Problems finding new wholesaler
- Thread starter Blowfishaq
- Start date
Bryan Thompson":2ntdwjif said:
I thought the point of this forum was to have a slant towards the industry. There are many industry folks that participate in this forum. When you have tons and tons of forums on the net slanted towards hobbyists and their views it is quite refreshing to see a forum that shows the other side. These industry folks have to put up with tons and tons of morons...errr customers.
As odd as it sounds I think that it is good to have the MaryHM point of veiw.
While I disagree with her she has the right to run her business her way.
I beleive that she did not know that *** was home based.
What I disagree with is the fact that her policy hurts me and my customer.
What I would like to know is why her pet peeve is so important.
Oldguy":19i3s008 said:
Her pet peeve is shared by many LFS owners. There are many hobbyists that go down to the local courthouse and get a resale license, call up a wholesaler and poof they are a "retailer." It is tough for a the LFS owner to make a buck when you have someone scamming the system. Imagine being a LFS owner and finding out your wholesaler is selling to joe blow hobbyist down the street for the same price you are paying for your corals.
Maybe where you are from you can go to the courthouse but not here.
Here there is 1 wholesaler that handles SW and my reef is better stocked than his outlet.
If the hobbyist down the street has met their states requirement for a resale license then I have no problem with him buying from the wholesaler. The main reason is how do you decide who is and who is not a retailer. If I start a web site does that make me a retailer? In the town that I live in there are many businesses that are in the home in downtown.
They have a store front so they are a business but wait they live there so thier not a business.
Lastly I was a LFS owner and hope to open again.
Here there is 1 wholesaler that handles SW and my reef is better stocked than his outlet.
If the hobbyist down the street has met their states requirement for a resale license then I have no problem with him buying from the wholesaler. The main reason is how do you decide who is and who is not a retailer. If I start a web site does that make me a retailer? In the town that I live in there are many businesses that are in the home in downtown.
They have a store front so they are a business but wait they live there so thier not a business.
Lastly I was a LFS owner and hope to open again.
Bryan Thompson":2zgpqqju said:
fwiw, Bryan:
the very fact that an industry rep is willing to moderate a forum where all points of view are being expressed does speak volumes about that moderator, -for the better, i would think. :wink:
i've been following mary's, and all of the other 'industry posters'.seems to me you should be proud that people like mary are still around in the industry.
(sorry to help w/the 'personal tone' of the thread)
kudo's, mary
The funny thing about this is that Mary won't sell to a home based business because it takes business away from retail stores and screws the LFS owners. The Ironic thing about this is that she turns around and starts selling retail to customers from a new website! ( www.seacrop.com ) So now all of those customers can avoid going to the LFS, and buy direct from they're wholesaler instead. So who is screwing the LFS? The wholesaler that sells to the public?
ok-that got me curious, so i visited the site.here's a direct quote:
i interpret this as saying that the individual hobbyists will not be paying the same price for livestock as a true retail lfs.
no conflict there, (seems to me)
Downdeep:
i have absolutely no connection here, other than a hobbyist who thinks that some are not fully disclosing what they find on the site, or maybe misinterpreting what they find :wink:
did you see anything on the site that indicates that mary is selling to private hobbyists at wholesale prices?
if you have, and i missed it, i'd be happy if you would point it out to me.
just my own $.02
i interpret this as saying that the individual hobbyists will not be paying the same price for livestock as a true retail lfs.
no conflict there, (seems to me)
Downdeep:
i have absolutely no connection here, other than a hobbyist who thinks that some are not fully disclosing what they find on the site, or maybe misinterpreting what they find :wink:
did you see anything on the site that indicates that mary is selling to private hobbyists at wholesale prices?
if you have, and i missed it, i'd be happy if you would point it out to me.
just my own $.02
vitz,
As a retailer I find this recent trend of wholesalers setting up to compete with their retail customers, to be very troubling. I think they should make up their mind if they want to wholesale or retail, and do one or the other.
