Having direct relationships with your suppliers is a key aspect to your business, but like all relationships, you must work to build them. A professional relationship with your supplier will help you expand your business faster and minimize the growing pains. Today, I’m going to discuss 3 main areas of supplier communications: creating a solid foundation, building on that solid foundation, and addressing holiday pain points.

Set up your account with the supplier
True manufacturers and factory-direct wholesalers will always ask you to set up an account with them. Remember, this is a business for both of you. The supplier wants to move product in and out of their warehouses as fast as possible. They need certain information for billing and shipping purposes.

Common Items on Account Setup form:
- Business Name And Tax ID, for U.S. wholesalers

In order to work with a GENUINE Wholesale Supplier, you DO need to have a state registered business name and tax ID. It has nothing to do with where you sell; it's who you BUY FROM.

REAL Wholesalers are required by law to keep your tax ID on file and must have proof that YOU are a legitimate retailer. If you are working with a supplier who says they are a wholesaler but doesn’t ask for your registered business name and tax ID, there is a very high probability that they are NOT a genuine wholesaler!

If you do not have a registered business name and tax ID, then do not worry. Those items are NOT that hard to get. Just contact your local County Clerks Office and they will direct you (usually to a state website) where you can easily file online and be registered within a few days (sometimes even sooner!)

Business address, phone, fax, hours of operation, length of time in business
A supplier needs to know the best times to contact you. In addition, they want to know that you are a serious business that they can rely on to keep their products moving. That’s why it’s important to project a professional image when you communicate with your suppliers. When you send emails, be polite, get to the point, and always use your spell checker. While your grammar doesn’t need to be perfect, a sloppily written email that is filled with typos sends the message that you are either lazy or incompetent, and not a serious business-person.

Whenever you call a supplier, make sure that you don’t have loud pets in the background or kids screaming in your other ear. There’s nothing wrong with working from home, but you need to realize that distracting noises in the background can give you an unprofessional image. An office environment would not have rock music or Jerry Springer blaring in the background.

You will likely be asked how long you’ve been in business. Don’t be afraid to tell them if you are a new retailer. Many suppliers will work with new sellers, and again, it’s critical to your relationship that you are honest from the get-go. It’s much better to get a “No” upfront, than to have a supplier cut you off when you have already have their products listed all over eBay.

Physical storefront
Some wholesalers will request photographs of your physical storefront. Generally, these wholesalers will not work with online retailers. Often, this is because they carry high-end brand name items and are only allowed by the manufacturers of their products to sell to retailers who sell in certain physical locations (i.e. ritzy storefronts in expensive areas of town).

If you’re asked for a storefront photograph, be honest and explain that you are an online retailer who sells on the eBay platform. They will let you know if they have products within their catalog that you can sell or whether the account setup process cannot continue. Again, it’s better to be shutdown early, than have your account shutdown in the middle of an auction.

Get a representative’s name, email address, and telephone and fax numbers
When setting up your account, make sure that you get all the necessary information from your dedicated account representative, so you can contact them if you need to. This will make it easier when you have questions about an order that shipped or did not ship, or the current status on inventory, etc.

Build on that foundation
Once your account is set up, you can begin to build on the relationship that you have established. There are some simple actions that you can take to be the kind of customer that you like to deal with in your own eBay business. Here are some tips to developing good relationships with your suppliers:

Read the supplier’s policies and procedures
The wholesaler’s policies and procedures will always detail how to submit orders and send payments. Make sure you read through the supplier’s procedures instead of calling and asking basic questions on how to submit orders. The same is true for their terms and conditions, and any other information they make available on their site. If you have a question, look through their literature and their website and see if you can find the answer there first – you may be surprised at how many of your questions are answered right there.

Receive the supplier’s newsletter if they offer one, and read it
Many suppliers provide a newsletter that details upcoming specials and new products. They’ll also list important information about your accounts or any events that may impact your orders’ shipping. Make sure to sign up for the supplier’s newsletter and read it thoroughly. Also, keep an eye on the supplier’s website for updated information.

Know the supplier’s current inventory stats, to avoid back-orders and shipping delays
Unless you have exclusive rights to the sale of a product, there are other sellers that the supplier is feeding from their inventory. Always make sure to check a supplier’s inventory statistics, particularly on your fastest-moving products, so that you can avoid back-orders and delays in shipping.

Many suppliers offer real-time inventory on their website. If you see that a supplier is low on a particular item, you might consider removing any listings for that product until your supplier restocks. Some suppliers also enable you to set up alerts that notify you when the products that you’re watching fall below a certain level.

If you’re drop shipping your products, we also recommend that you purchase some of your best-selling products and keep them on hand in case you run into an out-of-stock situation. You will still be able to fill the order from your own supply, and will not lose repeat business or garner negative feedback.

Preparing for the holiday season
Suppliers are always several months ahead of sellers in preparing for the holiday season. By June, most suppliers have already completed their research and set their orders for the holiday season with their manufacturers. They spend June and July working on clearing out old inventory to make way for the new shipments.

For sellers, holiday preparation usually begins around June. So if you sell on eBay, then YOUR HOLIDAY SEASON HAS ALREADY BEGUN! Since holiday sales account for a disproportionate percentage of a retailer’s annual sales total, it’s extremely important that you prepare NOW for the buying frenzy that consumers will experience several months down the road. As a seller, here are some tips for planning for the holiday season:

• For June and July, all sellers should be researching and testing what they want to sell for the holiday season
• Communicate your plans with your suppliers so that they can make sure their inventory includes the items that you plan to sell. However, you also need to check out their catalogs and see what their available inventory will be during the holidays. You don’t want waste time researching a product that you won’t be able to supply to your holiday shoppers
• Identify trends and keywords, and set your marketing to prepare for the holiday season (i.e. keywords, optimization for your product copy)
• Talk with your suppliers about their planned product lines and closeout inventory
• Test now for titles, description, images
• Streamline the ordering process. Don’t wait until your holiday shoppers arrive to make sure that your operational processes are in tip-top shape. You don’t want shoppers to experience any shipping delays due to non-payments or missed emails – especially at the holidays when quick delivery is a top buyer priority.