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JM
You sort of are thinking along the same lines I am but opening an entity in the US just to get warranty status so parts could be purchased would complicate things terribly...I explored it. A small shop that would like to get the advantage of ordering in higher volume but who has warranty status would be the ideal. Back when I started Studio Maintenance Center it was pretty easy to get warranty status, most I did not have to even ask for after being established. But at first, it was not easy until several company had first approved us. I think Fender was the first one and that one took a $1800 initial stocking order of parts, many of which I never used. It was an area that already had a 1/2 dozen warranty shops for most brands so often the reply was to send gear to those shops. But my intent was not be be like those hole in the wall shops but to take it to a higher professional level. About 6-12 months into it the buzz was out and reps started calling on me, visiting the shop asking for us to accept them. I think starting a small operation just to get parts would be hard to get warranty status for areas already with 1 or more authorized shops would be missing a lot of the companies I would be interested in.
Buying small lots of parts in the US and shipping by air is pretty expensive so I would need to have enough volume to make the shipping price added to each part to be reasonable. I figured out that the cheapest and safest way to send is EMS from the US post office, for packages in the 2-4kg range. It is trackable, and much cheaper than UPS or FedEx and bypasses a lot of customs delays. My experience is averaging 11 days portal to portal. A Chinese supplier, thinking I wanted the cheapest method sent shipment of 150 tubes by ground. It took about 12 days to get to St Petersburg but it has been 4 months fighting with the post office here and customs trying to get it. Finally they would allow me to get it, if I paid 2 times the total value of the shipment in fees. I told them to ship it back. Now that is being fought about, the highly efficient Chinese postal system reports that the shipment has never entered China. Since that time, the same supplier has sent a dozen smaller shipments via EMS, for about 30% more in shipping costs but are delivered to me without any duties in 12 days or so. I sent my curve tracer from the US, 26kg in a large box via EMS and it was delivered to my apartment on a Sunday morning unopened by customs, 11 days after shipping it myself from California. I had placed an accurate customs declaration in and on the box, and let the US post office seal it and flew back to Russia expecting to see it in 3 weeks. Total cost was $266, $600 less than UPS wanted.
Small transformers would possibly be worth sending via EMS and speakers might create a need for getting coning kits and sell reconed speakers as a profit center. I guy came to me with a blown 2 15" cabinet. Both drivers were smoked. I told him I had no reasonable source of drivers so asked him to check around. He called two days later and said he found a company making cabs in the city who made their own drivers, and he bought two for a bit over $120 each. I had not seen them and was not happy he bought them without checking specs and construction to see if they would work. When I saw them I was impressed, very nicely made with 4"VC and heavy cast frame with 6 strut supports. Bench testing them indicated they would work electrically with his cross over. His report back from the first gig was that his system never sounded so good. They were much heavier duty than the originals. So maybe there are other unknown sources for needed components. For example I've run into several small firms making transformers that are low cost but mostly control and power transformers, not output transformers. Local capacitors are a find, Teflon, high voltage high stability for very reasonable prices and oil caps made in various form factors.
So, most of the pieces are around...knowledge of the market, some local parts, low cost semiconductors, good test instruments, a well on its way network software system to run a far flung service network of franchise shops all of which would be monopolies in their cities. The only missing element is finding a steady reliable source for OEM parts from the major manufacturers.
Stan
You sort of are thinking along the same lines I am but opening an entity in the US just to get warranty status so parts could be purchased would complicate things terribly...I explored it. A small shop that would like to get the advantage of ordering in higher volume but who has warranty status would be the ideal. Back when I started Studio Maintenance Center it was pretty easy to get warranty status, most I did not have to even ask for after being established. But at first, it was not easy until several company had first approved us. I think Fender was the first one and that one took a $1800 initial stocking order of parts, many of which I never used. It was an area that already had a 1/2 dozen warranty shops for most brands so often the reply was to send gear to those shops. But my intent was not be be like those hole in the wall shops but to take it to a higher professional level. About 6-12 months into it the buzz was out and reps started calling on me, visiting the shop asking for us to accept them. I think starting a small operation just to get parts would be hard to get warranty status for areas already with 1 or more authorized shops would be missing a lot of the companies I would be interested in.
Buying small lots of parts in the US and shipping by air is pretty expensive so I would need to have enough volume to make the shipping price added to each part to be reasonable. I figured out that the cheapest and safest way to send is EMS from the US post office, for packages in the 2-4kg range. It is trackable, and much cheaper than UPS or FedEx and bypasses a lot of customs delays. My experience is averaging 11 days portal to portal. A Chinese supplier, thinking I wanted the cheapest method sent shipment of 150 tubes by ground. It took about 12 days to get to St Petersburg but it has been 4 months fighting with the post office here and customs trying to get it. Finally they would allow me to get it, if I paid 2 times the total value of the shipment in fees. I told them to ship it back. Now that is being fought about, the highly efficient Chinese postal system reports that the shipment has never entered China. Since that time, the same supplier has sent a dozen smaller shipments via EMS, for about 30% more in shipping costs but are delivered to me without any duties in 12 days or so. I sent my curve tracer from the US, 26kg in a large box via EMS and it was delivered to my apartment on a Sunday morning unopened by customs, 11 days after shipping it myself from California. I had placed an accurate customs declaration in and on the box, and let the US post office seal it and flew back to Russia expecting to see it in 3 weeks. Total cost was $266, $600 less than UPS wanted.
Small transformers would possibly be worth sending via EMS and speakers might create a need for getting coning kits and sell reconed speakers as a profit center. I guy came to me with a blown 2 15" cabinet. Both drivers were smoked. I told him I had no reasonable source of drivers so asked him to check around. He called two days later and said he found a company making cabs in the city who made their own drivers, and he bought two for a bit over $120 each. I had not seen them and was not happy he bought them without checking specs and construction to see if they would work. When I saw them I was impressed, very nicely made with 4"VC and heavy cast frame with 6 strut supports. Bench testing them indicated they would work electrically with his cross over. His report back from the first gig was that his system never sounded so good. They were much heavier duty than the originals. So maybe there are other unknown sources for needed components. For example I've run into several small firms making transformers that are low cost but mostly control and power transformers, not output transformers. Local capacitors are a find, Teflon, high voltage high stability for very reasonable prices and oil caps made in various form factors.
So, most of the pieces are around...knowledge of the market, some local parts, low cost semiconductors, good test instruments, a well on its way network software system to run a far flung service network of franchise shops all of which would be monopolies in their cities. The only missing element is finding a steady reliable source for OEM parts from the major manufacturers.
Stan
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