Well it varies a lot and depends greatly of the stature of the parties.
When I was a small wholesaler I offered 30 day terms to most of my customers, the tiny guys would either pay right at 30 days or need to be chased endlessly. The medium guys were similar although some might say they cut cheques only once a month so the payment might come a bit early or a bit late. The big boys were usually the worst, some would say "we don't care what your terms are we never pay faster than 60 days, take it or leave it".
Lots of variation with the bigger companies, some were very accommodating (HMV/Sunrise) while others were just awful (Sams). On the other hand in terms of headaches induced the medium size customers were the worst, they usually made lots of unfulfilled promises and were the ones who would say "sure you can come pick up a cheque" but on arrival would explain "oh sorry, Bill the controller left early and didn't sign your cheque"
Had a few customers who simply would not pay in less than 120 days, you want the order you accept the terms or bugger off.
There are no hard and fast rules in the wholesale game unless you have a product in such demand or limited supply that you can dictate (and enforce) the terms. Schmoozing can work, I had a number of customers who paid me much faster than they paid their big suppliers simply because they could empathize with my situation.
Of course the norms vary from industry to industry.
When I was a small wholesaler I offered 30 day terms to most of my customers, the tiny guys would either pay right at 30 days or need to be chased endlessly. The medium guys were similar although some might say they cut cheques only once a month so the payment might come a bit early or a bit late. The big boys were usually the worst, some would say "we don't care what your terms are we never pay faster than 60 days, take it or leave it".
Lots of variation with the bigger companies, some were very accommodating (HMV/Sunrise) while others were just awful (Sams). On the other hand in terms of headaches induced the medium size customers were the worst, they usually made lots of unfulfilled promises and were the ones who would say "sure you can come pick up a cheque" but on arrival would explain "oh sorry, Bill the controller left early and didn't sign your cheque"
Had a few customers who simply would not pay in less than 120 days, you want the order you accept the terms or bugger off.
There are no hard and fast rules in the wholesale game unless you have a product in such demand or limited supply that you can dictate (and enforce) the terms. Schmoozing can work, I had a number of customers who paid me much faster than they paid their big suppliers simply because they could empathize with my situation.
Of course the norms vary from industry to industry.
That seems a lot. Oh boy, 4 months and I am whining about 1 month 🙂 I would never looked at that customer again.
Nope, what you do is go to YOUR supplier and tell them you can swing a huge order IF they give you 120 days plus an extra discount.
I dabbled in the calendar business for a few years, major retailers want to place their orders in March/April, expect delivery in September and want to pay in January AFTER they have done returns!
In order to reduce the return level you give them a very heavy "shelf" discount on whatever stock they have on Dec. 24th (which is why calendars fall to half price the day after Christmas and the leftovers magically disappear two or three weeks later). Sometimes you just give them a return credit and tell them to toss the merchandise in the landfill. This years calendar isn't worth squat by mid-January except as sales samples for next year.
Nope, what you do is go to YOUR supplier and tell them you can swing a huge order IF they give you 120 days plus an extra discount.
I dabbled in the calendar business for a few years, major retailers want to place their orders in March/April, expect delivery in September and want to pay in January AFTER they have done returns!
In order to reduce the return level you give them a very heavy "shelf" discount on whatever stock they have on Dec. 24th (which is why calendars fall to half price the day after Christmas and the leftovers magically disappear two or three weeks later). Sometimes you just give them a return credit and tell them to toss the merchandise in the landfill. This years calendar isn't worth squat by mid-January except as sales samples for next year.