I don't care if they are high retail or not, it is still taking sales from retailers. It will also mean that retailers will no longer be able to get rare or cherry species. Who in their right mind is going to wholesale some rare fish or coral when they can get twice as much out of it on their retail site.
In the information age wholesalers will be quickly exposed for this practice. I'm sure it will get discussed a lot on the AMDA forum. I think if any wholesaler steps up with a firm policy against this trend they will benefit by increased business from retailers who object to this unfair competion. I'm defintely going to poll fellow AMDA members to see how they feel about this issue.
Mitch Gibbs
As a retailer I find this recent trend of wholesalers setting up to compete with their retail customers, to be very troubling. I think they should make up their mind if they want to wholesale or retail, and do one or the other.
I don't care if they are high retail or not, it is still taking sales from retailers. It will also mean that retailers will no longer be able to get rare or cherry species. Who in their right mind is going to wholesale some rare fish or coral when they can get twice as much out of it on their retail site.
In the information age wholesalers will be quickly exposed for this practice. I'm sure it will get discussed a lot on the AMDA forum. I think if any wholesaler steps up with a firm policy against this trend they will benefit by increased business from retailers who object to this unfair competion. I'm defintely going to poll fellow AMDA members to see how they feel about this issue.
Mitch Gibbs
Vitz,
This isn't about the wholesaler selling to the public at wholesale prices. It's about wholesalers selling to the public period, just as Dizzy said. Why bother going to the LFS when you know that you can cherry pick straight from the wholesaler even if you are paying retail. IMO, she is now competing against her own customers. Especially since she puts the names of her retail stores that buy from her on her site. So now I can see that "Fish and other ichthy things" in Oldsmar florida is a customer of hers. So now I know where they get they're nice stuff from. So instead of going to the LFS, I go straight to the wholesaler and get the same quality animals while leaving out the middleman, the LFS. IMO, selling to home based businesses is not nearly as damaging as this is to a LFS.
This isn't about the wholesaler selling to the public at wholesale prices. It's about wholesalers selling to the public period, just as Dizzy said. Why bother going to the LFS when you know that you can cherry pick straight from the wholesaler even if you are paying retail. IMO, she is now competing against her own customers. Especially since she puts the names of her retail stores that buy from her on her site. So now I can see that "Fish and other ichthy things" in Oldsmar florida is a customer of hers. So now I know where they get they're nice stuff from. So instead of going to the LFS, I go straight to the wholesaler and get the same quality animals while leaving out the middleman, the LFS. IMO, selling to home based businesses is not nearly as damaging as this is to a LFS.
Here are some direct quotes from the Seacrop site concerning the present topic. I have thought long and hard about how to go about doing this for almost two years. In fact, I have had a website up stating that I'm planning on selling to hobbyists for almost 2 years (www.cicrop.com). It's been no secret. I'm not trying to hide it from my customers. I am NOT competing with the retail stores that support me. In fact, a hobbyist in Dallas purchased the bottle in my Cream of the Crop section and he will be buying it through Aquatic Designs in Plano, Tx- one of my retail stores in the Dallas area. As soon as this hobbyist contacted me I immediately called Aquatic Designs and explained that I had a hobbyist order and would they like to handle it or have me ship direct. They said they would handle it and thought it was great! Afterall, they have sold presold an item that they don't have to hold, made good money off of it, and brought a potential return customer into the store who just might pick up something else while he's there. The retailer gets a customer in the door and makes money, the hobbyist gets something that he wants and pays less shipping on it. It's a win win situation. Anyway, here are some of the quotes:
Let's take Oklahoma for example. I don't have a single store there that buys from me. I see nothing wrong with selling AT RETAIL PRICES to a hobbyist there because none of those stores are bothering to support me. Why should I support them? Now, if a store starts to buy from me then the hobbyist can start picking their stuff up at the LFS instead of buying direct from me.
Self Explanatory.
Then, of course, don't forget Vitz's quote from another part of my site.
