I am sure everyone here assumes it is nothing but champagne and cheap batteries being a glamorous flashlight dealer, hahaha so I thought I would share this story about the joy of working with a foreign supplier.
Browsing the forums this week I saw a post regarding a new light/emitter being launched and contacted the company for a wholesale price list. They responded in just a few hours but would not send a price list. Instead, they wanted a list of the lights I was interested and then would in turn forward me pricing. For me, that is an immediate red flag. Another company started emailing 6 months ago asking that I order samples but refusing to tell me the actual non sample costs. I passed on that opportunity but still see other sites/threads trying to dump those lights at below sample cost!
I decided to go ahead and send my list as the lights looked very interesting and if they followed the general wholesale pricing formula, the costs looked quite reasonable. Three days passed with out a a response - very unusual considering I was trying to place an order and not making a complaint - so last night I pinged them again asking for pricing.
This morning, I check my email and finally I have an answer! The message said that her (the sales reps) friend recommended the following pricing…$5 discount per light.
Too bad as it looked like a great brand to add to the line-up.
Any industry has its obstacles that is for sure. Retail can be especially hair pulling due to the large inventory investments, supply chain issues etc… but it is what I know. I have been slinging one product or another since I was 12.
I believe this can be quite frustrating.
Back in my apprenticeship (VCR were state of the art then :P) my master’s retail business belonged to a big chain.
This chain used to do funny things like offering a TV in their webstore to end customers for 200 bucks less than our wholesale price was at that chain. The customers even could pick up those products at our shop and we only got a 5 bucks handling fee . . . makes you feel really good.
So I feel with you. The hunt for decent goods and prices can be somewhat exhausting from time to time.
Yep, the smaller dealers have to little no leverage and are at the mercy of the supplier dealing fairly across the board. That rarely happens. The lure of the million dollar purchase order is too strong.
Haha that might be for another forum! - I was working at Target in high school around 1998 when people where going nuts for Furby’s. Elmo’s etc. Nobody really knew about reselling on eBay then so whenever a shipment of those would come in the 3rd shift guys who unloaded the trucks would just set them aside for me, no questions. Did the same thing with PS2 and xBox. Really stuck gold with DVD players. I could get a $500 Onkyo’s for less than $200. Then the internet “happend” lol.
I hear you brother. I have been selling one thing or another for 35 years give or take a few. Even when I had real jobs I always had something on the side. Dealing with overseas suppliers especially China is frustrating. finding a really good supplier who is first class is like hitting the lotto. The one thing I learned is to strike while the iron is hot. When you find something that is really making money. Hit it fast and hard and don’t get in over your head with inventory that you might get stuck with. With how fast flashlight tech moves it must be difficult to buy anything in too large of a supply without fear of getting stuck with it. I had about a 5 year run selling plumbing supplies direct. Before the internet happened. I made a killing. Then I moved guitars for a decade. Recently I sold e-cigs when they very first came out. The first two years before everyone and their brother jumped on board was unreal. Highest profit margins I ever worked with, low shipping costs because everything was light. I got stuck with maybe a grand in parts at the end of that run. Not too bad. I decided to call it a day and retired. It’s been a lot of fun and I made a lot of money over the years but it’s a lot more work than anyone knows unless they have tried to make a living this way. Who knows though, one of these days I’ll probably stumble across another opportunity and jump back in, but not with any large investment. I’m not taking any chances with my retirement, no way do I want to end up having to get a real job at this point in my life. I guess I could put the old lady to work. LOL (not going to happen she was a stay at home mom and now is a stay at home grandma)
Well good luck, have fun and most of all make money.
I’m a sales manager at a US factory so I understand what you’re going through. Finding a good factory usually means they’re already established with large customers. Inquiries for low volumes usually end up getting pushed aside and forgotten. I personally try my best to not do that, but it happens. Especially if I have my plate full.
Also, there are some factories that charge more for samples than the actual production run. Halting a full line from production to run a sample order can be costly.
I can understand in certain scenarios, samples can be costly. At least in the flashlight industry, my experience has been that some lesser established brands offer sample at little to no cost so dealers can evaluate the product and make a decision on whether or not to order. I would assume the samples offered were part of a production run and not one-off items.
Agreed. I’ve been thinking of a way to convince Fenix they’re not established enough and they need to give me a sample of their TK75 for review. Its not working out too well.
