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promotional items

Geneva Olson

Geneva Olson

Expert Storyteller
Just when I decided not to participate in sage, ppai, asi...I have a customer who needs some promotional items. Does anyone have a good wholesaler for promotional products? I'm looking for cups, water bottles, small towels for imprinting...

TIA
 
Joseph44708

Joseph44708

I Drink And I Know Things
Booooooo for Vista print.
China based company.
Stop by your local print shop and see if they can help you out or go online and order from a company that does for the trade only.
 
Boudica

Boudica

I'm here for Educational Purposes
No experience with Vista print specificly, but it really depends on volume, and the items needed. We don't really offer that service, but we have good relationships with printer's that do. Most of them will out source that too, because it requires special printing capabilities. Not what we would make money on, or them. But that's what makes us good partners... They outsource to us... They fill there customer's needs. Weather out sourced locally, or one of the options mentioned. Networking :)
 
caribmike

caribmike

Retired with a Side Hustle
Notarealsignguy said:
The promo products world seems like a gigantic mess of middle men/broker storefronts. It's hard to get down to the actual producer. It reminds me of buying direct from the Chinese.
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The promotional products industry has always been distributor based and for good reason. Manufacturers don't want to have to deal with people who have no knowledge or experience in graphic design and logistics. Personally, I'm grateful for this as we make a ton of money selling promo products. We used to be "just" a commercial printer but promo products are almost half our sales now since print is slowly dying.
 
Stacey K

Stacey K

I like making signs
caribmike said:
The promotional products industry has always been distributor based and for good reason. Manufacturers don't want to have to deal with people who have no knowledge or experience in graphic design and logistics. Personally, I'm grateful for this as we make a ton of money selling promo products. We used to be "just" a commercial printer but promo products are almost half our sales now since print is slowly dying.
Click to expand...
That's interesting. Is this something you print on-site or do you outsource? My local printer never got back to me the couple times I asked about business card printing so I just order them out through 4over.

I hate doing promo stuff because I'm not really set-up for it so it seems time consuming. I suppose if I was set-up with templates and was more knowledgeable and organized then there would be less headaches.
 
S

signpro

Manager
4imprint is good stuff.
you talk to a person right in WI
they don't offer a trade discount that i know of unfortunately, but
i've always had good luck with their service and products!!

when you talk to them, tell them what you're looking for, and they'll direct you on their website
to options you want, and help weed out lots that you won't want.

worth a shot!
 
AndersHerp

AndersHerp

Something, something Dark Side
Notarealsignguy said:
The promo products world seems like a gigantic mess of middle men/broker storefronts. It's hard to get down to the actual producer. It reminds me of buying direct from the Chinese.
Click to expand...
I use to work for a promotional company, most of the stuff they get is from China originally.
 
Joseph44708

Joseph44708

I Drink And I Know Things
Stacey K said:
That's interesting. Is this something you print on-site or do you outsource? My local printer never got back to me the couple times I asked about business card printing so I just order them out through 4over.

I hate doing promo stuff because I'm not really set-up for it so it seems time consuming. I suppose if I was set-up with templates and was more knowledgeable and organized then there would be less headaches.
Click to expand...
I do offset printing in house when I can find the stock needed for the job. One and Two color printing, Business cards, Letterhead, Envelopes, Carbonless forms.
Full color stuff I send out to 4 over or Printing for Resale in Jacksonville.
Great prices and plenty room for profit.
 
gnubler

gnubler

Active Member
I'm dealing with this now as well, existing customers who want promotional items and don't want to have to shop around. I've had no luck finding a wholesaler who does smaller quantities of pens, so have used 4imprint with a 40% markup. Checked out the link posted above but they don't do pens. If anyone has any other referrals please post up.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Stopped doing that crap 20 years ago. No money in it. You're basically working for pennies on the dollar, but spending too much time trying to fill the orders. Stopped it and never looked back. You figure, the time you spent getting these little trinkets and sh!t, you could be making real money selling signs. Ya just can't be everything to everybody. Unload some of that bulky baggage. Let it for the internet shoppers.
 
Stacey K

Stacey K

I like making signs
With summer here there's lot of parades in the area. I'm getting calls left and right for coozies, pens and business card magnets. I fit them in but I marked them up and charged a set-up fee.
 
Geneva Olson

Geneva Olson

Expert Storyteller
Notarealsignguy said:
If they don't want to shop then give them a price and an MOQ, nobody said you had to be competitive. It's a waste of time. How long have you been doing this for now?
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I haven't done any promotional items. A few koozies. It always seems like "junk" and a hassle. I did see NICE stuff, but I always thought you could go online and get this stuff.
 
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