LCS owners please advise

[michaelpatko]

It's my understanding that the owners of Local Card Shops purchase product directly from the manufacturer, UD, Topps, Panini, etc.
From speaking to my LCS owner, they have to lay out the money up front MONTHS in advance of release (and sometime release is delayed, LOL, sometimes.)

So what I'm asking is a couple things. Do you get product cheaper if you order more cases? For example, pre-order 2 cases of UD1 @ $900 each, but pre-order 10 cases @ $860 each?
You know, a volume discount.

Also, concerning 2012-2013 UD1, when is the pre-order money due, and how much is dealer cost? Can we start ordering product en masse as SCF members?
I'd be OK with putting money in up front if it guaranteed me dealer cost, etc.

Thoughts>?

[13stepper]

I used to own a shop in Canada. Canadian shop owners are not allowed to purchase directly from manufacturers (ITG is an exception). I do know that dealing with the two distributors in Canada, Universal and Grosnor the prices were volume based. Depending on the ANNUAL volume purchased by LCS owners would determine what pricing level you were placed in.

[Fred Bear]

It's business, so much of it is based on individual negotiations.

You have to do a certain volume of business before the manufacturers will take you direct (as well as meeting other requirements). For 'smaller' volumes, the manufacturers prefer that shops go through their distributors (increases the distributor volume and discounts). [This was one of the 'loopholes' closed by the recent changes. Several large shops were acting as pseudo-distributors for smaller shops which increased their purchase volumes, allocations, & discounts. It, unfortunately, put stress on the distributors and created disparity between shop pricing requirements.] Discounts can be negotiated based on annual business volume based on either route.

The cash outlays are also typically negotiated and based on a shop's individual line of credit. It can also be linked to the 'quality' of the product, i.e. order Victory on 'credit', but pay up front for The Cup. The smaller the volume, typically the higher the percentage required to 'hold' product.

The manufacturers currently have restrictions about who can buy at what pricing at what times. I know pre-orders should already be in for many of the early 12-13 products. Most shops are taking pre-orders for the secondary market already and they will all have individual requirements for how much down and when its required.

[michaelpatko]

Thanks for the info guys :)

[Mnum]

There r 4 distributors we use & yes we do sometimes (most of the time) have to leave either a deposit or full purchase price of the case if we order in advance. Which totally sucks when the product is delayed. I paid for 2 cases od SP Authentic 2 months ago. I know Score and OPC can already be pre-ordered but we have not done so yet as it can be got for the same price whether we order now and pay for it or a week before it releases. UD will be in August or September and we always pre-order and pay for that in advance do to high demand. I can't tell you want we pay wholesale for the cases (that would be suicide for all LCS's out there as are mark ups are not as high as you my think they are.) Not sure you will find a dealer willing to sell you a case at cost. But we give discounts to our regular customers. Also we are not allowed to sell packs/boxes/cases here on the Forum as its against the forum rules.

[13stepper]

+1000, the markup is horrible.

There r 4 distributors we use & yes we do sometimes (most of the time) have to leave either a deposit or full purchase price of the case if we order in advance. Which totally sucks when the product is delayed. I paid for 2 cases od SP Authentic 2 months ago. I know Score and OPC can already be pre-ordered but we have not done so yet as it can be got for the same price whether we order now and pay for it or a week before it releases. UD will be in August or September and we always pre-order and pay for that in advance do to high demand. I can't tell you want we pay wholesale for the cases (that would be suicide for all LCS's out there as are mark ups are not as high as you my think they are.) Not sure you will find a dealer willing to sell you a case at cost. But we give discounts to our regular customers. Also we are not allowed to sell packs/boxes/cases here on the Forum as its against the forum rules.

[Mnum]

+1000, the markup is horrible.

If your referring to what the Wholesalers mark it up to before selling it to us yup it is horrible. Especially after finding out what our counterparts in the USA pay for there cases *& boxes we get shafted up here I wish they would allow us to by direct but I think its a customs thing they don't want to deal with the hassle of sending out a case here and a case here its better for the companies to ship 1000 cases to each wholesaler then 1-2 case to each LCS.