B2Sign.com?

[Locals Find!]

Why do you need a gym to put grommets in? It's 12 ft. high, right. One end will
be exposed naturally when you receive it. Put grommets in that end, roll
it up the opposite direction, put groments in that end. You only need 12 feet
to do it.??? I don't see a problem. Surely you have 12 ft. of table or floor space.

I was thinking the same thing as Steve, but figured if I said it, the thread would totally derail.

 

[supersignmart]

I disagree!!

I'm sorry but I disagree with you 100% on this. When we decided to go completly wholesale we did. We are listed only in the yellow pages, when someone calls local we refer them to a local shop that is our customer. By dealing only with sign shops we know that the art work and the money is good. We are not set up to deal with a walk in customer for artwork. I guess you would consider us a print only shop not a sign shop. It does work! I tell my customers to be very careful when dealing with a retail/wholesale shop. I've seen too many go after the retail work when things get slow. I don't think you can build confidence with your customers if they are afraid you will go after their customers. You can talk to all my customers and they will tell you
that we are wholesale only. I even turn down things for my kids at school. I will refer them to a local shop. I never ever do any retail work what so ever. When I decided to make the change to wholesale I really thought this was the only way to build confidence with my customers. BTW we have 2 flatbeds, and one HP LX850 and all the supporting machines needed, and have no problem making money and paying for equipment.

Help me understand this thought process and strategy of being Wholesale only. Why on gods green earth would you pass up an end user or retail client at huge profit margin projects? Your business cannot grow fast pace without the mix of the two. The danger lies when so called wholesale only shops begin to sell to end users at the same pricing structure as wholesale client base which is very unethical and lacks any sign of integrity to the wholesale market segment they work with. I think the sang goes "we cannot live on bread alone".

Not sure why anyone that is in business to make a profit would turn away higher margin work. Makes no sense to me.

Also cannot see how any shop unless you are fully automated graphics factory can survive at 100% low margin work. Even with 24/7 capacity you need to feed the infrastructure which requires capital investments, labor costs and a commitment to technology advances to be able to pump out production better faster and cheaper.

Bottom line is if you boast being a "wholesale only" do not offer those prices to any client that is not from the trade you service that is just poor business practice.

 

[TheSnowman]

I was thinking the same thing as Steve, but figured if I said it, the thread would totally derail.

Geez, this thread got pointed in a different direction, I read this post and didn't even realize it pertained to me. I posted this like a year ago yesterday. Signs2Trade did not exist yet (or if it did, I didn't know about it). It was more for me about having to mess with it at all, when I should be able to just order something exactly how I want it (totally willing to pay extra) and them not being willing to do it for me. Yes, I could have messed with it, I do not have a 12' area undisturbed by other pieces of equipment (other than laying it on the floor) that this would have worked out well for.

Anyway, got it taken care of a year ago. Back to your regularly scheduled chaos.

 

[National Sign Co. - Print]

My retail world is clients like. Foot Locker, Nike Town, Whole foods, Best buy and the such.. Supersignmart we are on two total different levels. Respect your level of production and mission. We are on totally different playing fields .

Our shop has 20 plus production machines that run 24/7 . No disrespect but our definition of retail and wholesale is not apples to apples.. Our world of retail is jus that .. Big box stores.. , wholesale is partners to the trade that need extra capacity or do not have it.

No clue about short run walk in one offs.. Or such..

 

[supersignmart]

I agree!

I agree, we are not comparing apples to apples!

My retail world is clients like. Foot Locker, Nike Town, Whole foods, Best buy and the such.. Supersignmart we are on two total different levels. Respect your level of production and mission. We are on totally different playing fields .

Our shop has 20 plus production machines that run 24/7 . No disrespect but our definition of retail and wholesale is not apples to apples.. Our world of retail is jus that .. Big box stores.. , wholesale is partners to the trade that need extra capacity or do not have it.

No clue about short run walk in one offs.. Or such..

 

[FireSprint.com]

In response to where this thread is going...

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?109250-Why-we-ARE-Trade-Only-Wholesale!

 

[K.Chill]

I'm beginning to think the same thing. I've never used them but I've been looking at 'em. I'm bumping this topic to see if there are any new b2 customers. Well?? Any happy paying b2signs customers??

We've used B2 for years with almost zero complaint.

 

[TopFliteGraphics]

B2 is great. That being said, I am confused. Signs365 will do grommets on all sides.

 

[songprinting]

Anyone ever heard of/used these guys? I was just trying to figure out how to have a 12' X 80' banner printed with grommets all the way around (so I don't have unbox and unfold the entire thing once it gets here) because 365 will only put grommets top and bottom. They say they are wholesale only, but I don't want to jump in on something this big with a new vendor until I've heard if anyone has had any past experiences with them.

We've been using a combination of 365 and B2 Sign for years and have been pretty happy with both - we just send our jobs to the one that works for the product we are ordering. We tend to use 365 for multiple coro signs on a board and our go-to for banners is B2. You can add custom grommets - just ordered a banner with grommets 12" all the way around.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

same... s365 and b2. b2 does a good deal of my channel letters.

 

[rydods]

We use a combination of 365, B2, Indy Imaging and Firesprint. Firesprint a lot more lately and am very satisfied with them. 365 is the most consistent time wise. I know I'll have pretty much anything in hand in 2 days but their quality is hit or miss. We get a lot of banners that we have to clean or touch up with a marker, especially the black ones.

 

[Mark Hammerbeck]

For what it's worth I've printed nearly 1,000 Jobs at Signs365 and had only a handfull minor issues that they took care of quickly and always made right for me. I've done many 10' x 10' Banners with grommets every 6" on all sides with NO Problem, all the way around. I just checked for a 12' x 80' Banner, chose GROMMETS PRESETS "All Sides" "Every 1-2 Feet" and the system shows the grommets on all side spaced out as needed. I just can't imagine this wouldn't be produced with the grommets at the desired intervals like the "on-line" profing shows. Their ordering system has no problem ordering a banner that way. With that said, I do appreciate the sharing of these other wide format printers - always good to have a few different vendors for who knows what. If anything, the shippers have failed me more than the manufacturer. Good Luck!

 

[Kev-O-Rama]

Anyone ever heard of/used these guys? I was just trying to figure out how to have a 12' X 80' banner printed with grommets all the way around (so I don't have unbox and unfold the entire thing once it gets here) because 365 will only put grommets top and bottom. They say they are wholesale only, but I don't want to jump in on something this big with a new vendor until I've heard if anyone has had any past experiences with them.

That's odd that 365 won't do grommets all the way around, because I've ordered from them before with the 15oz material and had them put grommets on all 4 sides. Was there special material you selected or something?