ltwguns.com

Alex and I spent quite a lot of time together, catching up on things at SHOT. His contribution to the LTW#4 project was really a big part of what made that such a nice package.

I mention these things because I don't want anybody having the wrong idea when I say that I will no longer be the source for his great leather. Alex and I are great friends and nothing has changed there-- it's simply that I have way too many irons in the fire and I have to take some out so that I can concentrate on the others.

I am not sure yet of the fine details on how he's going to handle sales in the US but in any event it will be more directly, which will be a benefit to both him and his customers. I can't pretend I have not been the cause of a delay or two in people getting their rigs-- so taking the incompetent middle man (me ) out should only help. I know he now has an account in the US and has or is looking into opening a PayPal account or something similar.So please stand by for more great leather-- I really doubt anybody's delivery will be affected by any of this, and the current deals pending through me are of course still good.

I will also no longer be writing jokes for Leno or serving tea at 10 Downing street....

Kind of a side note to this post: I was wondering how many people like Alex don't have accounts setup in the US or don't have an easy way to accept, process, and handle orders within the US. I've run across this in other areas (I happen to order in alot of things from other countries, and sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's really a pain). Getting to the point, I happen to be an information security specialist with about five years of development experience, quite a few years of systems and network administration experience, and if it would benefit the community; I could put together a site for people who don't have an online sales portal. I would expect this site to accept orders, handle communications between the seller and the buyer, allow order processing (via credit card, paypal, etc...) and pretty much any of the other customer relationship management (CRM) needs of the seller. This would honestly probably be a negative income item for me, but I have a good job, and I make decent money, so I would see this as more of a method of my contribution to the community.

I know that's a bit of a long read, but everyone can feel free to let me know what they think, and if there is a definite interest, I'll be more than happy to start putting something together.

--Wintermute

_________________
"No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience." - John Locke
"Vi Et Armis" - Cicero
http://www.improvised-engineering.com

That sounds like a fantastic idea and a darned nice offer to make, Wintermute. I hope you get some takers-- I predict if you get one or two, more will follow, you will have no choice but to charge a fee, and it will still be a great deal for all concerned. Personally I am very hesitant to get hooked up with a CC company just due to my lifelong aversion to paperwork, but as a courtesy to customers, I know I should. Maybe this could work for the likes of me, too....?

Ned,

I think the site would probably work for you, the nice thing about brokering purchases through a site like this would be that you wouldn't have to handle the CC processing yourself, the payment is brokered separately, and you have what is basically a bank account which sends you checks, or which automatically transfers the money into your existing account. If I get enough people who think it's a good idea, I'll put something together and have people start trying it out.

--Wintermute

_________________
"No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience." - John Locke
"Vi Et Armis" - Cicero
http://www.improvised-engineering.com

Beware!! Ned C. plus credit cards equals divorce (for me anyway).

Great idea about the common web portal.

Steve Howard