Wow, I've never came across someone that doesn't like us anymore because of our discount program! Let me try to respond to this, I don't think were on the same page here...
1. Yes, you have to "pay" to get into the program, if you call it that. For $10, which is surely less than you're gonna save on your initial order (unless you buy a quart of oil or something small), you get a decal
package much like the Mazdaspeed package. At $10 shipped, rest assured we're not making money on this sticker package.
2. 10% off is the minimum you'll receive on a discount, this is most likely on parts that everybody and there mother sell and we have to mark them down to barely profit region to even compete. If you're buying a 5X Racing part, you'll most likely receive over 20% off, which is wholesale region because we can afford to give a higher percentage off on our custom made parts. 10% is pretty standard for all around discounts, like you said with the other companies offering (even though the companies mentioned only offer generic items, like driving gear, brake pads, fluids, set-up stuff, etc... not Miata specific race parts that can help out an aspiring/budget Miata racer keep his costs a little lower), but when you look at our regular retail non-support program member prices on some things, they're pretty damn low compared to the competition. If they're not, ask us to match and we will do everything we can without losing money on the deal to match.
3. I like to see some return on investment from my discount offerings, whether it be a sticker on a car, a review left on our site, a facebook like, a "how-to" written for us, etc... That's how we like to market, by rewarding people that are loyal or into what we do, not a general "group" of people like all SCCA members or NASA members. A blanket "10% off for all _____ members" works for the aforementioned companies because they offer stuff every racer in the SCCA or NASA can use. We offer things for Miata track rats or Miata racers, so our return on investment is helping out the little guys doing the stuff we do. Hopefully the people that like our marketing style or support program will tell their friends we care about what they're doing and we'll help them out by offering some money off the routine things needed to mount a racing effort or build their cars.
We don't sponsor one guy and hope that he tells hundreds of people about us or hundreds of people will see our stickers on their car and consequently buy from us. If we did, we'd give you the decals for free and a small stipend for weekend events too. BUT, we would rather take our "sponsoring" dollars or better termed "marketing" budget and spread it out to the people that need it, the ones building Miata race cars on a budget, pounding the track once a month in their track Miata, and bringing up the back of the pack in Spec Miata. The guys that are running up front in Spec Miata racing ($35,000 cars, FTW :fp
can surely do without the help we are aiming to offer with our program.
We're not afraid to give out decals (when we have them...), we include them with every in stock order and give them out to anyone that asks at our races or events. The support program sticker package however is not something that can be mailed, so it must be shipped, which costs money in addition to the cost of making the stickers. I'd be drained dry by everyone with a Miata if I gave out this support program without any stipulations. Think of it more like a "I'll scratch your back (with discounted prices on parts and maintenance items) and you scratch my back by running our stickers, sending us some pics so we can put them on the site, and talking good about us to your track friends. It's not a sponsorship program, just as much as the Mazdaspeed Msports program is not either, it's a way of supporting racers by providing discounted prices on stuff they need to build or maintain a race car. Nothing wrong with this picture.
You're referencing OEM parts. Totally different bag here. We're offering aftermarket parts, not OEM Mazda parts. Check Mazdaspeeds prices on things like ACT clutches, Eibach stuff, or pretty much anything that doesn't come from Mazda. Not so hot. I can't touch MS or Rosenthals prices on OEM stuff, and don't even try as I will lose money if I do, because... one is a Mazda dealership and the other is... Mazda! You want Carbotech brakes, RedLine fluids, Spec Miata parts, SM race wheels, SM RACE stuff, check out our program.
I couldn't
disagree more. Your statement makes no sense unless you're just looking for OEM Mazda parts, which are not part of our program because I do not have a direct line to OEM parts from Mazda like Rosenthal and Mazdaspeed, and cannot offer any discount whatsoever on them because they are strictly on my site for kit purposes and offering a more complete Miata parts offering to go with our other Miata parts, not so much to make millions on...
I also find this last bit completely irrelevant being you've never even seen our program prices (you're not in our program. program prices are only shown to support program members) to determine they need "reevaluation". You've taken the "baseline 10% off" part out of context. BASELINE means that 10% off is the starting point for discounts, maybe I should have made that more clear.
Sorry that you don't like us anymore after reading the details of our support program, this is unfortunate to hear someone say as a business owner in a small niche. I hope this response shed a little more light on what we're doing with the program and what our aim is with it. Sorry if it was offensive to you, but you must understand that it was very offensive to me and my company as well. I don't like when my company gets slammed for something we set up to help fellow Miata racers, not rob them of $10 as you suggest.
