The problem is that a certain portion of the population is cheap,  
arrogant and annoying. They look at prices and think that the stuff  
is gonna magically appear on their doorstep.

They are clueless and proud to remain so about the fact that If you  
use PayPal and simple First Class US Postage it costs $1.23  ($0.21  
for #0 padded mailer, $0.52 minimum postage, $0.50 minimum PayPal  
fee) to get a resistor costing 6/10's of a cent onto their porch!

I offer a number of 'starter kits' for various things and every time  
I turn around there is an email or three from different people each  
with a radically different idea of what should be in it. I listen  
each time, thank them for writing and have even implemented some  
suggestions, but it IS daunting.

Now don't get me wrong, since I started my little business, I have  
met and done business with some of the nicest neatest people, from  
all over the globe. I have no regrets ... but there are some days  
that ... kinda set my teeth on edge ... my dear wife (a.k.a. "She Who  
Must be Obeyed") has learned to interpret that look I get and  
comments "One of THOSE customers again? Count to ten, dear!"

I am not running my shop for a living ... the home's all paid for, my  
retirement check from the Marine Corps covers all my necessities and  
then some the last kid is out of college (this January represents the  
first January in nine years I didn't have a tuition payment to  
make!). This stuff just buys my playtoys.

By the way I put an order into Randy @ Glitchbuster  for some of his  
stock to the tune of $80+, I probably saved $50 bucks, easy ... and  
its already on the way ... I am gonna miss him!



---
cheers ... 73 de brian  riley,  n1bq , underhill center, vermont
   <http://web.mac.com/brianbr/>  Tech Blog
   <http://www.wulfden.org/DiskShop.shtml>
    Home of the
       K107 Serial LCD Controller Kit   FT817 Power Conditioner Kit
       Tab Robot Laser Tag Kit            MSP430 Chips and Connectors
       Propeller Robot Controller         SX48 "Tech Board" Kit



On Jan 5, 2007, at 8:53 PM, William Chops Westfield wrote:

>
> On Jan 5, 2007, at 3:43 PM, Wouter van Ooijen wrote:
>
>>> Glitchbuster charged "$1.95 shipping on most orders."
>>
>> Can I comment from my experience as a small online shop?
>>
>> If you run an online shop for a living you must get your profit,
>> one way or the other. Otherwise you can't pay the mortage, and/or
>> your wife will tell you to get a job, so either way you must close
>> down the shop.
>
> Well, and thus glitchbuster is out of business :-(  My impression
> was that he wasn't running the shop "for a living" so much as for
> "chip money" and perhaps to bump himself up to the next tier of
> pricing from his suppliers.
>
> It was nice to have a site where you could get a couple PICs
> delivered, with appropriate glue bits for less than $10, but as
> you say, I doubt it was a viable business...
>
> I wonder if it would be practical/profitable for one of the bigger
> "for-profit" vendors to offer a limited "starter kit" that would sell
> for less than $10 and include the most commmon parts.  The idea would
> be to limit some of the overhead of ... overhead by only offering a
> single such kit, which could be pre-packaged and just dropped in the
> mail as it was ordered...
>
> BillW
> -- 
> http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
> View/change your membership options at
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist