How did customer get a list of all the equipment he would need and realize it would be cheaper online? Did you give him a detailed shopping list with a break down on prices? Did you at least charge him a design fee? This doesn't help now, but maybe it will in the future. This has been gone over here many times.

As far as warranty, I doubt Crestron has any authorized e-tailors, much less any on e-bay, so there would be absolutely no warranty. I'm sure their policy goes something like, "sold and installed by authorized dealer" to be under warranty.

Charge labor accordingly to make up missed out on profit then advise client that there will be additional charges to test all equipment bought on ebay to verify its working condition.

FASTLS

You are a wise man to walk away. An eBay buyer of elecrtronics is not a good customer for a custom integrator.

This is the best point so far! You could charge more but this customer is going to nit pick and ultimately not happy. It's the nature of Ebay'ers. It's better to do fewer more profitable jobs than to it is to do more less profitable work.

Exactly...In their lust to sell product, this is what happens.....

In my opinion, it is better for me to walk away than to haggle over install price which I'm sure would happen eventually. If he wants to cut costs on equipment then I'm sure he wants a break on labour and programming.

No shopping list other than item numbers and phase summaries based on the room.

That is my policy for Crestron. I've had customers buy a remote or something insignificant for their system after the initial install and had me add it to the system. That I am ok with, the whole system? No way!

I've thought of this before but with the fluctuation in exchange rates, it can become an accounting nightmare. It's hard to tell a client " Hey, my AR person spent X to adjust exchange rates and customs brokerage issues"

I'm not sure Crestron will honour the warranty. The selling Ebayer is from the states and I'm fairly sure they wont ship to Canada on an item that was initially sold in the US. He would probably have to contact the dealer that sold him the items and have the RMA's run through him. I could be wrong though....

The seller is listing the items below cost (as an auction) so I'm not sure if he is being tactical or if he just wants to dump the product.

I had a client price shop every item on the internet and ask me why I should payl the extra $3500 . I told him that if any thing goes wrong with any part of the system . It will be a service call which I charge 150.00 for and that if a piece went bad he would have to pay $150 to pull the piece out he would have to ship it out and then pay $150 for me to put it back in . But if i sold him the piece then I would do all of that for free . And if it was a piece like the processor were the whole house wouldn't work I would get an advance replacement.

You are correct about the process but the warranty will be honored as long as the ebayer answers his phone. You tell client its not working. Client calls person he purchased it from. Ebayer calls crestron to get an RMA. Client then sends in the part to either crestron directly or to the ebayer. Once repaired the item is then sent back to the client or ebayer.

GREAT STAMP! Tell them ALL how to get around it. You know these bastards aren't as smart as you, stop giving away your tricks.

Yea, like that's a reliable way to deal with equipment like that.
I would bet that if he's blowing inventory below costs that he'll be out of business in few weeks or months.
So good luck getting eBay'er to deal with returns/warranty in few months or years from now.

To O/P: seriously? Is your business doing that well that you would walk away from what should still be a profitable job without even trying? Aren't you basically leaving money on the table?
While I rather provide the complete package, with business and economy being what it is, I can't afford to walk away from a job just because client provides the equipment.
I manage job expectations; charge for every little thing; don't provide warranty for equipment related issues, and charge for testing (usually at client's location) for every piece of equipment I'm installing.
Does it always end up well, no. Do I always make the money from the job, yes.

Others will tell you that if you start taking that caliber of client, than any referrals will be for that kind of clientele. While I agree with that statement, I believe that it still beats sitting at home not being able to pay the bills.
If on the other hand you're busy and business is booming, than dump the client and don't look back.