The Best Things Come In Small Packages

[Darrin]

Be interesting to see what comes back from it.

Here's what I wrote many months ago:

It seems to me the business plan is to have lots of people use their saving to set themselves up as "official Commodore dealers", spend THEIR money to order stock, C-USA then buys units for the actual manufactures to manufactuers at a huge discount to what the "official dealers" will pay with no risk involved, slap a C= sticker on them, ship them to the dealers and then sit back and watch while the official dealers struggle to sell their already overpriced stock at an even higher price.

This would explain why C-USA are so militant against any negative posts as the last thing they want are potential investors Googling their past antics. It also explains the massive hype. Nobody is going to be keen on investing in a company run from a tiny Mall shop in Florida. You need to make bold claims about being partners with Disney, owning your own OS, having massive factories in China and hundreds of thousands of waiting customers eager to part with huge sums of cash.

It's a brilliant plan, but not exactly original. Other companies do it with womens' makeup, health food and other assorted tat every day.

When someone asked me if it was really possible, I replied:

It doesn't need to go anywhere in the long run, just in the short run because the LLC can fold up and then the people behind it just start up another business. Meanwhile, the people operating the actual dealerships are left with the expensive equipment and the financial woes.

Mind you, some do work. It is no different to selling Tupperware, Avon or Mary Kay. As long as there are people willing to invest some money then the business will continue. The lure of becomming your own boss and "making millions working from home" is quite powerful and there are lots of people offering to help you achieve this as seen by the constant TV ads, magazine ads and even posters nailed to telegraph poles all over the USA.
Can I interest you in some osterich eggs?  

http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/...ents/wacky.htm

and then I wrote C=USA a sales pitch (and I want to get paid for it if they use it):

"Hi, I'm the CEO of Commodore USA and I have a unique business plan for select people like you which is guaranteed to make you rich! Interested? You bet you are, and together we are going to make more money than you imagined. Do you know what was the biggest selling personal computer in the world? The Commodore 64! It sold millions all over the world and hardware and software is still being produced for it today. Well, we're back. We've already launched a brand new model called the C64x with our partners Disney and sold out in just a few months. Demand exceeded my wildest expectation so much that I had to put back plans to supply a major high street retail chain with hundreds of thousands of units! So, you must be asking yourself "How does this affect me?". Well, I've had a major rethink based on the success so far. Why should we give these computers to a major retailer who avoids taxes, pays their staff minimum wage and who has no enthusiasm for the product? Why don't I just harness the energy of a select few. A select and highly motivated bunch of people like yourselves who are willing to work hard and achieve the American Dream! Who here wants to be rich? Show me your hands, who wants to be rich? Yeah, we all do and together we're going to be. Rich and successful! You see, together as a team we can have a combined buying power as great as HP or Dell which lowers the purchasing cost of components. Using my extensive network of contacts and factories in China and my established transportation network we could buy $1000 state-of-the-art machines and sell them easily for $2000 or more! Yes, that's right, you can double your money instantly and then keep on doubling it! I produce the computers and have them shipped to the USA where they are configured for the customer. You gentlemen pay a small fee to become an elite Commodore authorised Dealer and then purchase a minimum stock from me each month or quarter in order to meet your demand. I ship the units directly to you. You sell them and you can make thousands of dollars each month! Imagine you invest $5,000 to buy 5 machines. You sell them for $10,000 and you have made a profit of $5000 for that month! Now imagine you reinvest all of that $10,000 and buy 10 machines the next month and sell them for $20,000, you've made $15,000 in just two months! Now do it again for the next month and then the next month... do you know how much you could make in 1 year? Do you? I'll tell you... over 20 MILLION DOLLARS! 20 MILLION! Not bad for a $5000 investment, eh? Imagine investing $10,000! Anyone here making $20,000,000 a year? No? Anyone here want to make $20,000,000 a year? Yeah, I thought so. OK, who is ready to sign up?"

[persia]

It's FreeBSD under the bonnet. BSD was and is know for stability and security.

OSX is a fancy UI sitting on a Darwin UNIX distribution. I wonder what you'd make of OSX if it was based on the an Ubuntu or Debian core (and thus has better driver support, more software and is entirely, as opposed to part, open source)?

[CritAnime]

OSX is a fancy UI sitting on a Darwin UNIX distribution. I wonder what you'd make of OSX if it was based on the an Ubuntu or Debian core (and thus has better driver support, more software and is entirely, as opposed to part, open source)?

And the award for the least original use of the Apple card goes to....

Just kidding. But I don't get where your coming from.

@Darin
Again it would be interesting to see what comes from all this.

