[HumbleShirts]

Before I go naming names, how does this community feel about a large apparel supplier posting NET and sale pricing on the unprotected homepage of their website?

We use most of the large suppliers in our industry and just came across this recently with one supplier.

When asked about it, a response was given that they had customers that didn't want to go through the process of logging in to view pricing and this was more convenient for them and that I should just direct our end users to a custom website that they provide or a custom digital catalog like most large suppliers are doing nowadays.

All a end user has to do is Google one of this supplier's proprietary brands and one of the top 3 listings is the wholesale website for distributors and there sits their wholesale pricing for everyone to see.

Being part of these trade organizations like Sage and ASI, we, as distributors, look to our suppliers to protect our channel of sales.

Is it just me or would this get under your skin as well and lend credence over not doing business with this supplier?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[royster13]

TSC has done it for years.....

 

[HumbleShirts]

Well, at this point, the question beckons about not WHO is doing it but how do you, as a distributor for their products, feel about this practice?

 

[crazymike]

With the internet a customer can find out what any
business pays for for their products and can find
somebody that will sell it to them for that price.

You are not making money on the product but the service
of decorating it.

 

[HumbleShirts]

With the internet a customer can find out what any
business pays for for their products and can find
somebody that will sell it to them for that price.

You are not making money on the product but the service
of decorating it.

You're kidding right? You don't expect a return on money you lay our for products you supply to your customer? That's just bad business my friend.

You must be only doing work in which you let your customers supply their own products I guess. To each their own. I hope you realize that 99.9% of bonafide businesses DO expect a return on resold goods used in the production of orders. In fact, we rarely take anything less than a 40% markup on these items and that doesn't include our added service costs.

This isn't quite what I expected in the way of replies to this post. Quite fascinating, I must say.

 

[royster13]

You're kidding right? You don't expect a return on money you lay our for products you supply to your customer? That's just bad business my friend.

You must be only doing work in which you let your customers supply their own products I guess. To each their own. I hope you realize that 99.9% of bonafide businesses DO expect a return on resold goods used in the production of orders. In fact, we rarely take anything less than a 40% markup on these items and that doesn't include our added service costs.

This isn't quite what I expected in the way of replies to this post. Quite fascinating, I must say.

I am pretty sure you misunderstood his comment...I am sure he charges a higher price for printing alone on a supplied shirt versus printing on a shirt he marks up.......I typically add 1.00 or more to my printing price if a client wants to supply their own shirt...

 

[crazymike]

If a customer brings in shirts and wants them printed I will
deduct the price of what I would pay for them not any
markup that stays with the rest of the decorating cost.

 

[HumbleShirts]

If a customer brings in shirts and wants them printed I will
deduct the price of what I would pay for them not any
markup that stays with the rest of the decorating cost.

Wow. Not me. In fact, we refuse to print on customer merchandise unless they are an approved ASI distributor in the business of reselling printed t-shirts and we have approved them to drop ship blanks to us from the major suppliers.

At the very least, as mentioned above, if we DID ever allow an end user to bring their own shirts in, we would charge an upcharge of some amount to make up for the profit lost in supplying the garments.

I don't know where you are but you are either in a highly saturated service location where you have to be uber competitive or you're just leaving money on the table.

Good luck with that.

NOW....can we get back on topic about suppliers sharing NET costs to the general public?

 

[royster13]

NOW....can we get back on topic about suppliers sharing NET costs to the general public?

All you can is not like it and "get over it".....I think TSC has been doing it for over 6 years.....I guess most of their client do not care.....Because if they did, they would walk with their wallets and TSC would have change.....

 

[20vK]

If a customer brings in shirts and wants them printed I will
deduct the price of what I would pay for them not any
markup that stays with the rest of the decorating cost.

Mike's saying that he keeps the mark up they would normally have made if a customer supplies a shirt.

So if a shirt costs $5 and they sell for $10 and supply and print for $13, then they will knock off the cost ($5) and still charge the rest ($8 total).

We do the same, since most customers will pay more for a shirt than we do - it's cheaper for them to just have us supply them.

On topic - I'd feel miffed if a supplier is listing wholesale prices to retail customers. What's the point of a wholesale account with them in that case? Sounds like an aggressive pricing strategy to try and target the end user. Perhaps a bit of a finger up to their industry wholesale customers, IMHO.

 

[HumbleShirts]

Perhaps a bit of a finger up to their industry wholesale customers, IMHO.

My sentiments exactly. I think the powers to be are pow-wowing over this as we speak. I bet something changes and the supplier in question has indeed been outed.

We shall see...

 

[royster13]

Are you saying this is the 1st discussion you have seen on this subject.....It has been hashed and re-hashed on multiple forums over the years.....I recall a thread on screenprinters.net and I have not been active there for 6 or 7 years.....

