| Author | Message | ||
     Link4becky Senior Member Username: Link4becky Post Number: 275 Registered: 02-2003 |
I found these adorable baby/child quilts and their minimum opening order is $500. Any one want to go in on an order with me? I really want some of these! http://www.quiltsbydonna.com/styles.php?id=242&catID=2 This one is $16 wholesale for the set. Becky | ||
| Marilyn Senior Member Username: Marilyn Post Number: 275 Registered: 02-2003 |
Hi Becky, This morning, I contacted Leah from this company to get more information as I have been doing alot of high end baby baskets and this would work well in them. I was told that yes they have a 500. minimum order for a "retail store", but they would not allow me to sell them online as a stand alone or even in a gift basket. She said they do extensive checking on how you use their products and what price you sell them for....something like they didn't want to be undercut on the price...but they have no prices on their site! They are not opening any "online" accounts but if they were, the minimum would be 10,000. It's not like these blankets are made with diamonds so I don't understand what the big deal is. They are not the only high end blanket company I am looking at and I was only going to get 16 to start but it ticked me off a little that the reason I cant purchase her blankets is because I have an online store. She isn't selling them online, so why cant we? She said I can put them in my 350. baskets and sell them in my retail store but not online...what is the difference? I will find a company that sells high end baby blankets that actually wants to do business with a reputable gift basket company. I am not wasting any more time on these people. Marilyn Taylor Bountiful Basket | ||
| Heather Senior Member Username: Heather Post Number: 259 Registered: 02-2003 |
I hear you Marilyn, I had the same thing happen to me yesterday. I was at our big gift show last week and placed an order for some Lang calendars and a few other things from their Canadian distributor. Get a call yesterday saying that they won't sell to me because I am not retail based. Apparently it is because Lang has a website and they don't want me to come in and undercut them! I told the guy that if I ever went retail this was one company I would never deal with. This was almost a $1000.00 order that they didn't want. Heather Wooden Crate Creations - Ontario, Canada www.woodencratecreations.com 1-866-422-5875 | ||
| Marilyn Senior Member Username: Marilyn Post Number: 276 Registered: 02-2003 |
Thank you Heather....I was thinking I was the only one this was happening to. It is not like we are selling them on Ebay for 29.95 or to the highest bidder. I remember at the LA show one year I was looking at Camille Beckman and the sales rep said that I had to have a retail location in order to place an order. I was disappointed but seeing their products in every boutique in America made me realize that they didn't need me and I DIDN'T NEED THEM EITHER! Is this a new policy with Lang? I know a GB company that has ALWAYS been home based and still orders from Lang. She usually orders the stackable boxes. I don't know if this is the same company but it sounds like it. It is the same way of thinking that we have had to endure for years....GB companies are just small potatoes and our business doesn't mean much to them. There are plenty of companies that our business IS important and WE WILL find them! Marilyn Taylor Bountiful Basket | ||
| Heather Senior Member Username: Heather Post Number: 260 Registered: 02-2003 |
Yes, this is the same company Marilyn. He didn't say that it was a new policy and he knew I was •••••• off at him. I told him the same thing, I do craft shows with my hubby's woodworking and we have seen many people selling Lang calendars there and they don't have retail stores. He said he couldn't answer that for me. I was even more upset because I have bought things to go with the Lang products and now I don't have the Lang products. Apparently, (he called me again this morning) it is only the calendars I can't have. The other products for some reason are available to me. I told him to forget it and I would be shopping somewhere else and letting my customers know why I couldn't carry the products that they were looking for. He wasn't too impressed with me when I said that but oh well! Heather Wooden Crate Creations - Ontario, Canada www.woodencratecreations.com 1-866-422-5875 | ||
| Lagniappe Advanced Member Username: Lagniappe Post Number: 183 Registered: 05-2004 |
I was at the gift show last year and had the same thing happen with one of the pamper lines. Oh you have a websit ehtey said as they looked down their nose. What! I know there are ways around it but who cares when they treat you that way. | ||
| Aplaceforbaby Advanced Member Username: Aplaceforbaby Post Number: 126 Registered: 06-2002 |
