Clearing The Air: Just In Case Any Of You Saw This Thread On 6Speed

I noticed this thread on 6speed about our watch business and I thought I'd clear the air in case anyone had any questions:

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42607

Let me start by saying, firstly I'm sorrry for this drama. Secondly Gil (Stryke) has a loyal following of customers and is established. I had a bad experience with him and hoped it all to be resolved. It doesn't seem to be fully, so here's my reply to that post on 6speed.

I initially started out working with Gil on 6speed. He was in the process of designing a website to promote business, and with being a software architect by trade I made one.

The original deal called for a set dollar value of each sale to be paid to me upon a completed transaction. After a few hundred emails went through asking about purchasing watches and I hadn't seen any money, I confronted Gil.

When I asked Gil about it, he said he had only sold 4 watches from the site. This is very blurry, because he would use the site in posts made on 6speed, but wouldn't count those as sales from the site.

Anyway, after asking him about payment then giving him an ultimatum, Gil gave me the following response.

"I can't afford to pay you a $$$ amount, but after 5 more sales, I can give you a certain watch at $6,800." Which he said was bellow his dealer cost. I soon found it not hard to come by this watch at $6,300 cost...

I told him I was done, and he said the web was not a big deal to him, and he really only wanted the site as a small catalog site.

This was not our original deal, and after spending literally hundreds of hours on this project. I walked away from that partnership. Note I had never agreed to make the site for him or give him ownership of the code.

The only sticking point was the domain I owned and promoted and got listed rather well on a few sites. This name was similar to he name Gil uses. So after a few heated emails we decided that Gil would pay me $$$ to delete my ownership of that domain, and not use that name anymore. This $$$ amount did not include any right to use any content, code, layout, pictures, used on my site. This is stated in the PayPal receipt that Gil payed to me.

If the reason for me leaving was other than not getting paid, what advantage would I have to leave the partnership after putting so much work into it?

I then had a fully featured website with no dealer. I looked around for a few weeks and found Roman and his established Luxury Bazaar business. We talked for a few days and decided to start a partnership. Roman and I shared exact views of what we wanted the site to be, and with him being a technical person he could understand the work that was put into the site. Together we started changing the site and getting it to where it is today.

A few weeks later Gil contacted me to send him an excel file with the watches that where on the site when we were in partnership. I agreed, but since we had taken the prices down on the site recently, I could only send him ~ 400 watches without prices. No I didn't even have to do this, but I did.

I would still read 6speed every now and then, and came across a post badmouthing me. I tried to reply and was banned from the site. It seems as though any part of the story that has to do with my side can not be heard on 6speed. Gil has friends / customers there and that does not allow me to defend myself.

To make matters worse Gil had a website made for him, which while very amature, literally plagerises my site. Layout is similar, descriptions are word for word, images are taken from my site, etc... I did let his design company know I am very unhappy with this, but I am not going to persue it past that.

I don't think Gil realizes how much time it will take to add 1000's of watches (literally 5-15 minutes per watch), and how much it would cost to have somebody do it, maybe why his site only contains 3 watches at the moment.

Also he has always said he wants his online business to be small. Roman and I do not, we plan to take it as far as we can. Which includes offices, dedicated support and sales people, with aggressive online and print advertising.

I also think it's funny that Gil says to not do business with us in that thread, yet contacted Roman just 3 days ago to buy a few Rolexes and an Audemars.

Just clearing the air, ask any questions you might have.

Thanks,
-Peter
http://luxurybazaar.com/
[email protected]

 

Bruce,

Always a good idea, even more so when you are dealing with items in this price range.

Roman's reputation and feedback is priceless in this arena. Even if people have any questions about me, most about our business should be quelled by Roman's long running business.

-Peter

 

I'd rather have any board members that frequent 6speed hear what I have to say as well. I do not hate Gil or even dislike him, we just could not be in business together. I have never started any negative post about him, or will I. I simply to respond anything where I, or my business, is portrayed in a negative way.

In the coming days and weeks, I'm sure fellow FChat members who have ordered from us can testify to our business if anyone has any reservations right now.

Thanks,
-Peter