Distributors

[chrisaroz]

I hate distributors. D and H, Ingram Micro, MA Labs... I can't stand them. Has anyone else tried to deal with them lately? Higher prices than retail, terrible service, and no one will even talk to you about pricing until you shell out $100 to signup. Crazy! I'm not paying $100 to find out you're $0.50 cheaper than what I'm paying D and H!!

So here's the deal, I'm with D and H. I'd like to know what the others are charging for Windows 7 Home Prem 3-pack OEM. I can get it at $307 + shipping (which is crazy since I can buy a single license from NewEgg for $99). If you're with someone else, would you post what your price is? I'm curious to see if they're all the same.

 

[ccritchie]

MA Labs

Morning, Chris,

I just recently started using MA Labs - primarily for the MS Windows 7 refurb licenses. I can get a 3-pack of Windows 7 HP for about $85.00, 3-Pack of Windows 7 Pro for about $135.00. I did not have to pay a $100 application fee when I signed up with them; it was pretty painless.

My rep is of course always trying to get me to buy additional hardware components, but so far I haven't seen pricing that is significantly better than Newegg or Amazon. If I need to buy replacement parts or components for refurbs, then I will use whatever source gives me the best quality for the cheapest price - even if that's not an official distributor channel.

 

[NerdHouse]

Signed up with MA Labs and did not have to pay anything. I know Tech Data, and IM both charge that $100 fee. I have a feeling they just want to weed out those who don't plan on spending 10-15k within the next few months.

Also I signed up with Synnex and ASIPartner but have yet to hear back from them.

 

[cprompt]

I'm also with D and H, so I just checked my pricing. I can get Windows 7 OEM Home Premium 64 bit 3 pack for $295.54.

I probably get a little bit lower price because I've been with D and H for so long (close to 15 years) and over that time have done a fair amount of business. I know my sales man tells me in e-mails he tries to get the best possible price for his customers, and then is apologetic to me because I'm already getting about the best possible price.

I think part of the problem is that MS doesn't just sell to distributors, but also sells to places that can sell directly to end users. As such, it makes it real tough to compete price wise on many things for the distributors. In any event, I've done enough business with D and H, and established a good enough relationship with my salesman, that I'm generally not interested in finding cheaper places all over the place - it's just easier for me to get it from the same place all the time, especially as now I have NET 20 terms with them...

Just my 2 cents.....

 

[chrisaroz]

Thanks for the feedback. I had tried to call MA Labs this morning but all their sales staff was in a meeting? Really? That doesn't seem like a good idea (they obviously didn't get my business today).

Crazy thing is I got a call from ASI today wanting to be our vendor. I had never heard of them but they seem to carry a lot of stuff and their pricing was good (about $290 for a Home Prem OEM 3 pack). I think we'll probably give them a shot and report back here how it goes.

 

[stro]

I spend most of my money at d&h. Free shipping on orders over $1000 (printers, cases, ups... doesn't matter), clean retail packaging, and if I order by 3pm anything coming out of the Chicago warehouse is on my doorstep by 10am the next morning in Michigan.

I have used malabs too in the past, but they really soak you on shipping. The language barrier is also steep. They also do not carry as much brand name retail packaged stuff.

Asi was alright, but stock quantities always seemed to be limited.

I like ingram for quick shipments of dell systems, but browsing their site can be challenging if you do not already know what you are looking for.

 

[emsbronco]

I just checked D&H and my price for a 3 pack of Win7 Home Premium 64bit is $299.81.

You may want to check your membership in buying groups. Fill out your company profile and see if you can answer "Are you part of a buying group?". For example, ASCII, SMBNation, NASBA, etc.