What I offer is unique. I am the only company where hobbyists can get a fish they KNOW is hand caught. I think hobbyists deserve to have access to these fish whether they live down the street from one of my supporting retailers or not. In fact, in a couple of months we will be doing some research that can only be carried out by a direct importer selling directly to hobbyists. (Stay tuned for that info!). I do not sell wholesale to hobbyists- anyone can look at my list and see that. I do not sell direct to hobbyists within a 50 mile radius of one of my supporting stores unless the store doesn't want to handle the transaction. I do not lie to my retail stores and say "<gasp> Of course we don't sell to hobbyists through that major online vendor that everyone knows about" I am up front and honest with everything. The only people who would have a problem with this are retail stores that do not support me. And you know what, if they can't place a $100 order once every three weeks I really don't care much about what they think. In fact, when we "cold call" new stores the main reason they say they don't want to order is because we don't have a lot of fish. They'd rather buy from Cyandie City who has a 3 page fish list. :roll: I'm supposed to protect the incomes of these people?????!!!!
So now someone is going to say- Well then, why don't you sell to home based businesses in areas where you don't have supporting LFS? The answer is simple, grasshopper. Here's the scenario: Garagefish.com is in Oklahoma. I don't sell to a store in that entire state-yet. If I start selling to him and then Brick & Mortar Fish Co. decides they want to start buying from me it's not fair for me to then tell Garagefish that he can't order anymore or he has to start buying at retail prices. Because I guarantee you, Brick & Mortar will put up a huge stink as soon as they find out I sell to Garagefish. Remember, if I'm going to sell at wholesale prices I want to sell to retailers with storefronts. Maybe you don't like that or it doesn't make sense to you, but since this business lists Mary Middlebrook as the president. I get to run things how I please. As soon as I go public I'll sell you all a bunch of stock and you can have a say. ;P Now, same scenario in OK but with a hobbyist instead of a garage business. The hobbyist starts buying direct from me. A few months later Brick & Mortar Fish Co. wants to start buying. There is absolutely NO conflict! The hobbyist can then buy my stuff thru the store. Simple. In fact, it's great advertising for my wholesale business because hobbyists will go into retail shops and say "I got this cool blah blah thing on seacrop.com". The retailer checks it out and wa-la is magically transported to my wholesale page.
Now, a quote from Dizzy:
The only retail sales I'm taking away from are stores that don't bother to place some kind of measly order from me once every three weeks. Geez, I don't even have a minimum for retailers, so if you want to make sure I'm not selling direct to your customers then place a $100 order every 3 weeks. As far as cherry pick stuff, it may be valid with other wholesalers but pertaining to my business that's a bunch of horsecrap. I am the only wholesaler in the country that posts a dozen or so pictures of the really cherry stuff on my website (reefsource.com) every week. I also post pics of cherry stuff on the seacrop site. My retailers have plenty of access to cool cherry pieces. In fact, one of them saw something on the seacrop site this week that they wanted and I sold it to them- at wholesale obviously. If you want to ***** about cherry pieces, go gripe to every other wholesaler who allows local LFS walk-ins. I've worked for the big LA wholesalers. These LFS line up Monday morning and take every cherry piece out of the place. We don't allow LFS in our facility. The ONLY wholesaler to protect our retailers like that.
As I stated earlier, I'm not hiding this from anyone. There is a purchasing information link on the website that I advertise to my retail customers every single week and they can easily see that I sell to hobbyists.
So after all that long dialouge, let's recap "How Mary Selling to Hobbyists Does Not Affect Her Retailers".
1. I don't hide the fact or out and out lie about it like some places.
2. I don't sell to hobbyists within 50 miles of a supporting LFS unless that LFS doesn't want to handle the transaction (and I can't imagine that ever happening).
3. I don't sell to hobbyists anywhere at wholesale prices.
4. I don't give all of the cherry stuff to hobbyists, as can be seen by viewing the cherry pages on both sites. Retailers can sign up for the seacrop mailing list and view all of that cherry stuff as soon as it's posted and buy it if they want as well as having sole access to the See It Before You Buy It stuff on reefsource.
That about sums it up. Of course someone on here is going to have some *****, complaint, incorrect assumption, etc... but like I've stated many times this is MY business and I'll run it how I darn well please.
