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TLDR: Reseller is pissed that "Genuino" has to be sold as "Arduino" in the US and that they have separate SKUs. Also Genuino seems to have poor B2B/reseller sup

TLDR: Reseller is pissed that "Genuino" has to be sold as "Arduino" in the US and that they have separate SKUs. Also Genuino seems to have poor B2B/reseller support. Is this post really that petty or am I missing something?

falcolas 10y ago
I think you're missing the additional costs and logistics of separating out SKUs by country which are placed upon the reseller, simply for "branding" reasons.
- dan1234 10y ago
  It sounds like they were already buying both product variants and surely it shouldn’t be too hard to restrict certain SKUs to certain territories via a shipping rule in their ecommerce system? Shame they didn’t breakdown how many sales they get from the US (wouldn’t expect it to be many considering they’re UK based). Got them to the front page in any case…
  - syntheticnature 10y ago
    It sounded like they didn't want to buy the "Arduino" variant to me because it was a separate SKU; they'd been selling "Arduino" in the past before the whole kerfluffle started.
  - alex_hitchins 10y ago
    Perhaps part of it is down to the fact they said the margins were slim already. It seems like even if it was trivial to facilitate separation or SKUs geographically it's just not worth having to work with a supplier with such restrictions.
ploxiln 10y ago
Engineers don't like needless restrictions. Can't sell "Arduino" in the EU because of underhanded legal reasons? Ok, fine, that's life. Can't sell "Genuino" in the US? I thought this painful brand switch was to fix stupid legal problems?! But Genuino did this to itself?!! screw it
- commandar 10y ago
  I get the impression that they're probably trying to avoid further diluting the Arduino brand in the US with the expectation that they'll eventually prevail in the trademark dispute.
- chris11 10y ago
  The two groups are headed in different directions, they are just selling the same product now. I'd be annoyed as a customer if I needed to figure out the difference between two companies products and it wasn't clear. They need some way to make the distinction.
michaelt 10y ago
The new requirements make providing a good customer experience much more difficult, because it passes the retailers the burden of explaining this bullshit no-one cares about to their customers. For example, what if I visit the shop while logged out, put a Genuino into my basket, then log in and ask for delivery to a US address - should the website replace the Genuino in my basket with an Arduino? What if Arduinos are out of stock, while Genuinos are in stock? What if it's a european shopping for an Arduino because that's what all the guides online say, and it looks like the retailer is ripping them off by replacing their order for a genuine Arduino with an off-brand clone? And it looks like they can get a "real" Arduino at half the price from AliExpress?
- uola 10y ago
  Providing customer service is what a retailer does. It's fine not to want to sell something, but writing rants in response (especially when you suggest your own products instead) isn't very nice. Retailers also take quite a big piece of the pie from smaller manufacturers. (As far as I understand) Arduino LLC only has the trademark for Arduino in the US, meaning they can only sell and manufacture them in the US. It seems reasonable that Arduino LLC don't compete with their own US manufacturers by selling (under license) Chinese made Genuinos in the US. People always say they want open source, support, locally manufactured products etc. but then they seem to take pretty much any excuse possible not to support it.
  - syshum 10y ago
    >>People always say they want open source, support, locally manufactured products etc. but then they seem to take pretty much any excuse possible not to support it. I think you confuse the 2 vocal groups, it is not normally the same people Wanting Locally Manufactured products and wanting Cheap Knock offs, even if both want Open Source I Love opensource, but I have little respect nor desire to support Arduino LLC, and will happily buy the cheapest board, I will also support projects and vendors by paying a premium if I feel it is worth it. >Retailers also take quite a big piece of the pie from smaller manufacturers. Margins are these boards are very very thin, this is why Retailers like SparkFun, Adafruit and other are making their own Arduino Compatible boards because it is more profitable, It is not true that the retailer is taking a "big piece" of the pie selling Aurdinuo LLC licensed boards. this is also why other Platforms are starting to replace the what I consider Overpriced Aurdinuo. I have been starting to use ESP8266 based boards (like NodeMCU) for example. If I want a $40 board I am using a rPI not an Aurdinuo...

