Forum Moderators: buckworks
Some companies, of course, would seek to favour the 'exclusive' merchant, in order to encourage exclusivity.
In many countries, an owner can sell at whatever price he and the buyer agree on - other customers are separate agreements. In other countries, there are some restrictions, but mostly on transparency.
But if I was (for example) a car dealer selling exclusively JimCars, and I discovered they were favouring a rival, multi-company dealer, then I'd stop selling JimCars exclusively - or maybe stop selling them at all, and start selling JaneCars exclusively instead!
It's not always possible to use the law - and it's often more effective to find a business solution - take your money elsewhere.
The better buyers continually hounded us for more discounts, and would always be sure to tell us what our competitor would sell it to them for. The result is that the big volume buyers ratchet their price down, and we would end up with price levels like (wholesale-10%-5%-2%) as a result of all the price grinding.
Sometimes two different companies would purchase the same quantity, but get different pricing. This happened not out of a plan on our part, but because one of the companies was a more aggressive negotiator than the other. If a company was moving a lot of product for their discount level, we would sometimes lower their price level in hopes that it would help increase their purchases even more.
Price levels weren't ever about the OP's idea of treating a single line seller poorly, more as a result of never having good enough information to sort out the BS from the truth. Everytime we looked at the pricing of our products, it was based on the assumption of selling at our lowest price level. If you want better pricing from your suppliers, then you should learn what their competition will sell it to you for. As the second poster says, there is a much better business solution than a legal one.
I work for a wholesaler/distributor...our response to your problem would be, well, "Your point?"
Of course we charge different people different prices! We use an absurd amount of criteria to segment the market and determine which price to charge an account:
Which product lines are being ordered?
Which items from the product line do you purchase the most?
Are the items stock? Are they non-stock? Special order?
What is your rate of return? Defective claimes?
Are the returns/defectives on lines we receive defective allowances from the manufacturer? Can we get an RGA/RMA from the manufacturer, or do we write-off the defectives?
How quickly do you pay upon order invoice? 30? 60? 90?
What's our profit margin from you likely to be?
How long have you been in business?
Do you shop us for pricing? Or are we your sole source?
What's your/your company's credit rating?
What is the manufacturer's rebate policy? Do we qualify? Does your yearly order level of a product line and item qualify for a rebate in and of itself?
Do you make large enough purchases to qualify for direct shipment from the manufacturer?
Do you have good relations with the Associated Distributors?
...the list goes on and on...at the end of which is:
How is your salesman feeling when he opens your account?
How much does he think he can charge you and still have you come back tomorrow?
The moral: Don't be offended, it's business. Our job is to make the most money off of you that we can. So, if we send you a bill and you pay for it, where's our incentive to lower your pricing?
I can tell you exactly how management around here would view your enquiry: We'll change your pricing structure if you can show us that we will make even more money by doing so or, if you threaten to leave and we value your business enough to chase you out the door. So, if you want lower pricing, prove you're worth it.
They're doing it because they can. Without the specifics (which you cannot give us here), no-one can agree or disagree - with any certainty.
But even if we all agreed that they are unfair, how would that help you?
[edited by: Quadrille at 11:31 pm (utc) on Feb. 2, 2009]
Did you ship a pack-full-o-nuts & cookies & etc. with a "thank you" letter, to the persons in charge that are able to give you a better deal?
Did you provide some sort of kickback?
There's a new (stimulus) package coming.
How much $$$$Billion is for stimulus and how much for getting the deal done.
Got the idea? Try sending something... :)
If they upset you that much, drop their lines or pick up a competing product.
