Vendor wants me to raise my prices on website

[CareBear]

I totally disagree with selling my products for private labeling. I NEVER do that! I worked damned hard to get my products where I want them, I'm certainly not going to let someone else take the credit for my hard work.

Take the credit? Is it about appreciation or profit?

It's a business decision, or should be. IMO.

[Dana]

I did all that JoshK suggested, even private labeled for them..took weeks to design the logo for them, but they were VERY stubborn and wanted to dictate the retail price. I just did not like their attitude. Do you think another candle manufacturer, say Yankee would let you sell their candles higher than their set retail price- no way. They would sit on the shelf because other places sell them for less. If your customer is willing to work with you to find a happy medium that would be great! In my situation though, she was not easy to work with so I said, (in a professional manor) "Hasta la vista, baby!"

[lsbennis]

Take the credit? Is it about appreciation or profit?

It's a business decision, or should be. IMO.

I don't know, but the way I see it is trying to build a brand name, and to me that is a business decision. If Yankee only did private label then would they really have the following that they have now?

[Bernadette]

Yes, like when I did wholesale, for one place that asked for similiar conditions to this situation, I offered them fragrances that I only sold to them. They were terrific scents that the customers really liked, and I made sure they were compatible in candles and soap. 9 out of 10 customers got both! The customers came to my website to try other scents, since they were thrilled with those in the stores that they could have a "hands on" experience with. The store was happy, the customers were happy, and I was definitely happy.

Never type a response before you've finished your first cup of coffee! When will I learn...anyway, I forgot to mention that the store sold them for more than my website candles. There was no conflict because customers could only get those scents in the store, and they continued to buy them because they liked those scents so much...but they came to the website too because it was less expensive, and found more fragrances that they loved.

Edited February 25, 2011 by Bernadette

[JoshK]

I did all that JoshK suggested, even private labeled for them..took weeks to design the logo for them, but they were VERY stubborn and wanted to dictate the retail price. I just did not like their attitude. Do you think another candle manufacturer, say Yankee would let you sell their candles higher than their set retail price- no way. They would sit on the shelf because other places sell them for less. If your customer is willing to work with you to find a happy medium that would be great! In my situation though, she was not easy to work with so I said, (in a professional manor) "Hasta la vista, baby!"

Kudos for knowing when to walk away. You'll always have situations where you're not able to find a reasonable solution in which case it's better to say no thanks, then take a deal that is bad for your business. Fortunetly (in my experience at least) for every unreasonable person there's at least 2 or 3 reasonable ones.

[simplybeelightful]

Take the credit? Is it about appreciation or profit?

It's a business decision, or should be. IMO.

Guess it's a little of both and, if I weren't trying to sell my products myself, I wouldn't mind letting someone put their name on... and, considering I made close to 30K my last year in business, I think I made the right decision for me.

Most of the retailers that had asked me about private labels went ahead and let me sell under my label anyway.