Brick and Mortar establishments?

[Junanagoh]

I was doing a little research a while back for a eCommerce store I was thinking about opening and emailed a few wholesalers for their price guides. Each one messaged me back as said due to their contracts with the Widget maker they can only sell to brick and mortar esablishments.

I have seen tons of sites that sell these widgets and after my research I realized that I found I nitch I wanted to exploit, but why can only the large online retailers sell these widgets?

Is there something I dont know about how this all works?

[peco]

Maybe the large on-line retailers buy the widgets direct from the manufacturer.

[HRoth]

Does the widget maker have an online presence? One of my suppliers makes us swear we will not sell their widgets online because they sell them online and don't want any competition or to be undercut.

[Junanagoh]

No, they seem more of the mom and pop supporters. They are an EXTREMELY large company and if I told you their name you would know who I am talking about but they diplay the stores that sell their wares on their own site but they dont sell their own wares to individuals.

I would have just left it at that except their widgets are all over the web and I know I could do well selling them.

[Junanagoh]

Maybe ill email them about it. I asked for copyright premission to use some of their pictures on one of my sites so I know they are easy to get ahold of.

[sniffer]

You need to ask yourself why they would even bother dealing with you if they were a very large wholesaler/manufacturer (no offense intended here). Are you certain that the other people selling these widgets are getting them direct?

[Junanagoh]

i am not certain, but how else would they get them if the wholesalers can only sell to brick and mortar establishments?

[ispy]

That brick and mortar stuff is pure old fashioned hogwash. A good ecommerce site has more visitors and sales then any neighborhood store, unless you are talking about a huge chain store or something. I have been through this time and again and know that a website store sells more, and more efficiently, then a brick and mortar. Manufacturers and the people who run them are often old school and need to change to keep up with the times. The only thing is that with the ecommerce the manufacturers must divert more energy into possible customer service issues or drop shipping, returns et. then they would with a brick and mortar.

[Junanagoh]

The company, Wizards of the Coast, seems to want to support the little guys and local establishments (gaming stores, etc.)

When I go freelance web design in 6 months or so I might try to start this up again and see how the other online stores work. It is just confusing. Do I have to register a company and have an address that is under the companys name to sell stuff online? Ugh its so frustrating.

[jsinger]

If you want to do it right, forget about email and start making phone calls.

You can't believe some of the junk inquiries we get to resell our products. Some are a few illiterate words long with absolutely no info to qualify them.

ie. "u sell whse? send pricelist asap." Jeesh!

[Junanagoh]

Lol good idea. I dont have any time to start an eCommerce business right now. But like I said earlier I am looking to go freelance webdesigner soon and I think making an online store would be an interest of mine at that time.