[Jewelry making - Article 01326] - [Orchid] Wholesale catalog frustration

[Walt Teats]

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    Recently a very good client of mine came to me w/ a problem that
    seems to be happening with more frequency with some suppliers. She
    has a friend who is a retired registered nurse, who brought to her
    store a findings book from Rio Grande. This individual (I know her
    too) is not a hobbyist, student, professional or anything else
    having to do w/ our industry. My client wrote to Rio complaining
    about how they seem to be sending out catalogs without ACTUALLY
    checking on who these people are. According to Rio: 

        "We work with wholesalers, designers, students, and the jewelry
        craftsperson. I'm not sure of the customer you had in your
        store. It is possible that the customer ordered the catalogs
        online after business hours. In this case we charge the customer
        for the catalog and have them sent. Their acct. will not allow
        any orders until they have been screened by one of our agents. If
        they do not qualify we will then close their acct.We would never
        want to undersell our customer base, and refer any non-qualified
        customers to their local jeweler". 

    1) So Rio admits that they will send out a catalog( and take money
    for it) and not check the background of the potential client, but
    then turn around & NOT let them order if they don't fit the criteria
    (after the fact). 

    2) The "customer" then has a "wholesale catalog in their hot little
    hands that they can then bring into your store & point out the
    actual cost of an item to you.Yes, Rio does publish a catalog w/ no
    prices. And a catalog w/ a triple key pricing in it. Does anyone
    believe that the average customer will know these differences? 

    3) Clearly this individual in NO WAY met ANY of their criteria. But
    she has a catalog! Clearly negating their claim that "We would never
    want to undersell our customer base". The fact that they have a
    catalog creates the very problem that Rio claims they are trying to
    avoid. 

    I ran into this problem earlier with another big supplier, who will
    go unnamed, last year. This time it was a sporting goods store. I
    was floored. After a rather angry letter to this company, it was
    explained to me that the company they sent the catalog to was a
    "retailer" with an actual resale number. So get ready folks. Your
    competition isn't the "other" jewelry store across town or across
    the street. It's now sporting goods stores, gas stations, mini
    marts, and even private individuals. Most of the suppliers I deal
    with have iron clad systems you have to get through. Time consumming
     AT  1st. But in the end, it protects all of us who spend their lives
    in this business. Unfortunately, the big players have this "oh well"
    attitude when these issues are brought up to them. 

Walt Teats
American Goldworks
Great Falls, MT
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