I have actually started using them recently. I'm ordering my SONOS stuff thru the Select program now. My regular distributor is charging me OVER normal distributor price & I do not get any free shipping, no matter how much I order.
So Portal is saving me a little money.

But it is funny... I'm using them like a regular distributor for just a few of the Portal Select lines they offer. Which is not what their business model is about (has been about).

I could never see how the business model they were pushing can possibly work. Historically for thousands of years of merchants & trade, you want to get as few middle men in your process as possible. Their whole business model had been to add a middle man and make it better. Seems impossible on any level - despite them saying they are not another middle man; arguably a 'side man'?
Maybe that is why their business model seems (to me anyway) to be shifting (i.e proposal software, themselves a distributor, etc.).

Anyway, the interaction with their staff on orders has been exceptional.