I think the real issue with portal now is they are trying to cut out distributors completely. They convinced manufacturers to allow them to sell gear directly to dealers.

We accept portal orders and process them like any other PO we receive but it is a punch in the face when you hear that they are actively trying to get the dealers POs you are filling to no longer even go to you.

I've continued on with them for 2 reasons, the proposal software and the rewards.  Free money means taking the wife out for nice dinners for free.  If they cut that out, and are cutting out the disty's I've built relationships with, it will be hard to continue just to use a proposal software.  I hope this isn't the case on both fronts.  Perhaps Josh can chime in again.

I'm not terribly familiar with portal, but from what BWD says, it sounds to me like they're trying to go the drop shipping route?  Big money in drop shipping, ask Jeff Bezos.

I had a long conversation with Kirk @ Portal. He explained the miscommunications I was told and cleared it all up.

I am looking forward to working with them as they seem to be on the right path for making dealers lives and distributor/manufacture lives easier.

thanks for the clarification, blackwire. I was concerned...

Agree there - Portal allowed me to take my whole team to CEDIA this year just from rewards. As long as the rewards stand - and I can order what I need its a no brainer.

We do occasionally have a shipping hiccup from certain vendors when they get a portal order - but mostly its just too simple for us to use - AND we get paid for it. Hard to turn that down.

Have your rewards been paid out the last few months?

No actually they haven’t - I contacted them about it and they said they were shifting to where the manufacturers are paying the rewards and it was taking time on the transition. They assured me all would be paid. Definitely gives me pause, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt for a while.

I'd love to know what deal they struct that puts the manufacturers on the hook for rewards dollars.  Seems odd to me that a company would come up with this benefit and then push the responsibility of paying it off to others.  Whats to stop manufacturers from saying no and only some of the product earns rewards, or eventually none of the products?  Its one of the biggest benefits of ordering through portal

Sounds fishy. Meanwhile, look who gets to wait and see if it will work? You, of course!

Agree that it seemed fishy. But also feels hard to complain about free money :) so Im waiting it out to see how it plays out.

Yes and no.  They use the rewards as a tactic to reel you in to using the service.  It is a great reason to order through them of course.  If spending thousands of dollars on the promise of rewards dollar coming your way and they fail to meet that obligation, it is an issue.  I know, free money, but its a part of the reason I went the route of ordering through them.  I guess we will see how it plays out.  But it does seem very fishy to me.

We have not seen our rewards since June. We are being patient, but it is running short on my end. Especially with the holidays coming up. I hope this gets resolved soon.

Agree there. Hopefully things are on the up and up and they are not just stalling for time. I do enjoy the order process and having everything in one spot - even with the headaches with Sony and Sonos - its still easier and quicker than logging into multiple websites etc, but the rewards was a huge part of why we implemented it.

Someone is sitting on your money and may pocket it. Since June? Nice going, nice way to build trust. I'm sorry, that would not sit well with me. Not even asking questions, anyone?