[Optimus]

 
and then I wrote C=USA a sales pitch (and I want to get paid for it if they use it):
 
 
 

Brilliant.  One thing that Barry is adding to the pitch is the "priceless" link on their webpage to official dealers.  :crazy:
 
I think it's been demonstrated that someone can build the Amiga Mini to the sames specs as them but at a fraction of the price.  All you would need to do is undercut CUSA enough to draw customers away from buying from CUSA, then Viloa, CUSA is in the case making buisness exclusively.  Let's face it, the C64x case is two pieces of plastic and a keyboard, at $350 it's a cash cow.  The Amiga Mini case is for sure as high a profit as well.

[CritAnime]

More on the reseller thing. Leo just posted this.

There will be a more formalised agreement with dealers....but these are pretty much the basics.

All responsibilities, such as hardware support and warranties, are entirely on the dealers of course....should something go wrong.
I also imagine there will be a clause about conformance to various price structures, particularly when the same components are used that we do.

Support for Commodore OS Vision on any machine whatsoever would be up to the dealers.
(even if identical to our own configurations)
I also imagine that the dealers will be able to obtain Commodore OS cheaply from us, in a manner yet to be determined.

[commodorejohn]

So this is the "deadbeat baby-daddy" method of franchising, then?

[Darrin]

More on the reseller thing. Leo just posted this.

Yep, all liability is on the dealers.

I wonder how exchanges will work for DOA machines.  Dealer sends computer to customer, customer's computer dies, customer sends computer back, dealer sends computer back to C=USA... months go by... customer gets a lawyer and sends nasty letters to dealer, dealer sends desperate emails to C=USA, lawyer sets court date for dealer, C=USA ceases trading, dealer goes to court and loses.

[giZmo350]

Yep, all liability is on the dealers.
 
I wonder how exchanges will work for DOA machines. Dealer sends computer to customer, customer's computer dies, customer sends computer back, dealer sends computer back to C=USA... months go by... customer gets a lawyer and sends nasty letters to dealer, dealer sends desperate emails to C=USA, lawyer sets court date for dealer, C=USA ceases trading, dealer goes to court and loses.

I'm a DEALER!!! I would never have anything to do with a company like this! EVER! I would lose my A$$ inside of 6 months!

[Kesa]

Actually this reseller initiative from Barry may be a blessing in disguise. If they outsource the barebones cases this would allow people who actually know about computers to build them properly.

All we have to do is buy the cases in bulk, then decide what components to use and finally find someone to do the labor and we are set. For the labor i think Karlos could be useful here, he always did make a good forklift.

[spirantho]

You're forgetting the CUSA tax. There's no way CUSA will let you make computers under the Commodore name without your giving him a hefty chunk of your profit. To cope with that chunk, you'll have to put your prices up so high that you wouldn't be able to compete.
CUSA seem to think that people will buy a PC at a higher price because it has the name "Amiga"... or are they just trying to convince the "resellers" of that?

If you go near this scheme, you WILL lose money, it's as simple as that.

[Duce]

"With the exception the VIC Slim, we do not intend to sell our current prebuilt products to any of the large "Big Box" retailers. Our resellers/configurators will have no competition in their locations, as we will limiting the amount of dealers in any one specific area. "

Erm, what happened to the plan that these things would be available on store shelves everywhere?  :lol:

[giZmo350]

You're forgetting the CUSA tax. There's no way CUSA will let you make computers under the Commodore name without your giving him a hefty chunk of your profit. To cope with that chunk, you'll have to put your prices up so high that you wouldn't be able to compete.
CUSA seem to think that people will buy a PC at a higher price because it has the name "Amiga"... or are they just trying to convince the "resellers" of that?
 
If you go near this scheme, you WILL lose money, it's as simple as that.

Exactly! My margins are so low 'cause I'm lucky if I can sell a loaded i3 for $400 and that's WITH Win 7! I already sell ASUS i3 laptops for $400! Imagine trying to sell something WAY overpriced in some goofy looking case. Peeps are so poor these days they come in with Win 98 machines asking me if I can put WinXP on them and get them running again expecting to pay something like $50! (I refuse to pirate Win keys)! The Amiga community is actually much smaller than one might imagine - why do you think CUSA continually bothers the peeps on Amiga forums to part with their hard earned cash?! I'm sure CUSA genuinly thought they could sell the C= and Amiga names on PC's - BAD business decision! Barry should just cut his losses or partner with someone that can actually recreate a real C= / Amiga experience - and that would only be AROS or MorphOS! The REAL Amiga market is locked up by Hyperion - period. The only thing Barry has is the legal right to use the C= and Amiga names. Not much of a business model.

