ComponentSource is the first official Gurock Software reseller. Although we had quite a few sales through other resellers in the past, ComponentSource is the first reseller to include us directly in their online catalog and who is now listed on our website in the new Resellers section.
I know all the caveats about resellers that are discussed in the forums (BoS, SoftwareCEO etc). Most people who have tried partnering with a reseller say that they only fill the demand, but do not create it. This might be true, but I believe that a reseller like ComponentSource might have access to customers and can reach corporate clients that we cannot target with our limited marketing budget.
We will see how it works out and I will make sure to post our experience with ComponentSource either when the agreement ends or when we renew it for a second year. Time will tell.
3 Comments
What are they charging to be listed these days? We used them years ago, it was quite expensive. What kind of reseller discount are they after as well?
Let me answer my own question – $100 a month + 40% discount.
If these turn out to be extra sales, then this is a good thing. If this leaches full price sales from your web site (remember, CS sells at a discount to your list price) then you’re losing money – you’d be better off without them.
The tricky bit is figuring out where those CS sales are coming from.
Your numbers look right, although there are different tiers of their partner program and there might be special discounts available (just ask them!).
I agree that it’s important to figure out if customers who bought via ComponentSource would have bought directly from us if we didn’t sell via CS. Since we are in touch with around 20% of our customers before they buy (support questions, quote requests etc), we can probably get rough numbers pretty easily.