T-shirt roll call

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CannaReview

Well-Known Member
The Hippy said:
Too bad I'm not near you. I'm a master at promotion in small retail businesses like yours.
Here's one of my best tips for you....out service your customers much better than they do. Just out think those other shops.
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Well that's what I always do. I've had customers follow me from one store to another and then to mine and they stuck with me when I ran the shop out of my house and drove around delivering to them.

The other major issue with this industry is if you are dealing with items made specifically for the hydroponics industry the manufacturers and wholesalers force the retailers to deal with warranties. So for example in regular retail the shop usually will give the customer say 14 30 days to return any defective items after that you as the customer deal with the manufacturer who handles the returns.

For me say someone buys a digital ballast and it has a 3 year warranty. Up to three years I have to take the ballast back and then deal with the wholesaler to get my credit. So if I sell a ballast online and send it across the country up to three years I have to deal with the warranty and then send the new item back at the stores expense instead of the manufacturer like in regular retail. I get no credit for the shipping back of the item from the wholesaler or manufacturer.
 
The Hippy

The Hippy

Well-Known Member
CannaReview said:
Well that's what I always do. I've had customers follow me from one store to another and then to mine and they stuck with me when I ran the shop out of my house and drove around delivering to them.

The other major issue with this industry is if you are dealing with items made specifically for the hydroponics industry the manufacturers and wholesalers force the retailers to deal with warranties. So for example in regular retail the shop usually will give the customer say 14 30 days to return any defective items after that you as the customer deal with the manufacturer who handles the returns.

For me say someone buys a digital ballast and it has a 3 year warranty. Up to three years I have to take the ballast back and then deal with the wholesaler to get my credit. So if I sell a ballast online and send it across the country up to three years I have to deal with the warranty and then send the new item back at the stores expense instead of the manufacturer like in regular retail. I get no credit for the shipping back of the item from the wholesaler or manufacturer.
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Is your shop treated differently than the other. I'm not following why you have to do it different .
 
The Hippy

The Hippy

Well-Known Member
Retail is tough...for a very simple reason..........way too many players !
For fark sake there is a store ...EVERYWHERE
The pie is sliced way TOO many times for anyone to be successful. Unless you are lucky enough to have something everyone else doesn't have. This is the hard part.
 
C

CannaReview

Well-Known Member
The Hippy said:
Is your shop treated differently than the other. I'm not following why you have to do it different .
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None of the manufacturers likesay Gavita will let the customer deal with them for warranties. This goes for all hydroshops in Canada. I've talked to several wholesalers in the last two weeks about this and to see if I could get credit for any warranty returns shipping and they all pretty much laughed at me saying that's how it is and that's how it'll be. I'm pretty sure legally they don't have a leg to stand on especially the manufactures but don't have the funds and time to fight it.
 
leaffan

leaffan

Well-Known Member
The Hippy said:
Retail is tough...for a very simple reason..........way too many players !
For fark sake there is a store ...EVERYWHERE
The pie is sliced way TOO many times for anyone to be successful. Unless you are lucky enough to have something everyone else doesn't have. This is the hard part.
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Yep...you better differentiate yourself from the competition.
I think Canna does with his awesome customer service....that's why I order from him!
 
The Hippy

The Hippy

Well-Known Member
leaffan said:
Yep...you better differentiate yourself from the competition.
I think Canna does with his awesome customer service....that's why I order from him!
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CannaReview said:
None of the manufacturers likesay Gavita will let the customer deal with them for warranties. This goes for all hydroshops in Canada. I've talked to several wholesalers in the last two weeks about this and to see if I could get credit for any warranty returns shipping and they all pretty much laughed at me saying that's how it is and that's how it'll be. I'm pretty sure legally they don't have a leg to stand on especially the manufactures but don't have the funds and time to fight it.
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so ALL retailer of that product ship back defective at their cost. then it is returned at manufacturers cost included shipping cost of the return back to you ?
 