falcolas 10y ago

I think you're missing the additional costs and logistics of separating out SKUs by country which are placed upon the reseller, simply for "branding" reasons.

dan1234 10y ago
It sounds like they were already buying both product variants and surely it shouldn’t be too hard to restrict certain SKUs to certain territories via a shipping rule in their ecommerce system? Shame they didn’t breakdown how many sales they get from the US (wouldn’t expect it to be many considering they’re UK based). Got them to the front page in any case…
- syntheticnature 10y ago
  It sounded like they didn't want to buy the "Arduino" variant to me because it was a separate SKU; they'd been selling "Arduino" in the past before the whole kerfluffle started.
- alex_hitchins 10y ago
  Perhaps part of it is down to the fact they said the margins were slim already. It seems like even if it was trivial to facilitate separation or SKUs geographically it's just not worth having to work with a supplier with such restrictions.

ploxiln 10y ago

Engineers don't like needless restrictions. Can't sell "Arduino" in the EU because of underhanded legal reasons? Ok, fine, that's life. Can't sell "Genuino" in the US? I thought this painful brand switch was to fix stupid legal problems?! But Genuino did this to itself?!! screw it

commandar 10y ago
I get the impression that they're probably trying to avoid further diluting the Arduino brand in the US with the expectation that they'll eventually prevail in the trademark dispute.
chris11 10y ago
The two groups are headed in different directions, they are just selling the same product now. I'd be annoyed as a customer if I needed to figure out the difference between two companies products and it wasn't clear. They need some way to make the distinction.

michaelt 10y ago

The new requirements make providing a good customer experience much more difficult, because it passes the retailers the burden of explaining this bullshit no-one cares about to their customers. For example, what if I visit the shop while logged out, put a Genuino into my basket, then log in and ask for delivery to a US address - should the website replace the Genuino in my basket with an Arduino? What if Arduinos are out of stock, while Genuinos are in stock? What if it's a european shopping for an Arduino because that's what all the guides online say, and it looks like the retailer is ripping them off by replacing their order for a genuine Arduino with an off-brand clone? And it looks like they can get a "real" Arduino at half the price from AliExpress?

uola 10y ago
Providing customer service is what a retailer does. It's fine not to want to sell something, but writing rants in response (especially when you suggest your own products instead) isn't very nice. Retailers also take quite a big piece of the pie from smaller manufacturers. (As far as I understand) Arduino LLC only has the trademark for Arduino in the US, meaning they can only sell and manufacture them in the US. It seems reasonable that Arduino LLC don't compete with their own US manufacturers by selling (under license) Chinese made Genuinos in the US. People always say they want open source, support, locally manufactured products etc. but then they seem to take pretty much any excuse possible not to support it.
- syshum 10y ago
  >>People always say they want open source, support, locally manufactured products etc. but then they seem to take pretty much any excuse possible not to support it. I think you confuse the 2 vocal groups, it is not normally the same people Wanting Locally Manufactured products and wanting Cheap Knock offs, even if both want Open Source I Love opensource, but I have little respect nor desire to support Arduino LLC, and will happily buy the cheapest board, I will also support projects and vendors by paying a premium if I feel it is worth it. >Retailers also take quite a big piece of the pie from smaller manufacturers. Margins are these boards are very very thin, this is why Retailers like SparkFun, Adafruit and other are making their own Arduino Compatible boards because it is more profitable, It is not true that the retailer is taking a "big piece" of the pie selling Aurdinuo LLC licensed boards. this is also why other Platforms are starting to replace the what I consider Overpriced Aurdinuo. I have been starting to use ESP8266 based boards (like NodeMCU) for example. If I want a $40 board I am using a rPI not an Aurdinuo...