If you purchased a Nevo remote on eBay, than you are purchasing from a "non-authorized" reseller. As much BS as they post they are still a non-authorized reseller. They typically sell the product in the grey market and do not know anything about the unit nor how it operates, etc. Also, they are not your dealer of record when you need service or support. Most likely they will not answer any queries after you have purchased the product, nor will assist if you need service, etc.

The only authorized resellers are custom installers who have passed Nevo tests and have become authorized. More importantly, consumers should also be aware that high-end custom installers are also likely "Nevo Certified".

So, if you want to buy a Nevo product from the right source, they should be from Nevo authorized as well as Nevo certified dealers. Then you know you are buying from a good source.

These Ebay sellers are crap resellers who simply sell the product at very low prices. If you buy on eBay you might likely be buying from some middle-aged wife in Omaha who is making a 2nd job out of selling Nevo remotes. I kid you not!!

Dave
RemoteQuest.com

how are the middle aged wives getting these remotes at dealer prices?

Perhaps they are 'middle aged wives' with questionable morals?

Maybe its a typo and he meant middle-ages wife? :)

These are the reasons things end up on ebay:

1.End user wants to sell so he can upgrade or because he needs the money. Perfectly legitimate sale. Getting software is another issue.

2.Dealer wants to get rid of backstock. Maybe this isnt legitimate but what are you supposed to do with it? Nevo wont take it back. I dont lost any sleep over ebaying stuff i cant move.

3.Dealer knows theres a market for it so he lowers his price. He doesnt plan to support it so he doesnt care what happens to the end user. Selling sideways is a horrible business model.. but it happens.. and most of those engaged in it dont plan to be in business long or are in for a rude awakening when they get cut off.

I am serious about middle-aged wives in the middle America US, who somehow purchase remote products like Nevo from some dealer who have a great distribution contract with Nevo (UEI), at below dealer pricing.

There is one "middle -aged" wife who sells Nevo remotes on Ebay, all over the world. She even offers to falsify the cost of the Nevo for overseas sales so the client will not have to pay any import taxes. She sends them as a "gift" to avoid import taxes. She even advertises this on her Ebay web site. She claims she has sold some 500+ Nevo products in the US and overseas, via this methodology.

She (and I call her she as we have had some email discussions) continues to sell Nevo products all over the world. She has Ebay ads in the US and just about every other major country.

This is a perfect example of some small-time EBay dealer who has found a niche and is totally screwing up the Nevo distribution in the US.

I have tried a number of times to communicate directly with my Nevo management contacts who seem to simple blow off my emails and let the crazy distribution continue.

Dave
RemoteQuest.com

If she is distributing Nevo... Nevo is allowing it.


Why would they respond if they are allowing it.

So 500+ ebay remotes is destroying nevo distribution? How? I thought Nevo was marketed towards Custom Installers. If thats the case then the sideways ebay deals are not cutting into their business model. It may cut into a Nevo dealers business model, especially if that dealer is retailing Nevo products direct to DIY'ers. That dealer has a choice to drop nevo and push something else.

I remember searching for RTI last year at ebay and only getting 2 hits. Now i see 45. Nevo turns up 22. I dont know what nevo as a search turned up at ebay last year though. I wonder if the economy is pushing more and more people to go for the quick sell to get rid of back stock.

I'm just curious why it's relevant that this person is (1) middle-aged, (2) female, (3) married, or (4) living in "middle-America?"

Are you annoyed at the unfair competition, or offended that someone of such lowly status is playing on your turf? (Those were obviously meant to be derogatory descriptors.)

Who knows, maybe Nevo is discovering that selling lots of remotes is actually a good thing, but in any event, you'll probably get more traction with a cogent argument over business practices rather than trying to personally marginalize the people involved.

These type of sales do hurt custom installers.

