Blackburn Metals – showing pricing online your views?

[David Rowland]

here we go again… sold to the public

[Robert Lambie]

I agree with you Tim…
Trade prices should not be on view or available to the general public.

[Martin Pearson]

I feel the same way as you Tim but unfortunately it’s the world we live in these days. I’ve had a few people tell me what I pay for materials & the vinyl prices they quote are always cheap tatty vinyls that I wouldn’t use myself.

Seems suppliers are willing to sell to anyone & I have noticed more & more that have the one price so my customers can buy as cheaply as me & I get no extra discount for being a regular purchaser.

[Robert Lambie]

Not that we should have to in the first place, but a complaint should be made.
If not resolved quickly the supplier should be boycotted.
If we did the same to our better repeat customers I am sure they would shop elsewhere too.

[John Wilson]

quote Robert Lambie:

If not resolved quickly the supplier should be boycotted.

Boycott the lot of them, nothing worse and it drives me nuts

The amount of customers lately that offer to supply materials is unreal but i just tell them all to go elsewhere and come back to me when they need it done properly :lol1:

[Tim Painter]

I’m not out to cause problems, just try and protect my business like any other would.

My local rep has passed on my comments and I have given him this link in the hope that
it is seen more seriously than just 1 customer having a whinge.

[John Harding]

Yep – not happy either, to be honest I dont buy loads from them just now and again but its not good.

John

[Martin Cole]

quote Tim Painter:

I’m not happy that pricing is being shown without any form of login – I feel trade prices should only be viewable by The Trade.

I totally agree

‘yet another nail in the signmakers coffin’

[Robert Lambie]

I wasn’t aware of Blackburn, but to be honest, their not the first and wont be the last trade supplier to do this.
Things are tight for everyone these days, trade suppliers included. so i can see why they go this route. but that is not our problem. trade only prices should be just that, trade only. if a supplier chooses to list prices, again that’s fine, but we should be buying at a significantly lower rate.

[P. Harris]

Bang out order! Would be OK if they quoted MSRP and
then quoted prices alot higher than real sign trade get the stuff for…
I know it tough out there for everyone,
but I’m old school Trade Supplier Means Trade Only Prices (!)
Next you’ll be having a real tight a**e customer asking why have you
charged X amount, when they saw a sheet for X amount online,
and then rest is just done by a computor (if only).
Belive me they are out there!!
Rant Over….

Cheers Brock

[Neil Davey]

I agree, suppliers shouldn’t advertise prices online with out a login.

MetaMark prices are online for all to see!!!

[Mike Grant]

Jag are the same. Yesterday I had a customer come in and for the first time I showed the customer some trim samples, and realised the company name was on it as the customer said the name out loud, almost as if he wanted to remember the name to find out prices on the net.
I went on line to get prices from Jag and no log in needed. 🙄 😥
Say no more!

[Peter Thorning]

From what I can gather, the online prices are for Joe Public. I buy most of my composite boards from them and certainly don’t pay anywhere near those prices. They’ve got and 8ft x 4ft for £135.69!!!!

Wouldn’t mind customers seeing those prices!!

http://www.blackburnssigns.co.uk/bcp-co … s.html?p=3

[Tim Painter]

Look at the Opal acrylic prices, those were why I brought this up.

[Stephen Ingham]

I don’t often voice an opinion, i generally sit and listen but i have problems with our local Blackburns too.

We have always bought our boards from them as and when we need them and no longer hold any in stock and i have always found their prices quite competitive.
So occasionally we may buy a number of sheets and then other occasions we may buy one or two.

The a few weeks ago i phoned them to order a few hoarding boards but needed them cutting, so if i call ahead and pay by card over the phone they are usually ready to collect with hardly any messing about.

When i placed the order i was told that because i was spending under £75.00 there would be a 20% surcharge added to the price….i was fuming….

Safe to say i contacted Amari around the corner from them and renegotiated our prices to not only beat Blackburns but with no surcharge….!!

There, rant over….

[Tim Painter]

As I started this thread I feel it only fair to Blackburn Metals that I update their company responce to me, as I have never had any issues with them and can’t fault the service I have been given to date.

My local rep has fed back to me responses from The National Sales Manager for Sign Products and The Managing Director.

Apparently it is not an issue that has been raised elsewhere, but my points have been taken on board and at the next board meeting this will be brought up and see what can get put in place and how quickly it can be implemented.

Once they have decided what the way forward is I will be informed.

I will post any updates as and when I hear anything.

