Ethics of sharing competing supply house prices with each other

Status
Not open for further replies.
George Stolz said:
Two different supply houses have asked me to hand them a bill of materials from the other, to "smack their factory rep with" to get better prices.

Is it really ethical to share Supply House A's numbers with B? Seems kind of wrong, somehow.
Click to expand...

If you do it and "A" finds out, you may not get "A"s best price ever again and if "B" was high you were not getting their best price to begin with. If you want good quotes long before bid time, don't play games with their numbers.
 
Just say this line "I'm getting quotes from multiple supply housing, and I want you to know, I'm pulling for ya ;) "
 
i'll give them pricing on commodity items after they quote and we place our order....not to get them to drop their pricing from their quote, but to give them an idea what the problems are...

but we are talking commodity items (12/2 MC, 3/4" EMT fittings, EMT, etc)...not switch gear, lighting, etc....

is it right? i don't know...but my salesmen know that I rarely will give them a phantom quote that is 10-15% less than their quote:D
 
I have a "main" supply house I deal with they get the lions share of my business if I find product at a cheaper price I tell them so they have the chance to match it.
 
Maybe I misunderstood. In my previous post I was thinking about regular prices, not bid quotes.

As far as the ethics of it goes, I see no problems whatsoever. Your ultimate loyalty should be to your business and then your customers, not some supply house staff - they're just the middlemen. Fighting for the lowest price is a no-holds barred game. On the other hand, there are alliances to be taken into account... :)
 
I just recently had to price and buy a certain piece of equipment. The supply house that usually gives me the best price quoted me $950 including shipping, after checking with his rep.

Another supplier, where I know the guy I deal with there, quoted about $1250. I told him my other quote, he called the (same) rep, and told me his cost was still higher than my quote.

Obviously, not all suppliers pay the same thing for their gear, just like us. These days, I'm forced to be more loyal to my bottom line than to the suppliers who serve coffee and donuts.
 
Doug S. said:
Hmmm Donuts
Click to expand...
Calm down, Homer!

Added:
Simpsons_Homer_Donuts_Shirt.jpg
 
Last edited:
Price differences on everyday in stock items can vary widely from one supplier to the other.

Recently, we bought some of those underground junction boxes, the type that look like an inverted flower pot, with removable green cover that is installed even with the grass.

We had bought 2 of them from one supplier for about $17 each. During the job, it was determined that we needed an additional one. We went to the nearest supplier (a competitor) and bought one off the self. When the bill came, it was priced out at $42!

Needless to say, we will never buy that item from them again.

OTOH, the place that wanted $42 for the underground splice box has the best deal on other in-stock items. Such as those Arlington meter box mounting blocks, or fluorescent ballasts.

Unless you get quotes in advance you can never tell who has the best price on what. It's also important to remember that no one supplier will have the best deal on everything.

That's why we maintain open accounts at all the local suppliers.
 
kbsparky said:
Price differences on everyday in stock items can vary widely from one supplier to the other.

Recently, we bought some of those underground junction boxes, the type that look like an inverted flower pot, with removable green cover that is installed even with the grass.

We had bought 2 of them from one supplier for about $17 each. During the job, it was determined that we needed an additional one. We went to the nearest supplier (a competitor) and bought one off the self. When the bill came, it was priced out at $42!

Needless to say, we will never buy that item from them again.

OTOH, the place that wanted $42 for the underground splice box has the best deal on other in-stock items. Such as those Arlington meter box mounting blocks, or fluorescent ballasts.

Unless you get quotes in advance you can never tell who has the best price on what. It's also important to remember that no one supplier will have the best deal on everything.

That's why we maintain open accounts at all the local suppliers.
Click to expand...

Quasi Box? What was stamped on the top of the $17.00 box did it say electric or was it stamped sprinkler?
 
charlietuna said:
Suppliers and reps are in bed with each other on many jobs-i have caught them fixing prices many times--just got down to which one worked the best with me, and i favored him, but the word "TRUST" never entered my mind. I once had them change a price on Square D equipment from $63,500. to $3,600. in a blink of an eye! It is the contractor's job to keep them honest--like we have time for that??? And when i catch them, just go elsewhere for a few months(even though it cost me money)--they get the picture after a while. Now i have always worked "with" my suppliers on trade problems and material problems, but it made little difference in our relationship.
Click to expand...
The place I used to work we used a lot of MCCs. Mostly AB because they were the lowest priced units. I got to where I could guess fairly accurately what the AB price was going to come back as but now and then we would get a shocker.

I would call the AB guy (there actually was an AB guy then) and he would agree the price was out of line over the phone and knock it back to something close to what was expected. Most often this was at least 50%. It happened enough that I figured it was part of the game.

Ironically, a guy I ran across later on, had similar experiences with Square D on their MCCs.

A lot of times pricing is related to a decision by a manufacturer that they want the business from either a particular entity or market segment. AB wanted us and Square D wanted the other guy so they made the price attractive enough.

On some things you can do well pricing wise by ordering in chunks the manufacturer wants to sell in. A lot of companies do not want to do it this way because they want to only buy what they need for a project, but sometimes the price difference is so substantial it is worth buying more than you really need. If you buy 10% extra and get it for 20% less, it is a no brainer.
 
check this out. About 4 months ago we priced out 5000 Arlington 38AST MC Connectors. One price from a local supply house the other from Sunstar Lighting. They were both the exact same price down to the penny. Somewhere around $2200 if I remember right. Who woulda thought?
 
For one thing, they don't know what price point you get at the other house, although I guess they could figure you get the best pricing if you are a regular.

Second, I would also guess that this is a way for them to see if they are "taking too much off" the top, and who knows, they may even have a deal with the other guy, and need to check up on it, although that is illegal.

But checking to see if they can get away with charging you a couple percent more would be my take on it. Why help them do that?
 
This is exactly why MANY manufacturers are forced to manufacture overseas. Constant downward pricing. As a result, much of the product quality gets worse and worse.

Nowadays its all about price, and the people buying typically don't care about quality and consistency. Since their customers keep purchasing what they stock, I guess that most shouldn't bitch and moan when they work with sub-quality, offshore materials....:rolleyes: The behavior is self-perpetuating.
 
George Stolz said:
Two different supply houses have asked me to hand them a bill of materials from the other, to "smack their factory rep with" to get better prices.

Is it really ethical to share Supply House A's numbers with B? Seems kind of wrong, somehow.
Click to expand...


Only public works are required to have price disclosure. Any other pricing can be considered confidential matter. Sarbanes-Oxley had tightened up on this.

Would you want anybody know what your pricing structure is? It discloses to your competitior whare you're weka and where you're strong.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top