Buying oil from distributors is no fun.
- Thread starter jkhawaii
- Start date
Yes.
Sales is about time and money. There is very little money in a few cases of oil. There is much more than you are aware of to "set up a new customer"-who isn't buying much.
Say more? Do you have a resale certificate or sales tax ID or Tax exempt ID?
If not a wholesaler is not set up to sell to you.
If not a wholesaler is not set up to sell to you.
For some reason I was fixated on buying a brand of product that has no retail footprint, no direct sales, and barely any online availability. Perhaps I am just more used to the ease of online purchases. I have an account for purchases and all. I’m sure their normal customers buy in the thousands of gallons at a time.
So what happened actually?
I'll go first. A distributor of PetroCanada products -near me...with a website- didn't even return my calls.
How did he know I was a small fish?
I'll go first. A distributor of PetroCanada products -near me...with a website- didn't even return my calls.
How did he know I was a small fish?
There's a pretty good argument for these distributors to not bother with OTC sales under $1000 per transaction, especially when their products are sold at retail stores.
Try buying a quart at your local parts store...
twouvakind
Site Donor 2025
Hassle free buying is the rule at HPL, buy as little or as much as you wish.
You will be buying DIRECT from the manufacturer.
You will be buying DIRECT from the manufacturer.
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Yeah - it’s because you’re not a serious/big enough buyer. They’re distributors. You need a retail seller for only a few cases.
I’m not going to say what company, but. It definitely isn’t as easy as clicking the purchase button on Amazon. I have a new found appreciation for the purchasing manager at my work place.
Can’t buy what I wanted at any parts store I know of. Amazon, ebay, and one online lubricant seller (with high shipping charges) were the only option other than local distributors. Why did I only want one particular brand? No good reason. I just get in these phases where I buy one brand over another. Why didn’t I just buy it from Amazon? I try really hard not to buy from them.
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You get in phases where you buy one brand over another? Give yourself a good firm slap in the face and shake yourself out of it, will ya! Then go buy something else.
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You’re welcome.
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You’re welcome.
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Is this some special oil that you can't get at regular places and need to go to distributors for? For things like lathe and mill oils I do have to go to a distributor partner like bass tool so I don't waste a distributors time with a small order. I could buy 55 gal barrel of special oil directly which would last me a over hundred years but I don't so I buy buckets at most and those can last almost a decade. But I'm thinking of buying 0w-8 or just using the ULV atf I just got once I run out of spindle oil for the mills since it's thin enough for it.
I got some specialty shell gear oil from the local distributor once.. gave me the wrong 5 gal bucket so I had to return it.. ugh
I even asked if it was specifically ___ ___ ___ it was 2 numbers off.. totally different gear oil not suitable for my application.
I mean maybe it cheezed him off to have to process the return (never left their shelf)
but I bought it over phone and drove there ... to get wrong item so they would have been better off doing their job correctly and
saving us both time and effort.
( then went and paid 16$/qt for motul gear 300 )
I even asked if it was specifically ___ ___ ___ it was 2 numbers off.. totally different gear oil not suitable for my application.
I mean maybe it cheezed him off to have to process the return (never left their shelf)
but I bought it over phone and drove there ... to get wrong item so they would have been better off doing their job correctly and
saving us both time and effort.
( then went and paid 16$/qt for motul gear 300 )
Well. I can’t think of a single retailer with it on the shelf, or even the brand. The manufacturer’s web site only has a distributor look up, no retail. It’s one of the major refiners.
Totally disagree with everyone. As a manufacturer, we used to sell exclusively to WD's. But selling Direct to Consumer D2C brings you higher margins. It applies to the WD too, if they are selling retail, they need to price it so it is well worth their while, and if the end user doesn't want to pay the price, they can buy elsewhere. Every sale should count.
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