And one more thing, dizzy- If you do poll the AMDA members I hope that in the interest of full disclosure and fairness you will post this over there.
Let's take Oklahoma for example. I don't have a single store there that buys from me. I see nothing wrong with selling AT RETAIL PRICES to a hobbyist there because none of those stores are bothering to support me. Why should I support them? Now, if a store starts to buy from me then the hobbyist can start picking their stuff up at the LFS instead of buying direct from me.
Self Explanatory.
Then, of course, don't forget Vitz's quote from another part of my site.
What I offer is unique. I am the only company where hobbyists can get a fish they KNOW is hand caught. I think hobbyists deserve to have access to these fish whether they live down the street from one of my supporting retailers or not. In fact, in a couple of months we will be doing some research that can only be carried out by a direct importer selling directly to hobbyists. (Stay tuned for that info!). I do not sell wholesale to hobbyists- anyone can look at my list and see that. I do not sell direct to hobbyists within a 50 mile radius of one of my supporting stores unless the store doesn't want to handle the transaction. I do not lie to my retail stores and say "<gasp> Of course we don't sell to hobbyists through that major online vendor that everyone knows about"
I am up front and honest with everything. The only people who would have a problem with this are retail stores that do not support me. And you know what, if they can't place a $100 order once every three weeks I really don't care much about what they think. In fact, when we "cold call" new stores the main reason they say they don't want to order is because we don't have a lot of fish. They'd rather buy from Cyandie City who has a 3 page fish list. :roll: I'm supposed to protect the incomes of these people?????!!!!So now someone is going to say- Well then, why don't you sell to home based businesses in areas where you don't have supporting LFS? The answer is simple, grasshopper.
Here's the scenario: Garagefish.com is in Oklahoma. I don't sell to a store in that entire state-yet. If I start selling to him and then Brick & Mortar Fish Co. decides they want to start buying from me it's not fair for me to then tell Garagefish that he can't order anymore or he has to start buying at retail prices. Because I guarantee you, Brick & Mortar will put up a huge stink as soon as they find out I sell to Garagefish. Remember, if I'm going to sell at wholesale prices I want to sell to retailers with storefronts. Maybe you don't like that or it doesn't make sense to you, but since this business lists Mary Middlebrook as the president. I get to run things how I please. As soon as I go public I'll sell you all a bunch of stock and you can have a say. ;P Now, same scenario in OK but with a hobbyist instead of a garage business. The hobbyist starts buying direct from me. A few months later Brick & Mortar Fish Co. wants to start buying. There is absolutely NO conflict! The hobbyist can then buy my stuff thru the store. Simple. In fact, it's great advertising for my wholesale business because hobbyists will go into retail shops and say "I got this cool blah blah thing on seacrop.com". The retailer checks it out and wa-la is magically transported to my wholesale page. Now, a quote from Dizzy:
The only retail sales I'm taking away from are stores that don't bother to place some kind of measly order from me once every three weeks. Geez, I don't even have a minimum for retailers, so if you want to make sure I'm not selling direct to your customers then place a $100 order every 3 weeks. As far as cherry pick stuff, it may be valid with other wholesalers but pertaining to my business that's a bunch of horsecrap. I am the only wholesaler in the country that posts a dozen or so pictures of the really cherry stuff on my website (reefsource.com) every week. I also post pics of cherry stuff on the seacrop site. My retailers have plenty of access to cool cherry pieces. In fact, one of them saw something on the seacrop site this week that they wanted and I sold it to them- at wholesale obviously. If you want to ***** about cherry pieces, go gripe to every other wholesaler who allows local LFS walk-ins. I've worked for the big LA wholesalers. These LFS line up Monday morning and take every cherry piece out of the place. We don't allow LFS in our facility. The ONLY wholesaler to protect our retailers like that.
As I stated earlier, I'm not hiding this from anyone. There is a purchasing information link on the website that I advertise to my retail customers every single week and they can easily see that I sell to hobbyists.
So after all that long dialouge, let's recap "How Mary Selling to Hobbyists Does Not Affect Her Retailers".
