Wholesaler prices lately.

[oscar21]

What is it with the recent prices I'm getting at wholesalers, just about everything anyone quotes now is about 20% dearer than I can get things for retail. Take today, I needed some conduit, saddles etc so went to a wholesalers round the corner, I don't use them very often but I know the lad who served me quite well so its not as if I'm a randomer off the street. the bill was about £100 but doing a bit of research this evening it turns out I could of got the same stuff for about £75 from Toolstation or Screwfix etc, or slightly cheaper if I ordered it on-line.

Its the same with our regular wholesaler, they are getting so expensive I hardly ever use them anymore, luckily I'm quite organised so get most stuff on-line now from various places. But these on-line places still have trade counters and physical stores, they are basically wholesalers just like the ones I use but selling on-line as well, if they can sell for that price so can the one I use. I son't see any sense in it, eventually everyone will do what I have done and just buy on-line.

I wouldn't mind but on-line is brilliant, you can order whilst sat in the bath, it arrives anywhere in the country the next day, is the cheapest option and vary rarely does anything go wrong. Wholesalers will be a thing of the past if they don't change track soon.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Stopped using the likes of CEF ages ago , utter Rip off merchants

ToolStation and Screwfix now for 95% of what I buy on a weekly basis , TLC at a push if its an odd ball item

 

[nicebutdim]

You pays your money and takes your choice.

Big sheds like Toolstation & Screwfix buy in unbelievable quantities and wholesalers have little chance of competing, especially independants.

Flip side of this is exceptionally limited range of goods. Can't imagine those retailers being much help if you need something so simple as a length of strut or a 2" bush.

 

[oscar21]

You pays your money and takes your choice.

Big sheds like Toolstation & Screwfix buy in unbelievable quantities and wholesalers have little chance of competing, especially independants.

Flip side of this is exceptionally limited range of goods. Can't imagine those retailers being much help if you need something so simple as a length of strut or a 2" bush.

I think the JCC downlights we get online come from an independent, the big chain wholesalers cant or wont beat them. I think its just profiteering to be honest.

 

[Dustydazzler]

I think the JCC downlights we get online come from an independent, the big chain wholesalers cant or wont beat them. I think its just profiteering to be honest.

I remember some years ago now , I used my local Edmundsons for cable , MK consumer units , sockets and the like.
A big screwfix opened 2 units down from them and they were selling MK boards way cheaper than Edmundson's were, so I mentioned it to the then manager and he said he couldn't get anywhere near to Screwfix prices. It wasn't even worth him trying to match prices.
Funnily that branch soon closed down and was replaced by ToolStation

 

[cliffed]

Everything gone mad… for your enjoyment take a look @ these prices
i was on 35p a hour back then …just a bit less I’m on now

 

[Dustydazzler]

So you could get 3 and 1/2 pints of beer for 1hr work in 1971 , to get that today you would need to earn £30 odd quid per hour. The average worker is on around £15 ph in England

 

[LukeD]

Toolstation and screwfix for 80% .Builders Depot for all things "Fusebox" . Local Wholesale place IF I HAVE TO .And Ebay . I love ebay for all sorts of things , rawplugs , wagos etc etc

 

[Bob Geldoff1234]

I was after some dimmable candle led lamps from my wholesalers.They wanted £3.60 per lamp inc vat.I bought them from Screwfix for £2 per lamp. I wouldn't be able to charge much profit on the wholesalers prices where as Screwfix I can get a decent markup. So to the OP,I know what you mean.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Toolstation and screwfix for 80% .Builders Depot for all things "Fusebox" . Local Wholesale place IF I HAVE TO .And Ebay . I love ebay for all sorts of things , rawplugs , wagos etc etc

Ebay is great for bulk buying screws , wall plugs , connectors , tape , clips etc etc

 

[Lister1987]

Ebay is great for bulk buying screws , wall plugs , connectors , tape , clips etc etc

Oh go on, what are your usual shops on there?

 

[DPG]

Watch out for counterfeit connectors on ebay.

 

[Marvo]

As a rule of thumb never use a wholesaler if you you don't have an account there. Wholesalers have always had much higher markup on small items, it's what keeps them afloat, they don't make much markup on the bread and butter or bulk items like cable. They're always going to be more expensive than purely online vendors but they should add value such as technical support and ease of warranty claims, a 30 day account etc.

 

[ipf]

It's all about quick turnover. All wholesalers, these days have a much smaller range of materials readily available. Where I used to be able to get most things off the shelf, if it's anything out of the ordinary it's a case of waiting for delivery or attempting to trace.
Many say it's easier with the internet and online trading but I used to find things much easier talking to a manufacturer's or supplier's rep who understood what was required than pressing buttons and being sent down cul-de-sacs.
We had a couple or regular wholesalers with others when needed. They all tended to offer decent prices and only served the trade......selling 'wholesale'. I don't think there's any such thing today. Anyone off the street gets served with 'trade' prices.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Oh go on, what are your usual shops on there?

N one in particular , if I need some lever Wagos I just type in lever Wagos and see what offers I can get.
Same with packs of tape , multiple boxes or screws.
There is always some deals to be had

 

[pc1966]

We use a mix of both the local whole sale places and the DIY sheds. Form some things it is so easy to pick up from Toolstation or Screwfix, but for others the local wholesale places are helpful and often prices are reasonable, maybe not quite as low as some on-line places.

But they often deliver locally for free which helps for stuff I can't get in my car (I still forget its much smaller than my old Ford and end up in the car park thinking WTF? as I try to get it all in) and they have good advice on what is reliable / few returns and handling that if there are. In particular the guys at my local Holland House place.

CEF has a good web site and occasionally good prices on certain items, and have cal days, so we do use them from time to time even though they practically never have anything in the shop we need.

 

[littlespark]

Screwfix is fine for domestic. Anything else, a wholesaler.

You can get a credit business account with screwfix, but I just pay as I go.
As a non-business individual, and signed up to their electrifix list, I get a voucher most months. Either 10% or £10 or whatever.

I also order online with screwfix, first going through a Cashback website. Gets 1.1% back, which can go up to 2% if you make a certain number of transactions per month.

And, I use a Chase bank account to buy it…. Which gives me another 1%

 

[Dustydazzler]

£55 for this is ridiculous , I mean who is paying that kind of money for small selection of connectors and wire nuts

In-Sure™ Push In Connector Premium Kit - https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/1823581-in-sure-push-in-connector-premium-kit

You can get a very similar wago selection set off Ebay for around £27 if you have 2-3 mins to search out the deals

 

[Rockingit]

It's a love-hate situation for me. The DIY sheds will always be cheaper on the bread and butter domestic stuff, but are rarely worth the look at for commercial and industrial stuff. However, order what you want from CEF / Rexel online via your trade account and you mostly end up looking at the bigger numbers if you'd spent ten mins surfing but you know there's no delivery hassles, restocks... etc. I bought a Fusebox 6way RCBO / SPD unit for a job a couple of weeks back and it ended up being nearly £100 cheaper as a cash sale direct from Fusebox (so basically, I was DIY Dave) than the exact same list was from my discounted Rexel account!!

But wholesalers do still have a part to play when it comes to specifics - as an experiment I recently put a shopping list of about 15km of various flavours of a specific brand of H07 cable out for quoting to the various cable suppliers, and for interest purposes also gave it to my local Rexel. Amazingly, within a few pence they were as cheap as everyone else.

Also........try getting a conversion kit for a MEM3 400A board from a toolstation......

 

[timhoward]

£55 for this is ridiculous , I mean who is paying that kind of money for small selection of connectors and wire nuts

In-Sure™ Push In Connector Premium Kit - https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/1823581-in-sure-push-in-connector-premium-kit

You can get a very similar wago selection set off Ebay for around £27 if you have 2-3 mins to search out the deals

Yes. That's the thing. If I go in and ask for it, it will be priced immediately based on my account activity levels and I'm sure it would be min 25% off that price.

But to get that price online I'd need to "Request a quote", and then wait for the branch to process that request, and then go back later and complete. The faff factor makes it not worth doing unless it's a very specialised or hard to obtain item.

It's more a case of "who has time to play that silly game!".

 

[Marvo]

I remember many years ago when we were expanding as a panel workshop that we got to a point where we were doing a lot of business with our wholesalers and we started dealing with them through one of their account managers rather than with their counter staff. At that point we started getting pricess at least 10 or 15 percent cheaper. Also when we registered with our suppliers as an OEM manufacturing business rather than as electrical contractors and again we got considerably better discounts but obviously the prices were based on the volume of sales on our account.

 

[oscar21]

I still think its profiteering though, I called into a wholesalers today that specialists in data/ aerials that sort of thing. They wanted £50+VAT for a 16 way switch, you can get them all day long of amazon for £45 delivered to the job next day. They wouldn't budge on price either. I thought wholesalers were meant to be cheaper than retail. Same story for the bread and butter stuff as well. My local wholesaler charges £2.30+VAT for a twin click socket and I use loads of them, I have just ordered 30 on-line for £2.30 including vat plus a load of other 2nd fix stuff. My local also want £13+VAT for a Fusebox RCBO, I can get them for £9.50+VAT no problem, and it all gets delivered to wherever you want the next working day. Whats not to like, if anyone has been into a wholesalers you know you can write an hour of your day off no problem between leaving the job and getting back to it.

 

[nicebutdim]

As a non-business individual, and signed up to their electrifix list, I get a voucher most months. Either 10% or £10 or whatever.

They switched me to Electricfix without my asking. Gave me a £10 voucher and that was it.

I only go near the place when nowhere else is open - usually a Saturday afternoon - as the local Screwfix is a nightmare to get anywhere near to. I dislike them ever more now that I know they're handing out vouchers, but not to me.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Forget the price of cable , tray and sockets

The real tragedy this week is the price of a McDonalds Latte has gone up by 20 pence

 

[LukeD]

Forget the price of cable , tray and sockets

The real tragedy this week is the price of a McDonalds Latte has gone up by 20 pence

Poverty spec Coffee......No shame man ,no shame !

