I’ve been following this thread with interest.
Mike and I are members of a group of store owners and this general
topic is a big one on that list also.
The main complaint of retail stores in our group is that there are
many suppliers out there who sell “wholesale” to just about anyone
who claims to be in business. Some of them even advertise “wholesale
to the public”. Some of these wholesalers don’t even require resale
license info., etc,. to give a customer a good discount as long as
they buy enough for a minimum order. Others don’t do "due diligence"
in verifying the customer is indeed a business in their trade and
sell (with a nice discount) to anyone who gives them a resale number
- even if the resale is for Suzie’s Curl Up N Dye.
The types of buyers who have no conscience about bending the rules
make things difficult for those of us who are legitimately in
business - it means that companies like Stuller HAVE to make us jump
through hoops to establish an account. There are the “designers”,
who want to buy at wholesale for their personal use or to sell once
in a while at a craft fair fundraiser. There are bulk buying groups
who expect that because they buy in quantity, they should get the
same or better prices than the local stores do! Then, there are the
buyers who actually stoop so low as to make up a resale number and
steal a photo from a website and claim it is THEIR storefront!
Wholesalers have to go through a great deal to protect themselves
from things like this. For the wholesaler, there could be large
fines, penalties and interest from their state’s taxing authority if
they sell wholesale “incorrectly”. They aren’t making it difficult
for you so much as they are trying to make it easier for them when it
comes to taxes, etc.
When we first started the business, I didn’t understand a lot of this
and thought it was just a bunch of rigamarole by the wholesaler to
hassle customers. Now that we’ve been in business for a while, I’ve
discovered that I like companies who make a new customer go through
the gauntlet and provide satisfactory before giving them
a wholesale account. One of our suppliers is so strict about
protecting their customers, they won’t sell to you if they already
have a customer within a certain radius of your store. I’m sure this
hurts them; they could make much more money if they sold to EVERYONE
in the same area, but they are doing business the old fashioned way.
As a customer, I appreciate this.
Deb Weller
Weller’s Jewelry and Beads
Mesa, AZ