 

[HumbleShirts]

I've not searched for the subject because it's never come up and bit my business before yesterday when a client told me they wanted me to lower my pricing on a decent size order (5000 pcs) and proceeded to tell me he knew what I paid for the blanks because he found them on the website without logging in. That was kind of an awkward conversation to say the least. Needless to say, I just held my ground because I don't roll that way. My shop is costed out every week and we know where our price points need to be to maintain the level of service and profitability we require to stay in business. It's worked for me for over 15 years and I will never whore my services out just to beat the next guy down the street over a few pennies. We'd pass on the work. That's just our MO and I wouldn't have it any other way. We've seen local competition come and go over the years for just such a business practice. We won't be "That Shop". I don't mean to sound arrogant here but I have responsibilities to my staff and myself to keep the business in the black. You can't get there by continuing to give it away.

And frankly, the Texas economy is just flat booming. We're just glad to be in the middle of it.

 

[crazymike]

With the internet a customer can find out what any
business pays for for their products and can find
somebody that will sell it to them for that price.

Like i said above that the internet has done away with
any real wholesale retail division. You are 50 years to
late if you want a solid wholesale pricing that consumers
can't touch.

 

[royster13]

Or you can start buying your own containers.....A friend's business is probably going to import 30+ containers this year (over 1 million shirts) .....Started with shirts from Thailand & Bangladesh......Now mostly Mexico.....Their own branding and about 0.70 less than Gildan 2000....It took some time for folks to break the Gildan habit, however, as Gildan got expensive in Canada and folks got more price sensitive, their own shirts took off....

No idea who they use, however, when I talked to Yazbek myself about 1 1/2 years ago they seemed quite willing to do private labels....And your own label helps you sell shirts.....

 

[Viper Graphics]

a client told me they wanted me to lower my pricing on a decent size order (5000 pcs) and proceeded to tell me he knew what I paid for the blanks because he found them on the website without logging in. That was kind of an awkward conversation to say the least. .

And frankly, the Texas economy is just flat booming. We're just glad to be in the middle of it.

My reply would have been you might know how much they charged for the blanks but you have no idea how much the blanks really cost when considering the added costs with the licensing and taxing requirements to be able to even get that price....does this supplier sell at our prices to the open public?
If not ask your customer to go ahead and place an order...see how far he/she gets. Maybe then they will understand? probably not.

And yes...the Texas economy IS just flat Booming!

 

[sben763]

All you can is not like it and "get over it".....I think TSC has been doing it for over 6 years.....I guess most of their client do not care.....Because if they did, they would walk with their wallets and TSC would have change.....

I've been a TSC customer for 7 years and they have never given wholesale pricing on their website. I direct customers to their site all the time that want to "shop" for garments. First thing always said is there is no pricing. I tell them you pick out what you want and I'll give you the pricing.

Without logging in there is no pricing. Here's the other thing there are sites that sell close to wholesale prices. I don't think any site should but wholesale pricing for the general public to see. From time to time we have people try to ask about pricing of just shirts. Almost all the suppliers in their terms says you can't sell blank shirts. So I just simply say I am not allowed to sell blanks shirts due to the suppliers terms. I also don't give itemized invoices. I add all my cost and mark up and just give a per piece price WITH MINIMUM piece order.

 

[sben763]

This is the message if you try to get pricing. I do see the have their banner pricing available on their site now.

Who else puts their pricing on their site. I have been using One Stop and they don't have any pricing or banners without logging in.

 

[Campeon707]

I could care less what the wholesaler puts on their website. As long as the customer cannot buy from them direct at that cost it doesn't really matter. So if your customers demands lower pricing based on what they see we pay for it simply send ten packing and advising there are a lot more costs to running this business that has to be made somewhere. Once your customers value your service. Majority of my returning customers don't even ask me on price anymore. They just submit there order with credit card info. I draw up a quick quote send by email and ask to confirm order. They do, charge card and on to production. Price matters where your business has to be to stay profitable not what everyone else charges. So regardless if they know wholesale pricing or not should be irrelevant if you have positioned your company to survive in the long term.

With the internet you can find out wholesale pricing on a new car. However car prices still remain the same or higher to supply chain markups. Everyone has to eat so they end consumer pays for it. No difference then paying for that $4 gallon of milk.

Just my thoughts on it. Not wanting to try and debate anyone just how I see and conduct my business. However everyone has to determine their track to go down. I find worrying less about things out of my control and focusing on giving my customer exceptional service and product has done right for me.

 

[HumbleShirts]

Let me be the first to say that I think someone listens to customer concerns. The pricing has been removed from the unprotected home page of the supplier website. I am extremely pleased that the supplier took the time to understand how that can hurt their customers in certain circumstances.