claybair on tue 4 dec 01
I have someone from a garden nursery coming over tomorrow to look at my
garden art.
She asked me tonight if I sell wholesale. I said sure!
Ok...... now someone tell me what do I put on a wholesale invoice.
Is it any different than a regular invoice?
I am assuming I do not charge tax and that I need to get her tax #.
If anyone is sleepless in Seattle or anywhere else I am expecting her in the
morning and don't want to look totally amateurish.
TIA
Gayle Bair
Bainbridge Island, WA
http://claybair.com
Paul Lewing on wed 5 dec 01
on 12/4/01 7:29 PM, claybair at gayle@CLAYBAIR.COM wrote:
> Ok...... now someone tell me what do I put on a wholesale invoice.
> Is it any different than a regular invoice?
> I am assuming I do not charge tax and that I need to get her tax #.
Hi, Gail.
All you need to put on the invoice is the quantity and price of each item,
and the total.
But a wholesale order form should have your terms on it. That is payment
options (COD, first order COD, net 30, pro forma, whatever), packing charge
(if you charge one), minimum order (if any), lead time for orders, and
delivery method. It also should say FOB..... (fill in the name of your town
here).
In Washington State you do not charge sales tax on a wholesale sale (nor do
you on a retail sale that's going out of state. You should get her resale
number, but in 30 years of doing business in WA, I've never had the state
ask for one. I figure if I ever need that, I can get it pretty fast, so I
don't even ask for it.
My terms, just as an example, are first order COD, reorders net 30; $150
minimum first order, no minimum for reorders, delivery time 2-4 weeks, and I
give them a choice of UPS or parcel post (only because I have a number of
outlets in small towns in Alaska where UPS doesn't go).
Good luck,
Paul Lewing, Seattle
Klyf Brown on thu 6 dec 01
Gayle,
When they say wholesale, they mean half price. They want a price
greatly lower than your retail selling prices.
In most states you do not charge sales tax, but must get a non taxable
transaction certificate and keep it on file.
Invoicing of some kind is necessary for you, them and the
government. If you don't have proof of the amount of sales to this
outlet and get audited, they make up an amount and charge you
accordingly, usually four to five times your actual volume.
Generally they also want terms, like 30 days net (means you bill them
now, and at the begining of the month they start the thirty day
countdown and pay you in 45 if you are lucky). If you want to get
paid earlier, offer a percent (5-10) off if the invoice is paid within ten
days of delivery.
Hope this gets to you in time
Klyf Brown in New Mexico, sleepless as usual
12/4/01 8:29:25 PM, claybair
wrote:
>I have someone from a garden nursery coming over tomorrow to
look at my
>garden art.
>She asked me tonight if I sell wholesale. I said sure!
>
Diane Winters on thu 6 dec 01
Gayle wrote:
>I have someone from a garden nursery coming over tomorrow to look at my
>garden art.
>She asked me tonight if I sell wholesale. I said sure!
>Ok...... now someone tell me what do I put on a wholesale invoice.
>Is it any different than a regular invoice?
>I am assuming I do not charge tax and that I need to get her tax #.
>If anyone is sleepless in Seattle or anywhere else I am expecting her in
the
>morning and don't want to look totally amateurish
Hi Gayle
2 responses to your post (yes, 2 for the price of 1), one specific, one
general---
Specific: other clayarters may have other better suggestions, but here's
what I do with wholesale customers. I request not only the resale #, but a
photocopy of their resale certificate. If they don't bring one, it can
simply be mailed to me later. An alternative is to have them fill out one
of the prepared forms that specifies the nature of their business, what sort
of merchandise they will be purchasing and and a signed declaration tht the
goods are for resale. I bought a pad of these forms at an office supply
store. [If, for any reason, you are ever audited, you may have to show some
sort of proof of legitimacy of the wholesale relationship, and it's much
better to have it on file, than try to track down the customer three or so
years later to try to get it. I write up a regular invoice, but add the
additional notation "no tax, for resale". I used to also write the resale
number on the invoice/receipt, but have gotten lazy about that. I also
try to make sure early on that any other relevent terms are clarified, such
as the fact that I add the cost of shipping. If, in your case, this
customer will always be picking up from you, that's not an issue, but if at
some point you will be making deliveries, and if that will take up much time
and/or car mileage, you may want to consider a having a delivery charge. [I
personally just deliver for free locally, but I also do other things that
don't really make completely good business sense, like not having a minimum
purchase amount, and not charging for the boxes I ship in, etc.]
Also, if this is approrpriate in your case, talk over whether she's
expecting to have any kind of exclusivity - geographic, or certain pieces of
your work, or whatever. This is something that's up for negotiation.
General: when I first started in business about 8 years ago, I felt so
green, inept, and concerned that I'd look like a novice. I eventually
caught on to two things - (1) there's really nothing wrong with being a
novice in business, everyone in business once was, and if I was open about
things I didn't know about, my wholesale customers were more than willing to
give a lot more advice, information and help than I'd ever have gotten by
"faking" experience.
(2) there is so much variety in procedures and practices from one
craftsperson to another, and from one wholesaler to another that if you do
whatever you do with a certain aplomb, your procedure will be accepted as
perfectly normal.
Hope this helps and hope she wants to buy lots of stuff.
Diane Winters
in lovely Oakland/Berkeley by the Bay, where we've now had just about enough
cold and rain, and where our local 5-weekend Holiday Open Studios is so far
slower than we'd hoped (partly due to rotten weather? #$%^&!) but better
than we'd feared.
Maid O'Mud on thu 6 dec 01
Paul Lewing said in part
"$150 minimum first order, no minimum for reorders"
I would advise leaving off the "no minimum" part. I had a customer try to
take advantage by trying to re-stock 2-3 pieces at a time. I told him
regular retail customers purchase more than that at one time, and there was
no way I would sell him 2-3 pieces at wholesale price. I also emphasized my
minimum order size was static ($300 minimum for all orders).
Only my opinion - you choose what works best for you. Just a cautionary
tale.
Sam
Maid O'Mud Pottery
Melbourne, Ontario CANADA
"Effort does not always
equal output" sam, 1999
Anji Henderson on thu 6 dec 01
Being 11:35a EST, and this message still has to run
through the servers, spect it is a little late for
Gayle ... But, wasn't there a contract that someone
posted to the list maybe a year ago???
Anji
--- claybair wrote:
.
> She asked me tonight if I sell wholesale. I said
> sure!
> Ok...... now someone tell me what do I put on a
> wholesale invoice.
> Gayle Bair
=====
Good art does not have to match your sofa!!
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claybair on fri 7 dec 01
Hi Diane,
Thanks very much for the great advice. It's been very helpful!
Sorry to hear about the slow show. I am doing one with my clay group this
weekend.
Today was really slow! Didn't sell a thing! Oye!
Last week I did 2 shows at the same time ( physically I only had to be at
one of them) it was grueling 10am to 9pm.... Oye! I did better than the year
before but still have not be able to break my goal of a $1000 a day. I more
closely approximate $1000 for a 3 day show.
I find I have a appreciation for those artists/craftspersons who are also
good marketers although I don't think I would ever become a Thomas Kincade.
There's gotta be a better way!
Thanks again,
Gayle Bair
Bainbridge Island, WA
http://claybair.com
claybair on fri 7 dec 01
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the tips. I did just as you recommended except for the terms.
Fortunately it was a local nursery and she came to pick up the items so I
didn't have to worry about shipping. Now packing some of my items will be an
interesting challenge e.g. ceramic flowers on bent rebar! I may have to
think about that one a while!
Gayle Bair
Bainbridge Island, WA
http://claybair.com
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