Well, I wasn't going to say anything but here goes. You gals are not the ONLY ones who experience this type of attitude from vendors. I too, get the same type of reaction when I go looking for new products to carry on my WEBSITE!!! As a matter of fact, here is a portion of an email I received yesterday from a company who sells beautiful baby products. In general we are not setting up new online accounts at this time. However, if your interest is primarily baby and you can meet the requirements we may be able to work it out. To open an account that is online only you must have an initial order of at least $10,000 (we can divide this into no more then 3 separate shipments, as we do not invoice until it is shipped) and be able to do an annual $50,000. We have decided that if a company is really serious about selling our product in an upscale website that does not undercut our suggested retail price then they should at least have a means to open an account. That is when we put the $10,000 minimum into effect. This company has ONE (1) item I was interested in. I really don't think I want to spend $10,000 on bringing in just one item. But if they had several items I was interested in I may consider it, but this was not the case. I let the company know how I felt, and if they ever do come around and grant me permission to purchase their item at less than the $10,000 minimum. Then I may tell them that their items are better off in a $$ store than on my WEBSITE. Oh well...I guess, there are many more other great companies to do business with. And we will find them. Cindy www.aplaceforbaby.com | ||
| Marilyn Senior Member Username: Marilyn Post Number: 277 Registered: 02-2003 |
I would like to know what makes these companies so darn (trying to keep it clean here) special? Heather, I do not understand why just the calendars? Do they think that as it gets closer to the end of the year, you will discount that year just to get rid of them when they are selling them at full price? Do they have a retail location or even an online retail store? I have never ordered from them and now because of their narrow minded attitude, I never will either. Now I find that vendors are having the same problem. Cindy you are cute! I would probably have said worse. Marilyn Taylor Bountiful Basket | ||
| Marilyn Senior Member Username: Marilyn Post Number: 278 Registered: 02-2003 |
Hi Becky, I heard that you are going to get your blankets afterall. Good going girl for not telling them that you were going to put them on your site. Had I known that they weren't going to allow anymore online stores, I never would have mentioned it. Just don't put them on your site as a stand along...they have ways of checking. When I told the lady that I wouldn't mention the name in my 350.00 baby basket, she said it didn't make any difference....they had ways of checking! It guess from now on, we all have retail locations right? Marilyn Taylor Bountiful Basket | ||
| Heather Senior Member Username: Heather Post Number: 261 Registered: 02-2003 |
Yeah, I wanted to try that but the guy was calling me because he was on his way to visit me but couldn't find my street! I have no idea why just the calendars. All he said was that Lang themselves had an online retail store so I couldn't. He did try to tell me that if they started selling to home based and online businesses then their retail customers would get angry and stop buying from them. Who knows, who cares! They are cutting their noses off to spite their faces as my mom would say. Researching other companies. Heather Wooden Crate Creations - Ontario, Canada www.woodencratecreations.com 1-866-422-5875 | ||
| Link4becky Senior Member Username: Link4becky Post Number: 276 Registered: 02-2003 |
Hi Marilyn, when I first called they never asked me if I had a storefront. They then they emailed me the price list and it said on there that we can't sell them on the internet. So I asked them BEFORE I placed the order what that was all about and they told me the same thing as they told you. I told them I do have a studio for my business but it is primarily an internet business. The lady I talked to told me to just not to mention their name and it should be OK to use them in our baskets. I don't know if it's because I have a separate building that is my studio or what but they never questioned me any further. She has my web address too. The order has already been shipped so I guess all is well. Did you give them your name when you called? Did they ask you if you had a storefront? Maybe it's all who you talk to at the company. Becky | ||
| Cathysdesigns Senior Member Username: Cathysdesigns Post Number: 355 Registered: 02-2003 |
It sounds like something that would happen with a trademarked company (ex: Disney with their character's names and sport themes) You can use their products but cannot sell the individual item and use the name. You can probably make the baskets with their quilts, and say that the basket has "a quilt" but cannot say "a quilt by Donna". I've been purchasing from Bunnies by the Bay for the past 4 years and have them on my website. My customers can purchase the items by themselves, or buy a basket that contains the items. This past winter I got a call from their office saying that they do not allow their trademarked name and their single items to be sold online. I told them that I had written permission from them that I can use their name and sell their products and "COPY THEIR PICTURES" they said that if I would fax them that paper they would grandfather me in. Well, sure enough I did fax them that permission form which I had them send me and faxed back to them when I opened the account. Mind you, back then no one had ever heard of them, but I love their stuff. Now movie stars are using their products and are giving their things as gifts and they are cracking down on the sites that sell their stuff. I was able to keep the items online and all is well. By the way, I do have a storefront but when I opened the account they weren't even asking that question. Becky Good luck and hopefully they will not give you a hard time. Cathy |
