Vendor Discounts
I was curious about the relationship between luthiers and vendors/suppliers, specifically as it relates to establishing these relationships and what to expect from them. Let’s say you regularly use parts from companies like Allparts, Seymour Duncan, and D’Addario in a guitar repair shop. Do you simply send them an email telling them that you’re a business owner, and then what happens from there? Do they discount your orders for future purchases?
I feel like this may have been discussed at length before, maybe in a Loothing for Dollars episode. Any links would be appreciated if so. Thank you!
If you have/obtain a reseller’s permit and business license, you will be able to set up distributor accounts with almost any of those that you mentioned.
If you are a sole proprietor and don’t have these things it will be difficult or not possible.
In essence with the reseller’s permit you are purchasing wholesale and exempts you from paying sales tax on those goods, because the customer is ultimately paying sales tax at the time of purchase.
As well, they offer you wholesale prices — margins upwards of 50% less than MSRP or MAP.