 

[nicebutdim]

I still think its profiteering though, I called into a wholesalers today that specialists in data/ aerials that sort of thing. They wanted £50+VAT for a 16 way switch, you can get them all day long of amazon for £45 delivered to the job next day. They wouldn't budge on price either. I thought wholesalers were meant to be cheaper than retail. Same story for the bread and butter stuff as well. My local wholesaler charges £2.30+VAT for a twin click socket and I use loads of them, I have just ordered 30 on-line for £2.30 including vat plus a load of other 2nd fix stuff. My local also want £13+VAT for a Fusebox RCBO, I can get them for £9.50+VAT no problem, and it all gets delivered to wherever you want the next working day. Whats not to like, if anyone has been into a wholesalers you know you can write an hour of your day off no problem between leaving the job and getting back to it.

It's just business and I don't think any wholesaler markets themselves as being the cheapest option. While I can think of plenty of negative comments to post about wholesalers, I can also think of as many positive comments to post.

Like I stated early in this thread; you pays your money and takes your choice. For some people, ordering everything from different online retailers is a no-brainer, but for others it's a world of hassle. The goods you mention buying cheaply are the staples of this trade - like bread and milk for supermarkets. Ask yourself why any wholesaler might want to stock the huge quantities of these items required to buy at a competitive enough price and then sell them at a profit of pence in the pound?

Move away from basic items, which DIY sheds buy in container loads, and wholesalers become your main option. 250A MCCB from Screwfix? 120mm Tri-rated cable from Toolstation? It's not simply a question of availability, they won't be attempting to assist you with anything that isn't in their catalogues.

 

[oscar21]

It's just business and I don't think any wholesaler markets themselves as being the cheapest option. While I can think of plenty of negative comments to post about wholesalers, I can also think of as many positive comments to post.

Like I stated early in this thread; you pays your money and takes your choice. For some people, ordering everything from different online retailers is a no-brainer, but for others it's a world of hassle. The goods you mention buying cheaply are the staples of this trade - like bread and milk for supermarkets. Ask yourself why any wholesaler might want to stock the huge quantities of these items required to buy at a competitive enough price and then sell them at a profit of pence in the pound?

Move away from basic items, which DIY sheds buy in container loads, and wholesalers become your main option. 250A MCCB from Screwfix? 120mm Tri-rated cable from Toolstation? It's not simply a question of availability, they won't be attempting to assist you with anything that isn't in their catalogues.

I know toolstation and screwfix arne't much cop for odball items and even a lot of their run of the mill stuff is rubbish like axiom and LAP but you still don't need a wholesaler for the other stuff, just as an example I googled 120mm Tri rated cable and the same place I get all my click stuff came up, they can deliver a cut length of that cable anywhere in the country by Friday morning, if I had ordered it before 2PM it could have been delivered tomorrow, you cant really beat that. So I don't see why I should pay over the odds for the bread and butter stuff just because they can get the odd ball stuff as well, because so can I.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Poverty spec Coffee......No shame man ,no shame !

I much preferer a McCafe Latte over Starbuck , Costa , Nero anyday

 

[Dustydazzler]

I know toolstation and screwfix arne't much cop for odball items and even a lot of their run of the mill stuff is rubbish like axiom and LAP but you still don't need a wholesaler for the other stuff, just as an example I googled 120mm Tri rated cable and the same place I get all my click stuff came up, they can deliver a cut length of that cable anywhere in the country by Friday morning, if I had ordered it before 2PM it could have been delivered tomorrow, you cant really beat that. So I don't see why I should pay over the odds for the bread and butter stuff just because they can get the odd ball stuff as well, because so can I.

Wholesalers for me are a bit of a last resort / odd ball item kind of place now.
I probably use TLC which is my nearest maybe once every 2 months when I'm in a real pinch and need something that day that I don't have on me. I know it will cost me 15-20% more in TLC than online but in a pinch its a price paying sometimes just to get a job finished etc

 

[nicebutdim]

I know toolstation and screwfix arne't much cop for odball items and even a lot of their run of the mill stuff is rubbish like axiom and LAP but you still don't need a wholesaler for the other stuff, just as an example I googled 120mm Tri rated cable and the same place I get all my click stuff came up, they can deliver a cut length of that cable anywhere in the country by Friday morning, if I had ordered it before 2PM it could have been delivered tomorrow, you cant really beat that. So I don't see why I should pay over the odds for the bread and butter stuff just because they can get the odd ball stuff as well, because so can I.

You make my point very well if your 'usual supplier' works for you.

As an aside; that supplier sounds very much like an electrical wholesaler, albeit one that operates online and eschews the costs associated with stockholding in multiple locations.

I rarely buy from wholesalers, preferring instead to be well organised and well stocked, but that's easy for me as my own work is mainly domestic for which materials are readily available at low cost. The contractor I mostly work for could never hope to operate in the same manner, due to the huge lists of material that someone would need to spend countless hours pouring through to find the best options.

Maybe it's different over here, where delivery of large and heavy goods can be more problematic, but I struggle to imagine many sizeable industrial jobs being organised on the basis of materials sourced from multiple online stockists or ebay and it's precisely this sort of work in which wholesalers excel.