I am a Nevo Authorized Reseller and on more than one occasion have done a quote for a potential customer just to have them come back with some eBay price and ask for a larger discount. Yes, I can explain all of the reasons they should never buy off of eBay and the value add they get from me as an authorized dealer, but when it comes down to bottom dollar, I have lost customers.

Nevo should step up and find out where any eBay seller is getting their controllers from and stop selling to that dealer. It isn't that difficult, but it makes you wonder if they really care to protect their dealers if they won't do anything about it.

What it will take is for dealers to end their relationship with Nevo and site the eBay auctions as a reason.

You win some you lose some? Do you really think that an @sshole who is price shopping his CI via ebay is the type of customer you want in the first place? You should send ebay a thank you card for helping to qualify your clients.

I would love for a client to mention his amazon or ebay price because it would give me something to smile about every day when i think about how i dodged a bullet and allowed some jack monkey to learn a valuable lesson with zero effort on my part.

If you want to avoid price shopping you need to structure your bid like this:

Surround Zone : $10,000.00

Stop giving the client a shopping list. Chevy doesnt do it, why should you?

Speaking of typos:


Nor does I.


So have a friend buy one from her, then contact Nevo for warranty service. When they refuse to warranty it, present them with copies of their internet policy, a copy of the invoice, and a motion for discovery prior to a lawsuit. Mention that this woman's records can also be subpoenaed for a class action lawsuit made on behalf of all of her customers.

There's nothing like a letter from a lawyer to get some attention.


Bingo! I once considered hanging out in the parking lot of a discount whore dealer...I considered it for about ten seconds before that question came to mind.

Seems as good a place as any to post this. I am down to the last bits from my now out of the AV business, business. If you need NEVO cables, a used s70 or new q50 remote or a connect I am selling off the last used and new pieces I have on e-Bay. Not because I want to build a e-bay business, but because it is about the only way to liquidate stock.

[Link: shop.ebay.com]

I will also have connectors, wire and some nice tools posted this week as well.

I only post this here for the benefit of the do it yourself who gets lambasted on this forum. Well, I want to get rid of this stuff as well.

Take care,
Jay

Nevo's intent is to prevent eBay sales just like many manufacturer's try to do. The only way to do this is to track serial numbers that show up on eBay and such places. Then end their relationship with those dealers. At any given time if you do a search on eBay for Nevo Remotes (like today) only 7 which includes at least 3 of old discontinued SL Remotes). Compare that to Harmony where you will find a minimum of 75 Remotes. Check others as well such as URC, RTI, etc. What else can Nevo do to stop this? Based on the numbers; they are doing a pretty good job. Since they only sell to CI's, that helps by eliminating end users from getting the programing, or selling them on eBay. Buying Nevo's on eBay or from end users will always be a bad choice since you do not have programing, warranties behind you. THey just blow them out at rediculous prices so the cheap skate end user's will buy them. They are the people who are on Remote Central bitching about the warranties that they don't have or the programing that they want to get their hands on. They will get it by any means possible even if they have to bribe someone.

Here we go again!

No, not buying that UEI's intent is prevent eBay sales. I have been working with them as a dealer since Day one and been close to them, on their beta team for 3 years. Look at eBay today and you will see over 20 ads, selling new C2, C3, Q50, S70, all new products. Many of the ads are offering mutiple qty. for sale.

The manufacturers could shut this off in a second if they wanted to. All they have to do is tell eBay in writing no more listings of their products; it is improper use of their intellectual property. Ebay would take the ads off by Monday and prevent new ads.

But the manufactuers don't want to shut off these sales channel. I think it says a lot about their real interest in a good dealer channel. They say on their web site that Nevo's are only sold by custom installer but I would bet eBay sellers move several thousand units every year. Everyone makes money except the good dealer.

UEI makes money when the distributor buys it. The distributor makes money when they sell it to a dealer. The crap ebay dealers are buying from someone who buys a lot and sells them sideways. That is how they get premium reseller pricing. Even they make some money selling sideways.

