Can anyone give me an idea of the savings per unit you get from an ASI membership?
Specifically the G2000, but a ballpark figure in general would help me find the value in the expense.
ASI is for promotional product distributor. It will not get you a cheaper price for blank garments. I have been into promotional products for over 6 years and I have been a member of ASI and it is waaaay over priced period!..even for us distributors, which is why I dropped them and now use a couple of other organizations...but only for promotional products...I will continue to buy my garments direct
The ASI price that you are referring to is the suggested retail price of the shirts that you sell. You don't want ASI pricing! You want wholesale pricing, which is what you will get when you fill out an application, regardless of whether or not you are an ASI member.
Again...the price you may get as ASI member is just the wholesale price...nothing more and frequently less...there are two other sources for promotional product sources. they are SAGE - Research tools, Internet Marketing, Credit Card Processing, Artwork Services, Traveling Tradeshows and DistributorCentral The Promotional Products Industry Software Leader - Home In order to become a member of these, you must show you are a legit promotional product dealer. they may require copies of recent invoices etc.. the full ASI membership can be from $1200 to $3000 per year. Sage membership runs from $495 to $1800 a year. Distributor Central is free. with Sage membership, the will host your web site..just a simple pick a theme type. This is available at the $495 level. If you want to see what a distributorcentral site looks like .. try 5 Starz Design - Home If you want to try sage, I think they have a 30 day trial. But the most that any of these sites give you is the ability to check out sources for promo products. And you must buy in quanity...no one or two..you are buying 100 or more per item. Someone mentioned PPAI....this is a promotional product association and they host a huge...I mean HUGE show each Jan in Las Vegas. Last time I went, there was 13 miles of vendor booths if you walked up and down each aisle.
End result is that for most of us on the forum, these memberships are not of value...some may benefit
I am a member of PPAI, SAGE, DistributorCentral, but I still buy all of my garments to decorate, sell etc from sources like SanMar, Bodek Rhodes , T-shirt Supply etc...I use Sage to locate promo items...such as a 500 mug order for a client that wanted a cobalt blue, with gold writing and a specific shaped handle...
I was really trying to figure out how these third party membership sites could offer breaks on shirt blanks, etc...
they come across to me as middlemen trying to make a buck off the industry (offering discounts you can usually find online anyway).
I'm sure there's some value to them in the right scenario...
but I paid to be a member of NAPP (Photoshop Association) and it really felt like all I got was the "status symbol" (and spam) for my money.
I'm not into all that...glad I didn't pull the trigger on ASI.
We have been with ASI for over 10 years now, its worked for us for the most part, although there are times where we wonder just what our membership fees are paying for... It seems that it would work best for multi-line companies, because you will recieve A LOT of advertisments from the promotional industry, from ALL sorts of companies.
We treat ASI as a sort of pre-screening process if you will; that is , we figure if you are spending the money to be a member, you have to pretty serious about your business, and you wouldn't just call us to get one free spec sample.
We treat ASI as a sort of pre-screening process if you will; that is , we figure if you are spending the money to be a member, you have to pretty serious about your business, and you wouldn't just call us to get one free spec sample.
Doesn't apply to my business model (as a pre-printer)...
but I can see how that could be beneficial to a promotional printer.
Even so, I'd be looking for more from the ASI membership offering...
or at the very least, asking yourself who the person you're paying, actually is.
For example, I happen to have an industry membership that only runs $99/month...
we give you 15% off all UPS shipments, as well as case pricing on all your blanks.
HI, I am getting started with online store for my promotional items. Can you give me some ideas who is reasonable to use for hosting and creating a store website for my shirts etc.? Thank you
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