C

CannaReview

Well-Known Member
The Hippy said:
so ALL retailer of that product ship back defective at their cost. then it is returned at manufacturers cost included shipping cost of the return back to you ?
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Say 2 years later customer sends a burn out ballast back to me (they pay the shipping) and now I have to warranty the item and ship it back to them (I pay the shipping even two years later) The customer gets a new item from me, I get credit for item but lose money on shipping back. I only get credit for the item not the shipping back to customer. So if I made $60 profit on it and it cost me $20 to ship it back for warranty I lose $20 even two years later.

In normal retail the customers after say 14-30 days deals with the manufacturer. For example I bought a computer mother board that went on me 6 months later. The computer store doesn't give me a new item I have to contact the manufacturer get a RMA and then ship it back. The manufacturer then ships it back to me at their cost and sometimes they eat up the cost of shipping it back to them.
 
The Hippy

The Hippy

Well-Known Member
Sounds like your well respect Canna. You must doing it right already.
People enjoy personal service and it never hurts the bottom line.
 
bigmanc

bigmanc

Well-Known Member
i mean, where else can you get 2x 1150w gavitas and 8x 1000w bulbs for 800ish$ tax and ship included? would have been over 1300 here in toronto garenteed. shiped within the hour and had the tracking in the next hour. Impressive.
 
The Hippy

The Hippy

Well-Known Member
CannaReview said:
Say 2 years later customer sends a burn out ballast back to me (they pay the shipping) and now I have to warranty the item and ship it back to them (I pay the shipping even two years later) The customer gets a new item from me, I get credit for item but lose money on shipping back. I only get credit for the item not the shipping back to customer. So if I made $60 profit on it and it cost me $20 to ship it back for warranty I lose $20 even two years later.

In normal retail the customers after say 14-30 days deals with the manufacturer. For example I bought a computer mother board that went on me 6 months later. The computer store doesn't give me a new item I have to contact the manufacturer get a RMA and then ship it back. The manufacturer then ships it back to me at their cost and sometimes they eat up the cost of shipping it back to them.
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Hate to say it but, That one is a cost of doing business and you gotta eat that. I'm sure your customer appreciates it and brings you more business. So in the end it pays off. Service service service...wins the day.
Deals help, but do hurt your bottom line.
 
C

CannaReview

Well-Known Member
The Hippy said:
Hate to say it but, That one is a cost of doing business and you gotta eat that. i'm sure your customer appreciates it and brings you more business. so in the en it pay off. Service service service...wins the day.
Deals help, but do hurt your bottom line.
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Actually it means I can't bring the prices down even lower for out of town/province purchases. I have to jack up the price to compensate for any warranty returns I might have to do.

I'm just starting to bring in weed vaporizers into the store and first thing I asked the wholesaler is about the warranty Most of the manufacturers like say Pax ro Arizer deal with the customer after purchase and some of the other ones the wholesaler will actually ship it back to the customer as the wholesalers expense.

This allows me to use the extra profit to give people free shipping across Canada since the vaporizers are small and the biggest one
 
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bigmanc

bigmanc

Well-Known Member
CannaReview said:
Actually it means I can't bring the prices down even lower for out of town/province purchases. I have to jack up the price to compensate for any warranty returns I might have to do.

I'm just starting to bring in weed vaporizers into the store and first thing I asked the wholesaler is about the warranty Most of the manufacturers like say Pax ro Arizer deal with the customer after purchase and some of the other ones the wholesaler will actually ship it back to the customer as the wholesalers expense.

This allows me to use the extra profit to give people free shipping across Canada since the vaporizers are small.
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if we keep our gardens i hope you organize some group buys for equipment :) the performance car guys do this all the time and it works for everyone. Good deals for us, good business for you.

edit; i was suprised my order was only about 40$ shipping, maybe inheret a "handling fee" for future expenses?
 
WHATFG

WHATFG

Well-Known Member
bigmanc said:
i mean, where else can you get 2x 1150w gavitas and 8x 1000w bulbs for 800ish$ tax and ship included? would have been over 1300 here in toronto garenteed. shiped within the hour and had the tracking in the next hour. Impressive.
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And packs to beat the banshee....no movement inside my pkg.
 
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