Stop Selling Our Products Online???

[kevinwoodley]

Hi,

Just had a rep in "asking" us to stop selling their products online, is this legal??

[Mark H]

Er, where are you getting them from?

[Darren B]

depends on what his reasons are for you not selling them online. Do you have a signed agreement saying you wont? But at the end of the day they can decide not to supply you anymore.

But i would really ask what the reasons are, if its because your selling them below the rrp then this is price fixing and is illegal - sort of

[completerookie]

it may be unlawful, but at the end of the day, every time you order, then there's a problem, "we're out of stock", "the lorry's broken down", "aiting for delivery" etc
and its your reputation on the line, when you can't supply.

had it before, in the end, we backed off selling on line and dealt with a more "reputable company"

[jont]

In times of a recession anyone selling any suppliers products should be happy. Threaten to go find an alternative producer. You are in the stronger position and I am fairly sure you are allowed any route to market at your disposal (within natural rules of decency etc). Surely when they started supplying you they knew you were selling online.

This sounds like a typical case of another customer is complaining at your site as they can not make 2000% margin.... asking you to remove is essentially price fixing - which aint allowed.

[kevinwoodley]

Direct from them......... The Worlds Gone MAD

[guccij]

I have a vague feeling that if the supplier isn't in the EU, it's a bit more tricky. We wanted to start selling a particular Swiss brand which you can't get in the UK. After two years of negotiations, they turned us down. Although we are pretty confident we could find a wholesaler in .ch and sell that way, the legal position wasn't clear and we didn't want to find ourselves being sued. Swiss lawyers are *very* expensive!

[grantglendinnin]

Find a new supplier, then write to the MD/CEO asking for his stance on the matter. Once you've got it in writing, please send it to the OFT. Doubt they'll do much, in fact, I very much doubt they'll do anything, but once the OFT realise how frequent this is happening, they may consider doing something about it.

If they refuse to confirm their stance, send them list of all retailers you can find selling their product, and tell them you have taken it on to inform all retailers of their decision.

Find yourself a new supplier ASAP then watch their business go down the shitter.

At the end of the day - if some other retailer has complained about you, it's only because you're getting the sales and they're getting jack-shit, tell 'em where to go

[kevinwoodley]

Nope the supplier is in the UK........... but I agree with jont, what's the matter with suppliers in these times all sales are good sales!!

[grantglendinnin]

The problem is they go against anti-competitive laws.

Supplier goes to Retailer A and says "well done, you're buying Product X for £100 and selling for £200". Supplier then tells Retailer B to stop buying at £100 and selling for £190 and buy at £100 and sell at the same price.

You could argue either way, but I'd say 99.9% of online shopping is done because of price. If you're happy to only make a 1.9 margin then so be it - the supplier got their £100 so what is their problem?

Tell 'em to F'O', that's the best advice I can ever give anyone who finds themselves in the position we did last year. Needless to say, their rep now begs for us to sell their stuff as they are heading for a drastic loss this year. I missed the part where that's my problem

[CymraegKev]

Wasn't there an issue with Levi's (or somesuch) trying to stop Tesco from selling their stuff because they thought it "cheapened" the product?

If they are your supplier, then it sounds like they have signed an exclusivity deal with another trader and, as such, are clearing stock from all other traders.

[taliesyn]

The OFT couldn't give two hoots about anti-competitive practice from suppliers. Believe me.

[grantglendinnin]

See post #8

I know all too well, the more we do as retailers, the more interest the OFT might have in this field. Still, if you're sitting back and taking this kind of behaviour from suppliers/manufacturers, you're the one making a fool of yourself. See post #10

[pinbrook]

Theres a load of anti competitive behaviour out there, we experienced it with surf-wax a few years ago - we had alot of suppliers who refused to suppy us as we were only internet. Their arguement was internet only suppliers could price stuff cheaper than their older outlets with bricks and mortar.

We also used to sell stuff on behalf of bricks and mortar shops who didnt have www presence, and got emails from suppliers asking us where we were getting our stock from as we weren't on their list of customers.

Talk about stiffling enterprise..

[Mark H]

I don't blame suppliers for drawing the line somewhere in certain circumstances. I can think of one type of product that we looked at, but the internet market was so competitive that shops (B&M and Internet) that offered good customer service simply stopped selling these items, and the only place now you can buy them is through Internet shops that don't give a damn about customer service because they can't afford to.