Does he verify that you're a frame builder before fulfilling your order online?
That was the idea. On the another board there was a lot of boosting of professional qualifications, talk about insurance. You can probably still find the thread. There was some talk about the S&S couplings which aren't sold retail either, and I think he became convinced that selling his lugs to the hoi polloi was a bad idea. I never understood it, why he would want bikes out there that could in any way be mistaken as his, even if made by pros, didn't compute. Though that wasn't the issue.
The bike thing kinda mystifies me. On the one hand there is this charmingly naive belief in insurance, while on the other there is this fear of the amateur (liability wise). In most cases the amateur thing is a shield while the pro is (insert large picture of screw). Take the whole aircraft thing where the fact something is built by an amateur is the actual government strategy around the cost of law suits. Anyway, it is what it is.