Vendors:
Full disclosure statement at the end.
Readers:
At this time there is really no way to contact us directly from this website.
I’m not avoiding anyone, but this site is just someplace visitors that have found my work in other places on the Internet can come when they want to buy something I talked about. I don’t want to get banned in those other places by putting links to those products there, so people wanting to buy stuff can do so from here. Pretty much anyone coming here is desperate for some part, book, or video, and reaching me isn’t even in their awareness. If they just want to thank me for helping them get their hands on some hard to find item, I am honored but that isn’t necessary. If you bought something, the seller “thanked” me with a tiny commission and that is thanks enough. If a link here is broken, well the next time I do maintenance here I will fix it.
The negative side of providing ways to be contacted is this website and myself will get spammed by scammers. My email addresses will get onto lists, then sold and resold many times. My contact forms will have new junk contacts every month in them by people trying to increase their “Link Juice” because they don’t know that behavior actually hurts their and my website’s standing in Google’s opinion. When I allow contacts, usually my websites get hundreds of junk contacts a month, and very rarely do REAL people want to reach me. I can’t envision a scenario where someone wants to reach me, but didn’t do it from whatever forum or website they were on before coming here.
I created this site, because I saw activity on forum posts I’d done in the past on other places. When others were still reaching out to me from those places I realized people still needed products and instruction videos, and sometimes wanted to walk the exact same path I used in successfully repairing a vehicle, or doing some project. Those venders selling the products they want/need, are happy I sent the customer to them instead of their competition. So the sellers offer me a commission for any qualifying sales made by a person that clicks on one of my links to get to that seller’s site.
Many Internet sites allow a person to have an account.
Sadly, lots of unscrupulous people trying to make huge piles of money on the Internet, make accounts anywhere they can think of just to put a bunch of useless and spammy links on those websites.
This has made most Social Media sites create strict rules about affiliate links. Most vendors have done so as well because they also don’t like those spam links. Social Media sites and Vendors alike will quickly TOSS (TermsOfServiceSusension) such people, but not until after those junky links got posted on the Internet.
The main reason I am doing this whole page is to explain all this to those of you visiting my website, as well as to comply with all those vendor’s requirements. I happen to agree with most of these requirements as they tend to improve the browsing experience for all of us.
The items I present through links posted here, are always the best I can find on short notice, for random consumers, although they sometimes require me to do a lot of “educated guessing.” I have no idea if someone is willing to spend extra to get it fast, or if they need to go cheap and can wait days or weeks for delivery.
I also have to do quite a bit of research before creating links. I want the best chance a customer will get the right thing. Only the right thing. And not have to return something. I want my site visitors to only have successful experiences. I want the vendors I partner with to only have happy customers and successful experiences as well. I want links to vendors that look like they will remain in business, not one that just started doing business and maybe doesn’t know what they are doing. That means when there are multiple choices, I usually have to guess at what pricing versus risks customers are willing to take. If a vendor looks like they might fail the customer or not. If the item will reach the customer in a short time, or if it has to come from a different continent, maybe go through customs, and even more. When possible, I choose things I have personally purchased.
There is no way I can anticipate everything everyone wants so I make a best guess and create an affiliate link.
Why a link?
Two reasons.
First, that link lets someone find what they are looking for (I hope) in just one click.
Second, if they are going to buy it anyway, and the price, shipping options, and all other aspects are going to be exactly the same anyway, that link allows the vendor to know that it was my website that sent the customer to them. This usually makes them happy enough for them to give me a tiny commission on whatever was bought. Remember, as the customer, you pay the same amount and get the same shipping and other benefits whether I do get or don’t get the commission. With very few exceptions, the tax you pay will almost always be more than any commission I could ever hope to earn.
All that being said, there is no plan for an email address or other form for contact to reach us from this website.
Full Disclosure:
In case anyone didn’t understand it yet, as an affiliate of many Internet vendors including Amazon, I will likely earn something by you purchasing any qualifying item from any of the various affiliate links on this website.