shafted by what was to be our main supplier!

[force9]

we are setting up an ebay shop plus our own website selling extreme sports equipment, we though that we had our suppliers in place but have received an email from the main one stating that they will not supply us due to the fact that we will be only trading online. :mad: they knew this from the first contact we had with them, they originally said that we could probably have a limited range from them , which we said was ok. now we feel totally let down by them and can't find another supplier of the same calibre, they seem to have the market covered completely. We have searched the net for other wholesalers but come up empty, the main sales aim was for power kites and equipment but we will now maybe have to look in a different direction for the main content of our stock, which is very dissapointing especailly for my hubby, as it is his hobby and his area of expertise. we have been firing off emails to other types of supplier all day and will now just have to wait and see.:|

[DuaneJackson]

Gits! It's not the end of the world though. I'm sure you'll get over it.

[creospace]

I'm assuming you've exhausted teh chinese market? There are a couple of exporters on this forum that might be able to help you, I have the details of one.

I understand chinese are big on kites?

Edit: just found this:

http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?Type=SALE%2CAGENT%2CMISC&SearchText=kite&IndexArea=offer_en&CatId=0

[SillyJokes]

Amazing, I thought only snotty fashion clothes manufacturers got uppity about online trading.

Is it because you don't have a 'proper' website with style and panache and instead are flogging stuff out on eBay which will proabably end up under cutting their other existing retailers who add value and undermining the brand they have spent a lot of money building?

You should ask them what exactly is their problem, as I believe it could be the eBay connection.

Good luck finding a new supplier. I get asked several times a week for the details of my suppliers but I never give them out, they were too hard to find and establish.

[force9]

actually, I don't think we mentioned ebay when in contact with them , just our own website. we are also going to have a stall at outdoor events such as county shows, air shows and car/motoring events, we were quite flabberghasted when they said no! after all sales are sales wherever they come from , surely? no other suppliers have been so unhelpful. the aforementioned company have also taken exeption to our domain name , saying that there is another one, but we cannot find evidence of this anywhere, it is certainly not a co.uk. or .com name , nor is it registered at companies house, so we are stumped.:| we have found a couple more wholesalers , so fingers crossed, it just means a slight change in product direction. we have also found a few online-only kite shops, so someone must be supplying them!

[SillyJokes]

hmm, sounds like they got cold feet for some reason.

My brother in law sells guitars and accessories and couldn't get an account with Washburn. He simply got on with selling everything else and eventually after showing he was successful and long lasting he got the account.

Maybe a supplier of high end goods believes that if their product is sold through an insubstantial outlet like a stand at a fair or on ebay that the customer will not receive a high standard of after care and that the manfacturer will have to handle the returns.

You may need to probe further and obviously it is not too late to change that URL.

You will not be the first person to approach them to sell their goods and you may be surprised to find that not all retailers are good ones for a supplier. They are simply reacting to experiences they ahve had in the past with amateur set ups. If you can show you are no amateur I'm sure they will supply you in the future. They just don't want you learning by mistakes using their brand.

When a customer buys a 'Fancy Pants' kite surfer and it tears and they can't return it or get a satisfactory replacement they remember the product not the outlet. It can be damaging for the brand.

[SillyJokes]

Edit to say, is your url something like

http://www.kitesrus.force9.co.uk

if so, this is not a great url and goes alongside your other outlets like eBay and market stalls as a long way toward devaluing a brand in many manufacturers eyes.

[Malcolm Cooper]

I've been in your position in the past. I would seek a face to face meeting with someone senior in the company, if not the MD, not for confrontation but for discussion.

What are their concerns? Do they fear you will undercut their bricks & mortar customers? Reassure them and attempt to reach an agreement quietly and professionally.

Get some figures together about internet commerce and discuss. You want to show them that they cannot ignore the internet and that ecommerce is a growing, honest living.

[KPautomotive]

Don't give up.. surely there must be other companies who will sell to you .... we found it hard to get suppliers to begin with - some didn't want to sell to us as we are just an online store and some didn't wan't to sell to us as we're not VAT registered!! It is annoying but keep at it.

