Advice please - Selling stock to a retail shop, terms and conditions

I received an email today from a handmade craft gift shop, who would like to stock my cards. This is very exciting, but I haven’t a clue on how to proceed. They have asked for my wholesale terms and conditions? Any advice would be very welcome, step by step if possible. Should the sales terms and conditions be the same as Folksy’s for my category of products? Should I provide proforma invoices with postage costs? Is Paypal my best option to take payment? If anyone has been in the same situation, I would really value your advice!

I think the Greetings Card Association has some useful advice on their website, which might be a good start. I seem to remember folksy covered wholesale too in a previous blog, so that’s worth a search as that went through the main issues. Good luck and hope all goes well! :smile:

Are they local to you? Can you go in to chat with them? I sell mine on a very informal basis to local shops.

If you go through paypal you’ll have fees to pay. Can they pay you by cheque or by direct transfer?

I’ve generally been paid by BACS by local shops

Thank you for your advice. As you recommended, there are quite a few previous ‘Wholesale’ blogs on Folksy, which have been very helpful.

1 Like

Thanks for your recommendation, it does look like BACS will be the best option for payment.

Just in case other newsboy’s like me find this helpful, I found an online Retail Coach at http://www.indieretailacademy.com/helpwithwholesale/ called Clare Yuille. She runs courses (in the form of downloadable PDF sheets) for artists and designers who want to get wholesale right first time. There’s a starter kit for FREE, which I’ve found invaluable at http://www.indieretailacademy.com/indie-retail-starter-kit/.

It’s made me realise some of my cards are suitable for retail and some aren’t, and I need to sit down and recalculate my costs, and increase my retail prices where necessary in order I don’t under-cut myself when making a wholesale price-list. The kit also made me learn that ‘sale or return’ is not for me, and payment up front for an order is a better option.

I also looked up the ‘Distance Selling Regulations’ at https://www.gov.uk/online-and-distance-selling-for-businesses/overview, which has also been invaluable, to help me prepare my ‘wholesale terms and conditions’.

Now I just need to make that leap. I have a feeling the retail gift shop that is interested in my cards might lose interest while I’m sorting all this out. But at least by organising my prices and making a wholesale terms and conditions now, I’ll be better situated for future retail offers.

Thanks again for everyone’s help.

2 Likes

Thanks @BoadiceaCards - I had a look at the Indie retail academy and signed up - some useful content there! :smile: