Do you show your clients your vendors?

[robgomez]

<p>Hello,<br>

my clients always have questions about how I make my books, prints, etc ....</p>

<p>I was wondering: Do you ever show your clients your vendor's websites?</p>

<p>I just find it would be easier to refer them to the company, if they want in-depth information about my products.</p>

<p>Or is this tacky, risky, etc? Should I only just stick to showing them my own photographed/real samples of my products?</p>

<p>Thanks guys!<br>

Rob</p>

[savagesax]

Well it depends! Are you a pro? It's really a very simple answer. A lot of venders only deal with the pro's. That's me. If you are a simple photographer that gives away all of the images on a CD or a DVD, to your clients, well I see no problem with disclosing any and all information. However you cannot accept any money for profit.

 

We make a lot of money on reorders and I use a pro photo lab and pro album companies. A pro lab usually won't accept people off the street. I'm not sure about the 3 album companies I use, however I know that there is a wholesale price and a retail price. Needless to say I get the wholesale prices without taxes, because I pay the taxes from the clients every 3 months. Known as a TAX ID number. If you are a true pro, following the rules of the government, you shouldn't be taxed, your end user has to pay them. Be very careful here. If you use a service and you tell the places to hold paying taxes you could get busted and if you tell your clients that they can use your name for wholesale savings, look out! I've sadly seen this happen and the government fines aren't much fun! Expect to be busted and audited for several years and expect some heavy penalties and fines, sadly known as tax fraud. You can try to find places out of your state for your clients. Usually you don't get taxed when ordering something from out of your state, but you should still be careful regarding wholesale prices.

 

Well that pretty much says it all. Your clients will most likely have to pay retail when using anything related to professional services. So give out the information if you really don't care. To be a true pro you really need a Tax ID.

 

To finally answer your question, no I don't give out my venders information. There is no need to. A really good professional vender usually won't accept retail people. This is why professional venders ask for your Tax ID.

 

Sorry to make this such a long answer. It's simply to protect you.

[robgomez]

<p>Hi Bob,<br>

I use Bay Photo for my prints .... and PhotoBookAmerica Pro Series for my books. :)</p>

[peter_cohen]

<p>Since Bay Photo's prices are visible to the general public, I do not refer my clients to them or other vendors' sites. I shoot for profit like Bob and my costs are private. Many labs offer a non-branded catalog without prices that you can use for marketing and sales, so you might want to check those out.</p>

[michaelchadwickphotography]

<p>I don't go out of my way to tell clients who I print with, but if they ask specifically about who prints the albums, I tell them. If they're just looking for a place to get their prints done, I send them to mpix.com which is what gets used if they order their prints through their online Zenfolio gallery anyway. </p>

<p>Yes, the vendor I use for albums (Bay Photo) has their prices on their web site, and I don't hide it from clients who ask directly (there might have been one or two in nearly 150 weddings I've shot at this point, though). My clients are also well educated by me on the fact that their album price is not just the printing, but the photographs, the design, and the experience involved in making them. </p>

[Dave Gardner]

<p>I would agree with Michael C...educate the client about the pricing. We get a lot of clients that tell us the prices they see on album sties...we explain yep...that's the cost without photos. We do include brochures of albums they can choose from...so we know they can easy look up prices. It really is just educating.</p>