1. I don't hide the fact or out and out lie about it like some places.
2. I don't sell to hobbyists within 50 miles of a supporting LFS unless that LFS doesn't want to handle the transaction (and I can't imagine that ever happening).
3. I don't sell to hobbyists anywhere at wholesale prices.
4. I don't give all of the cherry stuff to hobbyists, as can be seen by viewing the cherry pages on both sites. Retailers can sign up for the seacrop mailing list and view all of that cherry stuff as soon as it's posted and buy it if they want as well as having sole access to the See It Before You Buy It stuff on reefsource.
That about sums it up. Of course someone on here is going to have some *****, complaint, incorrect assumption, etc... but like I've stated many times this is MY business and I'll run it how I darn well please.
And one more thing, dizzy- If you do poll the AMDA members I hope that in the interest of full disclosure and fairness you will post this over there.
While I was typing my novel, I noticed DownDeep posted something about Fish & Other Ichthy Stuff (one of my best customers). How funny, because I just referred a hobbyist over to him the other day:
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthr ... genumber=2
Does that sound like the work of an evil wholesaler trying to steal away her retail customer's hobbyists???
The answer to your question about why would someone buy from John if they could buy direct from me should be clear from the above novel. But here's another reason hobbyists should buy from my retailers and not me directly- they will save a ton in shipping. It's alot cheaper to piggyback a piece on a retailers airline shipment than to Fed Ex it.
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthr ... genumber=2
Does that sound like the work of an evil wholesaler trying to steal away her retail customer's hobbyists???
The answer to your question about why would someone buy from John if they could buy direct from me should be clear from the above novel. But here's another reason hobbyists should buy from my retailers and not me directly- they will save a ton in shipping. It's alot cheaper to piggyback a piece on a retailers airline shipment than to Fed Ex it.
Here's an interesting thought I just had. Retailers don't want wholesalers to "go around" them and sell to hobbyists. Do these retailers have the same aversion when themselves or other retailers "go around" wholesalers and buy transship?? Since we enjoy making this personal and dizzy is the only retailer posting in here right now I'll pick on him ...Dizzy- have you ever bought transship? Saltwater or freshwater.
...Dizzy- have you ever bought transship? Saltwater or freshwater.Mary,
Actually I have tried transhipping salt years ago. The losses were too high and I think the practice should be outlawed. Freshwater works better and actually we do bring part of our fish in that way.
I don't see this as wanting to eat my cake and have it too, as in the example you are setting for all wholesalers to follow. I'm not competeing with my customers if I bring in fish from wholesalers and some from transship.
Mary IMO, you are sending a message to every wholesaler in the industry that this is the way they should operate also. Problem is they will run their retail the way they want and not necessarily like you do. Seems like the stores are being sold out to me. Time will tell.
Mitch Gibbs
Actually I have tried transhipping salt years ago. The losses were too high and I think the practice should be outlawed. Freshwater works better and actually we do bring part of our fish in that way.
I don't see this as wanting to eat my cake and have it too, as in the example you are setting for all wholesalers to follow. I'm not competeing with my customers if I bring in fish from wholesalers and some from transship.
Mary IMO, you are sending a message to every wholesaler in the industry that this is the way they should operate also. Problem is they will run their retail the way they want and not necessarily like you do. Seems like the stores are being sold out to me. Time will tell.
Mitch Gibbs
Don't you even imply that I am setting an example. A well known wholesaler has been selling retail for years. Every wholesaler knows about it- we even joke about it to each other. If other wholesalers want to sell retail they don't need to get the idea from me. Believe me, the LA wholesalers don't follow my lead. If they did they'd quit bringing in cyanide caught fish. This is just another aspect of my business that I am pursuing and it is not affecting you one bit- unless of course you don't support me.
