buying in bulk...how to approach whole salers for price reduction

[huggytree]

because of my recent busy streak i cant go to the supply houses every week to restock up on fittings....i have a huge barn built for the purpose of expanding and buying in bulk, so thats what im now doing...buying everything by the case.

i am attempting to get a lower price because of this...im calling up all the suppliers and trying to get the best prices for case price....

any suggestions on how to do it?...right now my method is letting them all bid against each other and then trying to get #2 or #3 to beat #1.

what percentage could i expect? 5 percent?

[billbenson]

As a distributor, huggy, I price high and see what the customers reaction is. If they ask for a discount, it really comes down to how much I make. I know that there are other distributors out there that are selling at a 2 percent margin at times. If someone comes back to me and says, will you match or beat the price of a competitor, I'll look at how much I make. I'll usually try to go for prepaid rather than terms in that case. I also add shipping back in, which I normally don't charge for. If I go for the price, thats it. If someone comes back to me for a better price again I'll say sorry but no For exactly the same reasons as you don't like dealing with cheap customers. It becomes more of a pain in the butt than its worth.

I know the big distributors keep margins very low in my industry. I suspect it would be the same in your industry. But the sales guy is only going to get excited if he is making money. Different distributors have different company cultures and some may be more willing to deal more.

If you can, the best option is probably to order as much as you can in one order from one company. The bigger the order, the more the sales guy is going to want it.

On edit: you might try calling the distributor in multiple locations. You could first call their MI number and then call them in some other location. A different sales guy might get you a better deal.