They do have the link to this thread, so any constructive criticism I’m sure would be welcome.

[Denise Goodfellow]

Wasn`t there also a case where a signmakers supply company was also trading on ebay under a different name selling A Boards and things for cheaper prices then they were selling to trade?

[Robert Lambie]

Yeh I believe there is/was Denise, have a good idea who it was but don’t want to guess in case i get it wrong.

[David Rowland]

so what do we think of JAG and William Smith being a sign maker a signage supplier as well?

[Robert Lambie]

It’s not a case of offering both Dave, its more about getting your priorities in order.

we obviously sell direct to the public, but we also have sign companies come in asking for some trade printing which we do but immediately offer a decent discount because we know they have to put a mark-up on it.

[Martin Pearson]

Totally different question Dave so probably should have it’s own thread.
Personally I don’t have a problem with anyone being a trade supplier & a Sign Company as well as long as they don’t go round telling people what they charge me for supplies & don’t go round touting for my business when I’m asking for quotes from them,

[Shane Drew]

quote Robert Lambie:

Not that we should have to in the first place, but a complaint should be made.
If not resolved quickly the supplier should be boycotted.
If we did the same to our better repeat customers I am sure they would shop elsewhere too.

They all do it here in Oz guys. All prices are visble to anyone that wants to google the products. National distributors like AVS advertise all their wares at retail prices on the world wide web.

I compained till I was blue in the face. The Oracal distributors here gave me the benefit of trialling a system where you had to log in first before they displayed prices, but that lasted 6 months. They argued that sign shops rarely agreed to give their details to distributors, and would opt to buy online via credit card instead of giving out private details that could be sold or used in marketing.

I told them I thought it was crap.

6 months of the site being running, they claimed they got very little sales. They changed it to an open site and sales picked up apparently .

End of the day, they are only interested in sales, They don’t care who buys the product, as long as it sells.

The only thing that makes a difference is that most distributors here give loyal customers a discount off of the retail price quoted on the net.

I’m still not happy as I’ve had several customers tell me they know what I pay for the goods, and they think my margins are greedy.

They don’t take into account that I still have to pay freight etc on top of the prices they see.

I think the UK is probably going the same way as they are here. Its not something I am happy about, but it seems I’m in the minority so I have to keep my mouth shut and accept it as the way they do business.

[Shane Drew]

quote Martin:

Totally different question Dave so probably should have it’s own thread.
Personally I don’t have a problem with anyone being a trade supplier & a Sign Company as well as long as they don’t go round telling people what they charge me for supplies & don’t go round touting for my business when I’m asking for quotes from them,

Martin, I am a sign shop and a wholesale printer to the trade.

I’m like Rob, in that my sign clients get a very good discount so they can be competative. But, I make it clear that any jobs for other shops they see in my factory is strictly confidential, and I’d be very annoyed if they touted for work that they have seen me doing.

It works both ways of course. If they want to risk touting for work they have seen me do, then they can’t complain if my other clients then tout for their business.

I also give every one of my sign clients the same discount so no one is disadvantaged. And, if I get asked to quote on the same job by two different clients, or I’m going for the same job myself, I tell everyone involved that I have quoted the same price for another shop, or that I’ve tendered for the same job at retail.

I have actually lost contracts to my sign clients, but get the work anyway. How they price it is up to them, but they know that I’m supplying at the same price as all my other shops.

Its one of those situations that if you are not honest, you’ll pay the price by getting a bad name. Its just not worth it from my side of things.

[David Hammond]

If we’re getting a discount then what’s the problem.

Metamark for example. Supply only print the customer sees their branding, and can easily find out material costs… Ok not the exact material, or width. Without the printer its useless, same with plotter vinyl, without the plotter its useless.

As sign makers we do supply products, but also a service, whether it be design, installation, print or cutting.

Unless the customer hears of blackburns the chances of them stumbling across the page isn’t likely.

[Adrian Hewson]

Had a look at Blackburns prices I think you will find you can get cheaper from Amari.

We never sell sheet material we always cut it up into letters or shapes or whatever so the actual substrate cost is irrelevant, if you are cutting it with a £10k machine and noone close has one then they either pay the price or do without, mainly use cut acrlyic for high end signs so we can add a bit for design and effect

Just my 3d worth

[Nigel Hindley]

– Just to say I completly agree, trade suppliers should not have trade prices displayed and personally think that anyone having access to trade prices should prove they are in the relevant buiness first before gaining access.

Nigel

[Stuart Miller]

As far as Metamark goes the prices on their website are more than the price I pay.