Here's one of the reasons why I'm doing it. Freight rate out of Indonesia and Fiji has increased drastically over the past year. Have you seen my prices increase? No. But it is getting to the point where someone has to pay for all of the increased costs. I have a hard time competing with the LA wholesalers because of my lack of fish. If I raise my wholesale prices it would be suicide. By making some money off of the hobbyists I am offsetting my freight costs. It's called BUSINESS. And if I can do it without harming the retail stores that support me then why anyone should care is beyond my understanding. If you want to gripe about a wholesaler who is undermining their retail customers, you know the person I referred to earlier. Expose him. Again, if I am running my operation right, why should anyone be offended? The only reason is if they are a LFS that doesn't support me by purchasing $100 of animals once every 3 weeks.
As far as this quote:
It's not about competing with a customer base so much as it's about supporting business. I support my retailers. I appreciate it when they support me. When they transship they are not supporting me and are undermining my business. All I ask for is the same respect I give them. I don't mind if my retailers transship, as long as they also purchase some in house animals from me. That's both good business and supporting each other. Would it make sense for me not to sell to a hobbyist who wants hand caught fish if the only store in their area transships everything?? That store isn't supporting me- why should I support them?
Here's one of the reasons why I'm doing it. Freight rate out of Indonesia and Fiji has increased drastically over the past year. Have you seen my prices increase? No. But it is getting to the point where someone has to pay for all of the increased costs. I have a hard time competing with the LA wholesalers because of my lack of fish. If I raise my wholesale prices it would be suicide. By making some money off of the hobbyists I am offsetting my freight costs. It's called BUSINESS. And if I can do it without harming the retail stores that support me then why anyone should care is beyond my understanding. If you want to gripe about a wholesaler who is undermining their retail customers, you know the person I referred to earlier. Expose him. Again, if I am running my operation right, why should anyone be offended? The only reason is if they are a LFS that doesn't support me by purchasing $100 of animals once every 3 weeks.
As far as this quote:
It's not about competing with a customer base so much as it's about supporting business. I support my retailers. I appreciate it when they support me. When they transship they are not supporting me and are undermining my business. All I ask for is the same respect I give them. I don't mind if my retailers transship, as long as they also purchase some in house animals from me. That's both good business and supporting each other. Would it make sense for me not to sell to a hobbyist who wants hand caught fish if the only store in their area transships everything?? That store isn't supporting me- why should I support them?
Mary, I would recommend that you close this thread. You are starting to show your true self and that may not be good business. I for one am glad you have the storefront only policy or I may have supported you and your "It's all about me" business.
And to Dizzy, Mary is competing with retail shops. I find it hard to believe she checks every address to see if they are within 50 miles of one of her customers. Heck she did not even know Dr. Mac was garage based and it is all over these boards that he is. Also how many people post on here about driving 100+ miles to get to a good store? That kind of blows the 50-mile thing out of the water.
In the best interest of this thread and the purpose of this board, this will be my last post on this topic. Mary, you can have the last word then please close this thread.
Bryan
And to Dizzy, Mary is competing with retail shops. I find it hard to believe she checks every address to see if they are within 50 miles of one of her customers. Heck she did not even know Dr. Mac was garage based and it is all over these boards that he is. Also how many people post on here about driving 100+ miles to get to a good store? That kind of blows the 50-mile thing out of the water.
In the best interest of this thread and the purpose of this board, this will be my last post on this topic. Mary, you can have the last word then please close this thread.
Bryan
I really grow tired of rehashing things for you Bryan, but I guess I will again so you'll hopefully understand- not that I'm betting on it.
For starters, I will not close this thread. There is no reason to close it. I haven't said anything here that isn't obvious to anyone looking at my websites (that I don't sell to home based businesses, that I do sell to hobbyists now). My "true self" is plain and clear and I don't need to hide it by closing this thread. Since you stated that you may have "supported" me, I am going to assume you are a home based business. That would explain your obvious anger toward me. Maybe you are one of the businesses I have denied or maybe you are one of the businesses I have had phone conversations with trying to explain why I won't sell to them. Those never end up with the person on the other end very pleased.
Anyone ever go into a retail shop (any type of business) and see a sign that says "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone"? Bryan, do you freak out on those establishments like you have me? Or am I the only business in the world who has to sell to anyone that wants to buy from me? Do I not have the right to "refuse service"??
