How To Get Started as a Vendor on TGO

[TGO David]

[size=6][b][color=#0000FF][font=times new roman,times,serif][i]How To Get Started as a Vendor on TGO[/i][/font][/color][/b][/size]

Frequently I am asked by members how they can get started as a Vendor on TGO, or whether they can engage in a small sideline business just as a Benefactor. The answer to the first question is that it's pretty easy and a lot cheaper than you might think. The answer to the second question is no.

Let me start with the issue of selling as a business using a [b]Benefactor[/b] account:

The [url="http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/store/category/1-benefactor-subscriptions/"]TGO Benefactor[/url] account is an upgraded tier of membership for our folks who want to support the continued growth of TGO. In return for their generosity, they are given the ability to start and publicly reply to threads in our Trading Post forums where they can list items for Sale, Trade or Want to Buy. Benefactors are members who believe in this site and enjoy what we provide to the firearms owner and enthusiast. They are not businesses, although a business member can certainly support the site as a Benefactor if they wanted to.

When a person engages in the act of making or building something, or providing a recurring supply of an item, to sell in our Trading Post forums, they are not operating within the spirit of what was intended for our Benefactor program. At that point they are a manufacturer, a retailer or a service provider and that falls into the realm of what is intended for our Vendor accounts.

We realize that some folks may make holsters, tumble brass, fabricate knives, refinish firearms or provide other services as a sideline business. A pro-hobby if you will. However, once they engage in marketing that on TGO they simply do need to become a Vendor as they are competing [unfairly] in a space that our Vendors have the special privilege of operating within.


[color=#0000ff][size=5][font=times new roman,times,serif][i][b]Vendor Accounts:[/b][/i][/font][/size][/color]

TGO Vendors are businesses who support this site through one of several [i]tiers[/i] of membership. In exchange for their support, they are granted the privilege of advertising their goods and services through either promotional postings on the forum or several sizes of Banner Advertisements.

A TGO Vendor account can start out for as little as the equivalent of $20 per month for a one year term. The various tiers go up from there, but a person who wants to engage in a sideline business can easily get started on TGO for less than the cost of one delivery pizza per month.

I have frequently told people who are interested in becoming a Vendor that if their business plan doesn't provide for $240 a year in advertising costs, that they need to re-evaluate their business plan. Being completely honest here, that's dirt cheap advertising. It's cheaper than a box of business cards and is likely to generate a ton more business -- quickly -- for a person than any other means. Newspaper, radio, TV... all are astronomically more expensive than this.

Just remember, we [u]do[/u] protect the investment that our Vendor partners have made in this site. We do not let anyone advertise commercial interest here without being a TGO Vendor and that does apply to Benefactor members as well. If you're providing recurring goods or services to our members and trying to do this as a Benfactor, your're doing it wrong.



So there you have it. If you're interested in becoming a TGO Vendor, [url="http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/contact/"]contact me[/url] and we can get the ball rolling.