The good installer who is invested in Nevo gets the shaft and constantly must dodge the issue with their customer. Full-line home theater installers have a better chance to dodge the eBay competiton as they add value in several ways. Smaller remote-only resellers have a very little chance of dodging the issue.

Yes it says there is little space left for the remote-only resellers who are the real experts in this specialty space.

The other option, which we discussed with Nevo in detail a year or so ago is to authorize a small amount of internet resellers. Close off the eBay option. End users would get high-quality assistance, dealer support, warranty support, etc. Maybe even some programming support for the DIY guys. Pricing would be better than custom-installer but not as low as Flea-Bag sellers who offer nothing. Everyone could win with this program but UEI in their wisdom did not see the benefit.

Dave
RemoteQuest

Sounds like you should be running that company! Seriously, Nevo is about 1/100000000th of UEI gross revenue. Do you really think they are going to spend the time and money cracking down on sales? The marketing is pretty much non-existent as it is. I would love to see real statistics and see where Nevo is for market share for sub-1000K controllers. Trust me, if it ain't selling at the dealers it probably aint selling on Ebay. All they really have to do is protect the software and have it validated like Windows or any other $5 software I own. One per dealer - enough said. Sounds like you need to stop chasing your tail and try another profit center - if you care more than the company it probably isn't going to work itself out for you.

My own opinion of UEI/Nevo is lower than dolphin sh*t...

I hear what you guys are saying and I would like to add that I always try & support my dealer wherever possible - hello Frank if you are reading this! :-)

However my own experience of UEI/Nevo has not been favourable and I can only speak as I find.

I bought a nearly new Nevo SL from a colleague at work who had purchased it from an authorised dealer in the UK who went out of business shortly after.

It was too complex(?) for him to program and without any support from the Dealer or Manufacturer he decided to sell it...his original receipt was of no use to him.

So I bought it not knowing at that time the SL had a known runaway IR problem that only affected me now & again but was more than annoying especially when you consider this was a £650 ($1051) remote control and the manufacturer would not entertain the thought of even entering into a discussion with me about it let alone issuing a fix.

It is also particularly fussy about what router it connected to and how that router is set up so much so that I had to set up a second SSID in my house just so the the SL could talk to it and even that was like walking a knife-edge with regard to encryption etc.

The only reason I put up with it was because it was a joy to use.

Then after a few years the battery refused to hold a charge and, once again, I was left holding the baby...

Now I am in the market for another remote and despite the Manufacturers couldn't care less attitude and the snobbishness that surrounds the remote am considering an S70...yeah I know I must be mad but as I said it was a terrific remote.

However to buy this in the UK would cost me £900 ($1500) and I do not know whether the Manufacturer would ever act to fix any issues that may subsequently come to light (such as the runaway IR on its previous incarnation), I do not know how fussy this may be with regard to wireless access points nor if I will be left with another paperweight once the battery had reached the end of its life.

I could buy the S70 from eBay for £400 ($650) although I understand I would not receive any support from the Manufacturer - not that I ever did by purchasing a legitimate remote anyway so I would have little to lose in any case.

However the whole UEI/Nevo experience (fiasco) has soured my opinion of the Manufacturer to such an extent that I would begrudge paying even £400 for one as I would not want UEI/Nevo to have any of my money.

So what to do?

Either way it is a gamble...pay the extortionate rate for a new one and maybe end up with no support again or pay bottom dollar from eBay accepting that I get no support from Day One?

Or stick two fingers up to UEI/Nevo and spend my money on a competitors product?

So...at the risk of upsetting the natives here (and it pains me to say it of course) UEI/Nevo deserve everything they get and if that means their product line ends up being sold on eBay due to their reluctance to act, poor dealer support & non-existent end-user support then so be it.

Shame...real shame.

Happy New Year to all of you! :-)

Kind regards,
-=Glyn=-