About the *** thing- that has been explained. He isn't my customer. I have a completely different phone and fax line than my salesman and I don't know every request that comes across his desk. You can "find it hard to believe" about checking hobbyists locations all you want. If it wasn't true, then why have I contacted Aquatic Designs in Texas about servicing a hobbyists order? I have also contacted Boston Tropical about a hobbyist purchase. Would you like to call them and ask? It's not like you believe anything I say anyway.
If hobbyists want to drive 100 miles to a store, that's their business. Like I stated, it's cheaper for them to buy from one of my retailers due to shipping costs anyway.
I guess what I'm saying here is chill out. Why you constantly attack me personally, call me a liar, etc.. is beyond my understanding. Like I said, I can only assume you're one of the home businesses I've denied and you have a chip on your shoulder because of it. Maybe that's wrong, I don't know. All I know is like I've said 100 times- it's MY business and I'll sell animals how and to whom I please. Why that's so difficult for you to accept I don't know.....
For starters, I will not close this thread. There is no reason to close it. I haven't said anything here that isn't obvious to anyone looking at my websites (that I don't sell to home based businesses, that I do sell to hobbyists now). My "true self" is plain and clear and I don't need to hide it by closing this thread. Since you stated that you may have "supported" me, I am going to assume you are a home based business. That would explain your obvious anger toward me. Maybe you are one of the businesses I have denied or maybe you are one of the businesses I have had phone conversations with trying to explain why I won't sell to them. Those never end up with the person on the other end very pleased.
Anyone ever go into a retail shop (any type of business) and see a sign that says "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone"? Bryan, do you freak out on those establishments like you have me? Or am I the only business in the world who has to sell to anyone that wants to buy from me? Do I not have the right to "refuse service"??
About the *** thing- that has been explained. He isn't my customer. I have a completely different phone and fax line than my salesman and I don't know every request that comes across his desk. You can "find it hard to believe" about checking hobbyists locations all you want. If it wasn't true, then why have I contacted Aquatic Designs in Texas about servicing a hobbyists order? I have also contacted Boston Tropical about a hobbyist purchase. Would you like to call them and ask? It's not like you believe anything I say anyway.
If hobbyists want to drive 100 miles to a store, that's their business. Like I stated, it's cheaper for them to buy from one of my retailers due to shipping costs anyway.
I guess what I'm saying here is chill out. Why you constantly attack me personally, call me a liar, etc.. is beyond my understanding. Like I said, I can only assume you're one of the home businesses I've denied and you have a chip on your shoulder because of it. Maybe that's wrong, I don't know. All I know is like I've said 100 times- it's MY business and I'll sell animals how and to whom I please. Why that's so difficult for you to accept I don't know.....
Mary,
I too only sell to those who have a storefront. For different reasons though, my store owner customers locally here would drop me in a second if they thought I sold some fish to joe-blow off the street or to someone with a maintenance company. I prefer to have only a few steady, high volume customers instead of a whole bunch of sporadic, low volume accounts that I had to continously chase for payment.
Doug
I too only sell to those who have a storefront. For different reasons though, my store owner customers locally here would drop me in a second if they thought I sold some fish to joe-blow off the street or to someone with a maintenance company. I prefer to have only a few steady, high volume customers instead of a whole bunch of sporadic, low volume accounts that I had to continously chase for payment.
Doug
This whole argument regarding Mary selling direct to the hobbiest while questioning her business ethics seem bizarre. Mary has every right to sell to whom she wants just the same as any retailer can purchase their product from any wholesaler they choose. That is what a free market is all about. I don't feel that Mary is harming any retailer at all. Obviously, if a hobbiest is having to aproach Mary to purchase quality net-caught animals, it speaks about the quality of the retailer in that area.
The bigger question that must be asked, with respect to business ethics, is why are wholesalers continuing to purchase and sell cyanide caught fish?
The bigger question that must be asked, with respect to business ethics, is why are wholesalers continuing to purchase and sell cyanide caught fish?
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