Shopping around

[kev@frames]

I don't shop about much (by shopping about I mean constantly keeping an eye for the lowest price individual supplier of every item I need and changing suppliers ad-hoc to get the lowest price materials each and every time) and I tend to get most of my materials from one supplier, even though I could spend the time and possibly get some cheaper by dealing with another half dozen other suppliers.
for me it simplifies ordering, saves lots of time (time = money?) and orders/deliveries are extremely smooth and stress free affairs.
I deal with one supplier for about 80-90% of my materials, but I know other people with businesses that are a similar size to mine who have five, six, or ten (or more) accounts with numerous suppliers.
For me the time lost in shopping around, managing accounts and the extra numbers of orders/deliveries/returns/reps etc would probably not justify the extra savings.
But people fall into two camps on this. I think I might be in the minority.
What are your views?

[mikeysaling]

deal with arqadia for moulding - lion for sundries (and a lot more - most of our equipment from them) - glass from hinton : we are pretty small bear for these guys but are never made to feel that way and get super service from all of them nb did get our cassese from tabmaster also excellent ( where is tabbyanne these days post fire?)

[Trinity]

I tend to use Glasscraft in Hull for mouldings / board and the like - anything truly framing. Glasscraft are an outpost for Lion so you pay the Lion price and it comes along with their main delivery. Very nice. For anything generic ie it has a prime use but is used in framing I go to source and generally save 30%. I also jump on any really good offer but I don't get many of those nowadays.

[stcstc]

i think business wise its worth having more than one supplier

not really to save money

but developing relationships with 3 or 4 supplier is a good idea

if you only have one, and something happens, either they go bust or somehow the relationship goes sour etc you are then in a little awkward position,

where as having a few allows you to almost spread bet with you business

[Roboframer]

The fewer suppliers you have, the more chance you'll have of getting a good discount (on any quantity).

I did my shopping around years ago and it's what established who I use and have used since. Now and again I'll do a quick comparison with other suppliers, but it only confirms what I already know, they're more expensive than mine and no better quality, or service.

I ended up wth 3 main moulding suppliers, Simons, Arqadia and Nielsen. Not many other suppliers offer much that you can't find with the first two, Nielsen do though and also a bit of what the first two do, so that means if certain mouldings are OOS with one supplier I'll have at least one good chance of finding it with one of the others.

95%+ of my mountboard and foam board is from Neilsen and all of my aluminium, their 'exclusive' range is very nice, as is the Larson Juhl collection from Arqadia.

[stcstc]

actually robo, this is exactly what i was suggesting, not spreading enough to make it no good for negotiating discounts, but enough to spread it around a little, just like your doing

[Roboframer]

I know; I was agreeing with you

[Bagpuss]

The majority of my moulding/mountboard comes from Simons, have dealt with them for years and they are close by (pretty good prices as well), I also use LION for some moulding and alot of my sundries
G&M supply my glass and backing board. I'm not doing the sort of volume that some of you guys are doing so I can't really spread myself too thin, I need a dependable couple of suppliers that I can order from once a week or every 2 weeks.

[Framerpicture]

I used to just go to a few suppliers but now I shop around- especially for sundries. Lion offer a magnificant service but you do pay for it. For instance I now use UK Industrial tapes for all my tapes saving about 30% on Lions prices, but I do buy them by the case. I have found staples at a 50% saving over Lion and the same can be said for staples, laminate materials, and lots of other things.

I've found you do need to buy in fairly large quantities to make this work because otherwise the carriage charge can negate the saving.

As for mouldings I mainly use Simons and Arqadia as they seem very competitve

[Jonny2morsos]

I use Arqadia for the mouldings I know will always sell and I don't mind keeping some stock of as they only sell their general range in packs. I also use some of their Larson Juhl range and usefully these can be ordered in lengths.

The bulk of what I use comes from Tawnycraft in Northampton and I use them for glass and sundries. I know I can buy mouldings cheaper (see above) but I like the convenience of ordering single lengths when it is not a moulding I frequently use and they deliver to my door once a week. They also supply Lion products at the Lion prices so I rarely need to go direct unless it is a rush order. Also they supply me with Simons mouldings at a small premium and this saves me carriage if the quantity is small.

Tawnycraft also import direct from Italian and Spanish suppliers and the quality of these mouldings by far outstrips what the big two (Simons & Arqadia) can offer in similar profiles but inferior finishes.

At the end of the day we all have to make a commercial decision with regard to the relationship we have with our suppliers. A few pence on the price but backed up with good service means a lot to me and I hope my customers view my relationship with them in the same light.

[Dutton & Grant]

[quote="( where is tabbyanne these days post fire?)[/quote]

Hi Mike,
I`m still around but not TabbyAnn anymore
Both Jayne and I left Tabmaster in August and have since set up our own company, art supplies, mirrors, and framing consumables.
Its nice to be back on the Forum, I`ve missed the jokes and advice. I hope your all doing well.
Ann

[kev@frames]

^^ good luck with your new venture

[Dutton & Grant]

Thanks Mikey, Kev & Everyone else

Its so nice to be back

[Not your average framer]

Firstly,

Hi Ann and welcome back. Wishing you every success!

Then, back to the subject of the thread:

I shop around quite a bit, but it's not usually a price issue. I just cannot get everything I want, at the quality I want, in the quantity I want, from just one supplier. Also sometimes a supplier will miss out on an order, because what I need is less than their minimum order value.

It's horses for courses, so why restrict your self to just what you can source from only one supplier.

Some bulk supplies delivered by courier will also be affected by the packing methods used by the individual supplier and can lead to wastage issues.

Some items I get from particular suppliers are purely because I prefer the product they supply.