[CritAnime]

"With the exception the VIC Slim, we do not intend to sell our current prebuilt products to any of the large "Big Box" retailers. Our resellers/configurators will have no competition in their locations, as we will limiting the amount of dealers in any one specific area. "

Erm, what happened to the plan that these things would be available on store shelves everywhere?  :lol:

Lol didn't you read the memo. They don't want competition on their own products.

[Darrin]

Lol didn't you read the memo. They don't want competition on their own products.

Don't these yo-yos know that the Big Boys all make their own "C=USA Amiga"-like cases already and have done for years?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1422092&CatId=1307

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1939178&CatId=4928

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1494915&CatId=4929

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=685765&CatId=333

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1976954&CatId=5139

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7122667&CatId=5139

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1926940&CatId=5139

I could go on forever, but I think that's enough...  

[gertsy]

Lol didn't you read the memo. They don't want competition on their own products.

Not sure how support would work.  But you would hope it would not be back to C USA.
Surely being made up of OEM components it would be component BTB for the end retailer.
It looks nice enough and the GFX card is more than enough to run all the current games and full HD video.  Interesting the comments about expandability.  In the Linux world proprietry badgers would want to limit that to supported product sets.  Being able to plunk the latest GFX card in it does nothing for you if you dont have appropriate drivers.  That's nothing but pain for all concerned.
Doesn't mention if the BD Rom is a BluRay Burner?  If it is then you'd have to say this is a good "now" system that looks pretty schmacko and has the legacy badges to boot.

Having said that I have a simular 3.5 Ghz i7 CPU but 2700K System with striped 2x6GB/s raptor OS drives and striped 2x6GB/s 1TB data drives, USB3, BD Burner and a GTX570 card, Quiet ANTEC Sonata V case, and 23" Monitor. I paid $150 less.  

BTW: The retail distribution method makes perfect business sense and is how most franchises work.  You never see two 7Elevens in competition with each other in the same retail strip without at least a mile between them.  Additionally C USA is not just targetting the Amiga community, they're targetting anybody who remembers the Amiga experience and their potential offspring.  They're not stupid.  But that doesn't mean it will work in a global recession/downturn.

[giZmo350]

Don't these yo-yos know that the Big Boys all make their own "C=USA Amiga"-like cases already and have done for years?
 
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1422092&CatId=1307
 
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1939178&CatId=4928
 
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1494915&CatId=4929
 
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=685765&CatId=333
 
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1976954&CatId=5139
 
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7122667&CatId=5139
 
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1926940&CatId=5139
 
I could go on forever, but I think that's enough...

Yup! I grossed a 1/4 million on PC/Laptop sales alone last year and I buy most everything from Tiger, NewEgg or CDW when it's on sale and mark it up to non-sale prices. Their (CDW) margines are around 1%! I'm an authorized Lenovo, Acer, Asus, MSI, HP (JUNK!), Dell & Sony dealer.... when I complaing to my reps about prices being near retail for dealers they just tell me to go to CDW! Anyone can do this! The trick in my case is I have a STORE FRONT where peeps can come in and ask questions and get simple help! I prep the computers for free! Ppl love it! Of course I make most my $$$ on the repairs though. It's long hours and no free time and I'm the only employee but I get the feeling Barry is way working WAY TOO HARD for little return! I make a house payment, pay the store rent, pay the bills for two places, plus Ins.. alarm.. internet... (you get the idea)... plus give the wifey about 4Gs a month & STILL buy my REAL Miggy stuff! Good Times! Oh, and the support is on the MANUFACTURER not me! Of course I help them box it up and send it in if needed (I've only had to do that twice in 5 years).... just don't sell peeps junk! Hell, 30 years ago I used to buy PC Clones from a little place in Texas call Treasure Chest Computer (cause they put together excellent machines at the time with cheap software extras even though they were higher priced than other mail order places) and resell them +10%! I would charge peeps $100 to spend a few hours teaching them how to use them and make 4 or 5 bills a week spare change! You know.... CUSA would make 100 times more money if they DROPPED the Amiga and C= name and came up with their own name and just stuck to great customer service!!! Ahhh, (and some of you honed right in on this) CUSA CAN'T support what they sell 'cause they are the end buyer! Asking for people to be their "dealers" to resell their stuff, and the possible defective parts + any bad computer build decisions for their end product is the "dealers" problem is... well, bad business. The "CUSA DEALER" would have no way to recoup any losses. Sheeeeeeeeesh! I gotta get off this!!!! Cheears Ya'll!!! Oh, and one more thing... [discalimer on] this is just all my own opinion [/disclaimer off]