Thursday, August 16, 2012

Looks like I'm not the only reseller being screwed

A French store/company is suing Apple for hogging their inventory and undercutting them on price. It's astounding that companies would bite the hand that feeds them but even more shocking when one reads the comments suggesting it is perfectly okay for companies to act this way.

The problem I see is much more political. Most of these products are being manufactured overseas. The companies themselves are communists by design and possibly genetic wise.

Americans no longer manufacturer so  we have a consumer market/service market. These companies get tax breaks and loopholes for taking their business overseas. Americans should at least be able to work for commission but these companies get greedy and they undercut their resellers(Americans). Once they think they've established an internet presence they no longer see the need for resellers and seek to sell to anyone.

These companies need to be called out for their actions. I will certainly continue to flog one in public for their unscrupulous business practices. When someone lies to you, what good are they?  When they tell you one thing and do another, what good are they?  They deserve their businesses to be crushed like a piece of chalk under the force of a 20 lbs maul.

I remember this one company telling me in writing they used to sell on Ebay in competition versus their resellers but stopped after too many complaints. I never noticed them. I wasn't selling for them then. They of course deny that they sell on Ebay against their resellers but I see things differently.

I recall one October I was handed an offer to sell a particular item buy one get one free. I was also told in writing I'd be the only one so I should have a monopoly. As it turned out they didn't like my pricing and said something to that effect. I tried to educate them that it was necessary to cover additional Ebay fees. My base price was already low but I had to also cover the additional shipping they'd charge me. Well it wasn't long before I had competition. He just happened to be someone who made custom props for them and was the only reseller I could see who was able to sell the more expensive skeletons, models from the larger company who licenses certain brands to them. I wasn't the only one who was perplexed at how he could sell certain things for what appeared to be below cost. On the buy 1 get one free he was definitely doing that. So in a sense they were using him to sell against me.

When a company representative listed on the BBB site as their "principal"  denies knowing who another reseller is that tells me they are in bed and their beds are certainly not too far apart. When another listed on the BBB site as 3rd in command but probably 4th since one or more names are omitted tells me they don't charge a handling fee or charge up on shipping and another one of her colleagues tells me the same thing yet they operate a retail site out of the same building and charge less...well I'm likely to think something stinks.

Business I suppose has always been cut throat but when you cut the throat of someone who has done so much for you what does that say?  Exactly how do you justify that?  Well when your business starts to fail you'll start to believe in the devil.

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