipping prices. Our idea was to be less concerned about the large customer who wanted a bulk order and who wanted them yesterday, and rather to concentrate on the small guy who wants 2 or 3 or 5 board as cheaply as possible. However, over this weekend, we've gotten lots of request though the cart for more flexibility, so we're excited about jumping on this opportunity. :)

Valemount: If your resellers can not match your former price..That's a catch 22. I can't and won't speak for Valemount, but I can comment on this from our point of view. Resellers need to make money. Plain and simple, this is the #1 factor on wether or not to become a reseller. Our prices should be very close to Valemounts old price - a bit better in some cases, and a bit worse in others. For example, I know our standard WAR2's price is about $11 cheaper than the old Valemount price, but maybe not as good on some other products in certain quantities, I'm not certain. Our goal is to have the lowest prices possible. Over the next week, we hope to update prices to the most agressive levels we can. Of course, as a reseller, understand that we need to pay Valemount for the products, and then ship them from there to here, and we need to loose a couple % to PayPal and so on. For a customer that previously orderd in 50+ QTY's for Valemount, the price they sold them to you at would be very close to the lowest that Valemount was able to sell them at. Valemount's costs are fairly fixed as well - they have to pay the manufacturers and ship them there and so on. It's math - and not simply ''they should be $X". Hypothetically, if I as a reseller buy 100 boards, and ship them to my location, and if you buy 25 and pay via PayPal, my cost is cost + shipping, and my selling price is price - paypal discount, so my margin is the difference. There is only a few $ in there to play with. I don't say any of this to complain - on the contrary - I'm VERY excited about the direction things are going. However, there is the reality of the economics of the situation.

You also have to understand how much Valemount has tried to push prices down. A Gateworks 2 Port board from Gateworks is $170ish. Even if you buy them in LARGE quantities, they are still $150ish. Valemount get's a custom version made, with some subtle but important changes, and installs their software on it, and we sell them complete for as little as $109 - with everyone hopefully making a few $ in the process. Margins have to be squeezed to accomplish that.

Or at least give them / help them with your old web store, so we do not have to wonder what we are buying, or ask how much it will cost. These 3 new ones combined are not as good as your old one.BuyWispGear.com is trying hard. :) This new shift is a major shift. If the market is there - meaning IF we get the orders - you can be assured we'll do what we can to be flexible, friendly and customer driven. We have LOTS of experience in the past in international exporting of computers. In the late 90's, we were the largest Canadian dealer for a major computer manufacturer, and accounted for 80% of their exports to the USA. We no longer sell computer hardware as we focus on Internet, but we have experience in shipping worldwide. This shift caught us a bit off guard, so our online store is not a ready as we'd like it, but we will be adding FedEx and other info to give customers as much flexibility as we can. My best advice is to contact us directly and for us to work together to address what we can do for you and how you'd like the store to be. Register online as a client and get your shipping quotes and to send us feedback from inside the cart. :)

[lonnie]

Markets have a way of evolving. I suspect Europe will soon get its share of resellers and it will also have its share of people who recognized the potential but took no action or took action too late. This is a classic case of You Snooze You Lose.

[DrLove73]

lonnie, my point is to try in the future to first prepare before you act. Nothing else. This "bomb" was a total shock. 3 months ago, my main wireless hardware reseller announced that they are stopping there reseller business, and leaved us to their incompetent retail seller. Result was I went to another reseller. I'm not drawing any analogies, just pointing potentially bad move.

Inet2000:
I know all about reseller margins, that is not an issue. Problem is in very low house budget in my country. Using WAR2 (or WRAP) as CPE in unthinkable.

Most (smaller ones) internet wireless providers in Serbia are using PCI Wireless network adapters of ~63mW + 7-15m of CFD200, and some cheap 12-16dBi grid or panel. I am one of “hard core professionals” who demand “quality” wireless hardware: Ovislink WL-5460AP + 2-4m CFD200 + quality made Grid 16dBi, an for business clients Hyperlink/PAC 24 dBi.

So when I buy, I must buy what I need, not what I like.
Monthly income is low, and pays only on long run (3-5 years), so most of us use cheap hardware for AP sites with omni antenas. Big ones use mostly 2 sectors to cover 360 degrees. If I want to stay in business, using priced hardware is economically very dangerous :-(.

As for the Postal number, there could be easy explanation. Last “Yugoslavia” existed from 1992 to 2003 when it changed name to Serbia and Montenegro. In maj 2006, Montenegro ended joint country, so I now live in Serbia, my 4-th country, although I still live in my birth town. Some online forms, 4 years later, still use “Yugoslavia” as a name for us, so nothing would surprise me.

I might even have some good news for Europe. Is it luck or my insistence, but I spoke today with my colleague, whose network I admin, and our latest hardware reseller, and he (and maybe they) is willing to start with WAR’s, first for us, and then to offer it in Serbia (and eventually in the rest if the Europe), but it is still to soon to tell.

[lonnie]

What difference would it have made if I had given 3 or even 6 months notice? I have been around long enough to know that people rarely plan ahead and giving advance notice would simply increase my work and delay my plans. I had enough resellers to handle what I was doing and not strain anyone of them and it just seemed like the right time. I see the right thing and I do it. I have been burned by YSYL a few times but not this time.

