VFE has canceled his authorized builder program

All jokes aside, I didn't really expect the Authorized Builder program to go very well, although I did expect more of an explosive shit-show and less of a fizzle.

But to be fair, as great as VFE pedals may be, how many simultaneous builders could the demand actually support? Aside from one or two, (one which was specifically excluded from the program), are any of them hard to find or in high demand?


If we assume there are 5, maybe 10 perpetual subscribers at the mid-level rate, that's $100 - 200 monthly income to Peter.... so one pedal sale per month at best. That is definitely not worth the effort involved in keeping it going.

And how do you really police such a thing? What's stopping anyone from just doing whatever they want and claiming they are an authorized builder? Sure, he could ask them to stop.... but there are so many ways around that in this case.

Sell them through a dealer, to an international distributor, or you could use the tactic quite a few authorized dealers use to circumvent fixed pricing, sell them as used. "Yes, it's mint, but I didn't build it. I bought it from some guy on a forum!"
 
Robert said:
All jokes aside, I didn't really expect the Authorized Builder program to go very well, although I did expect more of an explosive shit-show and less of a fizzle.

But to be fair, as great as VFE pedals may be, how many simultaneous builders could the demand actually support? Aside from one or two, (one which was specifically excluded from the program), are any of them hard to find or in high demand?


If we assume there are 5, maybe 10 perpetual subscribers at the mid-level rate, that's $100 - 200 monthly income to Peter.... so one pedal sale per month at best. That is definitely not worth the effort involved in keeping it going.

And how do you really police such a thing? What's stopping anyone from just doing whatever they want and claiming they are an authorized builder? Sure, he could ask them to stop.... but there are so many ways around that in this case.

Sell them through a dealer, to an international distributor, or you could use the tactic quite a few authorized dealers use to circumvent fixed pricing, sell them as used. "Yes, it's mint, but I didn't build it. I bought it from some guy on a forum!"
Click to expand...
As this post was the first I heard of this concept, I find it a bit odd.
He has a pedal company, where he sells his designs and others build for him. So in essence, he has a negative labor cost.
In all honesty I would have predicted it blowing up from the other end- folks when they realize they are paying to work for him.
 
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