Rafael -

Economics? One of my favorite subjects, both in under- and post-grad work. I am alway amazed at the marvelous ingenuity of the human mind when it comes to ways of obtaining money, legally or il...

Owning a Volvo and DIY to keep in going forever is a money thing, but there's more. Love, a desire for some panache, whatever, they do provide some economic bebefit, right ???

I think your idea WRT "Bundling" the BB with advertisers can work. There will be some who feel that telling a DIY-er how to do something will cut into revenue, but there are other incentives. "Pull-through" advertising, in which the retail customer is encouraged (by the BB, in this case) to ask the seller if his stuff is certified, or if he's a member of something, or to look for the "BB Approved" logo, etc.

Customer asks, gets a "What's that" and gets a good "sell" on the BB, maybe on VCOA, too. Then, on joining VCOA and/or the BB, advertiser gets rights to display some logo, certification, etc, and is thus displaying the BB to non-BB'ers, our goal, right?

Perhaps others will chime in, and we can move this thread to OPINIONS.

Regards,

Bob

:>)