So far I am EXTREMELY pleased with the move. We now have more people promoting our product and guess what -- sales have gone up.

My problem right now is a dwindling stock of 2 port WAR boards but I am checking all sources. Gateworks is 8 weeks or more away for an order at the moment. On a real positive note we are moving ahead rapidly with a Client unit.

[go.fast]

I have been around long enough to know that people rarely plan ahead

My problem right now is a dwindling stock of 2 port WAR boards but I am checking all sources. Gateworks is 8 weeks or more away for an order at the moment. On a real positive note we are moving ahead rapidly with a Client unit.

Yeah, I fall into that catagory of "Plan Behind"

And "ouch" I hope there is some more 2 ports in 2 weeks when I need to order up.

[tog]

First no WAR4s for a long time and now a possible shortage of WAR2s? :(

*whip* *whip* Gateworks. Faster. Faster.

Great news on the client unit.

[DrLove73]

Hm, I’m anxious to find out price for the client unit.

What are requirements for being your reseller lonnie? Monthly sale/order? I’ve spoke with some people over here for a reselling in Europe, so I need relevant info. You can also PM me.

Also would be nice for potential customers from Europe to PM me, or post here, so we can make estimates (or any other interested for reselling in Europe).

[lonnie]

The currrent policy is pretty easy.

I require an opening order of about US $20,000 to stock all product items.

I require that you not sell other products that compete, since we are sending people to you from our website. If you convert those customers to some other product then you steal my sales and you give credibility to the other product.

I require that you purchase product from me and not buy direct to save a few points. I view it simply - we are on a team and everybody has to share and pull the load together. I evaluate and order large quantities of product so if resellers go around me then I have a warehouse full and no way to sell the product since I only sell to resellers. This has happened before and it still is a really painful memory. One guy even offered to sell radios to ME, after I had just received 5K radios. It took a while to get my customers back. Talk about a stab in the back, so this rule is unbendable and non negotiable.

I require that you be the first line of support and you should be promoting the product, not just sitting back and taking orders.

Pretty much standard. As I said the team approach is what I want. Loyalty is a team trait and based on that as a team we will support each other and all of us will grow. Many people forget team spirit if they think they can do better on their own, but I feel a team can do way more than any individual. In the long run this will work.

I have a new European reseller who is awaiting a larger than normal order, so stock will not be a problem once they get the shipment. http://www.dekkacommunications.com/

[oscarBravo]

I have a new European reseller who is awaiting a larger than normal order, so stock will not be a problem once they get the shipment. http://www.dekkacommunications.com/ In Ireland! \o/

Any idea when they'll be receiving that shipment?

[lonnie]

Paul, your asking me to specify a date again. In the shipping business all I can tell you it is in the system and when it gets there it gets there. It should be soon is all I can say with certainty. People want it bad at the other end even more than you do.

[oscarBravo]

Heh, my bad. Not looking for a specific date as such - if it's in the process of being shipped, that's good enough for me.

[tkerns]

Lonnie,
Are the 533's in yet??? No reseller have them listed as in stock.

[lonnie]

You'll have to get them from Gateworks. It will be at least 4 to 6 more weeks before I get any stock.

[tony]

Lonnie is correct. If you get them from Gateworks, you can upgrade them to StarV3 using the instructions outlined in the XSCALE-WAR firmware archive.

[ninedd]

Are the 533's in yet??? No reseller have them listed as in stock.Hi. We have just sold our last two on Thursday. We have more in transit, but they may be spoken for by the time they get here. If you want to contact me on the www.BuyWispGear.com site, I can give more details.

[nickwhite]

Are any of you resellers planning on selling the 24dB 5Ghz Wartennas? I don't see them on any sites, unless I've missed them somehow.

[ninedd]

Hi. We'll have them on www.BuyWispGear.com pretty soon. Takes some time to get everything on - mainly to have the shipping modules calculate everything properly. You can contact me via the contact form on the site.

[HoeDing]

Inet2000, are the prices on your online store Canadian or American Funds?

[ninedd]

Inet2000, are the prices on your online store Canadian or American Funds?US$. We buy our gear in US$ so we sell in US$. If that's a deal breaker for anyone, we are VERY flexible and willing to deal in CAD funds if needed. However, US$ are the most convenient by far, since we'd need to convert your CAD$ to US$ before we can spend it anyway.

[ninedd]

Hi again. We've updated our cart to now suppoer your choice of Canadian (CAD$), American (USD$) and European (EURO) Currencies.

You can select any of those Curencies now from a menu on the Bottom Right corner of the store / catalog screen.

[lonnie]

An update on the experiment.

We have put our store back online with single quantity pricing only. This will aid customers in searching for the items and options they wish. Our resellers do not yet have our storefront and the option choices is a bit difficult.

I expect that people will use our store to find the options and pricing and then check with a reseller for cheaper and closer shipping, etc. We only offer FedEx Air and it gets quite expensive.

[dekka]

Just to let everyone know we have updated our store and are offering FREE shipping to most of Europe for quantity orders. Please contact us with your location/requirement.