[force9]

we have bought a couple of domain names, force9kites.co.uk and staffordshire kite and board .co.uk, force 9 is the one they don't like, they say there is a company called fnk ltd which there is, but nowhere on the company website does it mention force 9 kites??? they are suppliers for premier kites so may have a problem with us also, as we emailed them before all this and used force 9 as our our email addy, so they may think we're taking the mick! our company name is staffordshire kite and board but we wanted to use something different for the website. so much for trying to be clever. as for another post saying that we may seem amateur, you should see some of the set ups at the kite festivals we have been to, shockingly amateurish! that is what made us think that we could do better. there are also a few, not many, kite retailers on ebay or only online and they have this company's products, so we can't really fathom why they don't like the look of us. as a sport/hobby, kiteing is set to be huge, it has already been on tv a few times and all it will take is a "celebrity" to be seen with one, and it will really take off ( no pun intended-lol).:p

[SillyJokes]

I don't mean to accuse you of being an amateur, I was just being devils advocate for the supplier and trying to see a way forward.

Malcolm is probably right in that if you talk to them one to one you will find a way forward.

Of course you can do it better than the competition, and knowing that I wish you all the best.

[Chris Uren]

In a former life I had lots of dealings with suppliers and always started with the premis that selling their product was actually a favour to them. I quickly learnt that they are often daft, badly run and apply no common business sence.

Daft as it seems sometimes its down to individual personalities. remember there are still companies out there who dont like the internet. probably still think its a fad.

So don't dispair. Head down and determine to beat the problem.

Chris
Cut Business Costs (http://www.cutbusinesscosts.co.uk)

[SillyJokes]

I quickly learnt that they are often daft, badly run and apply no common business sence.


This is absolutely true. One of my main suppliers has recently discontinued most of it's top selling products in the UK. I couldn't beleive it.

As a result I have to look at their appalling service and say to myself, it's no longer worth dealing with them. Instead of regularly spending thousands with them I'll be lucky to put together a carriage paid order. And it's their fault for not listening to their UK customers.

I suppose this shows that suppliers know as little about how retailers work as retailers do about suppliers.

[pickitpackit.co.uk]

My partner had a similar problem, she wanted to open a trade account with a manufacturer of pushchairs, she was going to shift some online to help raise funds for her venture into opening a high street shop. However the manufacturer would not consider them untill they had a physical shop.

Im happy to say she now has her shop and is trading well, im assuming you must have some kinda business premises to stock your items, would they reconsider if you opened say a trade counter as an alrernative? just a thought

Andy
Pickitpackit.co.uk

[www.giftsupplying.com]

Wow,at first glance,I was really astonished there are suppliers in the world who should refuse orders.Sales is sales,nomatter where it comes from!But after thoughts,your supplier maybe did right,if there is one of below reasons:1.the product is patented in your country2.they have exclusive agent in your areaAs for our company,we never refuse our clientsForbetter Trade Co.,Ltd.Your best choice for promo gifts!

[force9]

there are no kite shops in staffordshire at all, the nearest one is in chester, 50 miles away and is a tiny, half shop, shared with a card retailer, it looks very shoddy and there weren't even any staff there on the day we visited (a saturday) they are supplied by the aforementioned company,(who have refused us) as the makes of kite they were selling could only have come from them. the nearest large shop is either llandudno or blackpool. we have kiters every sunday, less than half a mile from our house at the local country park and they all say that they would have no problem buying from an internet-only source. they have all asked for a leaflet as soon as we get them printed. we have found some other suppliers who are willing to deal, but they dont supply the "big name" kites such as hq, flexifoil and peter lynn. the original company has them all exclusively.

[Top Hat]

Your supplier is taking a very blinkered view. They have probably supplied plenty of web shops in the past and found it to be a waste of time, and tared you with the same brush.

I would try:
And get a face to face meeting (as already suggested) so you can convince them your worth it!, and correct any misunderstanding, fix problems.

Offer them the carrot of a big order, if you're ready to place a big order they may be willing to open an account (not easy with a new business I know)

Find someone with a real shop, who would be willing to place orders on your behalf (in other words, trickery)