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Frequently Asked
Questions -- Suppliers
October 30, 2003
www.FindStone.com
is a simple, transparent & successful marketplace to enable you to
sell products and services related to the stone industry locally and globally
to the trade and to retail buyers.
How can FindStone help us sell?
(Must see)
What steps does FindStone recommend for any supplier?
Why should we display our Company
Profile?
How do we display our Stone Images?
Why should we give
our Price List?
Why
should we display our Stock?
Why should
we display our Product Images?
How do we display
our Application / Project Images?
How can we share
our expertise or provide services?
Can FindStone
promote our products?
How to deal with buyers’
inquiries listed in FindStone? (Must
see)
What is the subscription plan? NEW!
How do we buy a buyer’s contact?
What if we buy a contact and don't
get the order?
How do we pay?
How do we sell on a commission basis? (Must
see)
Is there a suggested format for quoting?
How
can we make an offer when the buyer has not given sufficient info?
Can
you give examples of supplier responses which are not helpful?
Can you give some examples
of poor responses of suppliers?
Can you give some examples
of good responses of suppliers?
Can we contact buyers on a commission basis even
if the buyer has not responded to our offer?
Can we contact the buyers directly without doing
the initial negotiation through FindStone?
Why should we pay a deposit fee?
Do we have to give the deposit
fee once only or each time?
We still don't want to pay the
deposit fee.
Why doesn't FindStone ask buyers to pay to contact
us?
Does FindStone trade?
Can I be FindStone’s agent?
Which types of suppliers are difficult
to work with?
I am still not convinced.
Suggestions
or questions?
______________________________________________________________________________________________
How can FindStone help us sell?
You can sell products and services in 3 distinct ways:
- Display your information
- Promote your products or services
- Respond to buyers' inquiries
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
What steps does FindStone recommend for any supplier?
We recommend suppliers to do the following:
- display your Company Profile FREE in www.findstone.com/suppliers.htm
by filling in www.findstone.com/supplierform.htm.
This is a necessary first step.
- display your Price Lists FREE in www.findstone.com/pricelists.htm
by emailing it to us.
- display your Stock Lists in www.findstone.com/readystock.htm
by emailing it to us.
- display your Stone Images FREE in www.findstone.com/album.htm
by emailing it to us.
- display your Product Images in www.findstone.com/artistic.htm
by emailing it to us.
- display your Application Images FREE in www.findstone.com/applications.htm
by emailing it to us.
- send commission letter as per www.findstone.com/mou.htm
so that unnecessary time is not wasted later.
- send $ 100 deposit fee through www.findstone.com/payment.htm
to show more seriousness.
- do a product promotion worldwide or in any geographical area that
you desire.
- respond to buyers' enquiries in www.findstone.com/tiall.htm
All of the above are explained in more detail below
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
Why should we display our Company Profile?
Displaying your Company Profile is very easy. All you have to do is fill
www.findstone.com/supplierform.htm.
You get your own profile page. All your information is linked through that
page. You have to simply use that page URL when you correspond. So buyers
can understand you better and you do not have to send attachments or same
information again and again.
We get many visitors who wish to contact specific buyers based on their
profile. When a buyer shows interest in your page, the buyer has an option
to buy your contact, while you have a choice to buy the contact details
of the buyer or deal on a commission basis.
So whether or not you intend to work through FindStone, you will find that
several interested buyers will contact you directly.
In any case, filling www.findstone.com/supplierform.htm
is a necessary first step. _________________________________________________________________________________________top_
How do we display our Stone Images?
Display your Stone Images FREE in
www.findstone.com/country-stone.htm and
www.findstone.com/matph.htm by emailing it to us.
We can also do a Stone of the Week promotion through
www.findstone.com/album.htm and our Product Promotion plan.
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
Why should we give our Price List?
Do send us your latest price list to add in www.findstone.com/pricelists.htm
Buyers treat price lists as a starting point for negotiation. It gives them
an idea of your product range, size range, and quality. They know that the
final price would depend on quantity, quality, delivery times, payment terms,
etc. They know that prices are negotiable. The competition knows your prices
anyway. The world is increasingly transparent. When a buyer shows interest
in your price list, we ask the buyer to pay to directly contact you or to
get clarifications from you before doing so. So it is in your best interest
to send us your price list. We also inform you so you can decide to either
buy the buyer's contact or deal on a commission basis.
Suppliers often wonder whether they should send prices which are high, low,
or standard.
Their reasons are:
- High so that the competition does not know the real prices.
- Low so that the buyer does not ignore them.
- Standard because that is what they would send if the buyer were to contact
them directly.
We recommend you send your standard price list.
We give you your own price list page e.g. www.findstone.com/pl/874.htm
which you can use for responding to inquiries on FindStone.
We suggest you add a small company profile and product images along with
your prices.
If you have different prices for local sales, exports, or for different
countries, then send each one.
We will put them up separately.
Ideally, the price list (e.g. for stone) should contain:
Exact trade name with description
Product (slabs, tiles) with exact or minimum dimensions and surface
/ edge finish
Quality: describe it and advise for which countries it is most suitable.
Currency: Local currency if ex-works. US$ if FOB. Mention city.
Taxes: Mention separately. Royalty also, if applicable.
Delivery method: Packed, ex-works / fob.
Minimum order / Quantity: E.g. truckload / container.
Delivery time: per truckload / container.
Supply Capacity per month
Payment terms
Validity or mention month/year.
Your Competitive Strength: quality / price / delivery and reasons
You are free to change prices whenever you want.
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
Why should we display our Stock?
If you carry no stock or if you usually have a defined minimum
level of stock, you should indicate that in your Supplier Profile.
If you have some current stock, then you should display it FREE in www.findstone.com/readystock.htm
.
We will also do a promotional mailing of your products to our 20000 stone
industry members.
You will get immediate buyers and superior prices from companies who would
never have been able to know about you.
You have to FIRST select the method you wish to follow from the following
options:
a. Buy the contact of responders at $ 10 each. This would be irrespective
of the quality of response. Expect about 10 responses.
b. Buy the contact of each qualified response. That means that you can have
a dialog through us. If you choose to then buy any contact, you must pay
$ 100 for each.
c. Deal on a commission basis as per www.findstone.com/mou.htm
We need a $ 100 deposit upfront as doing this will cost us time, effort
and money, as well as the opportunity cost of doing something else. We will
refund if it is unutilized within 60 days. See www.findstone.com/payment.htm
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
Why should we display our Product Images?
We get a lot of visitors daily.
So we would urge you to have your own Online Catalog in www.findstone.com/artistic.htm
We will put the images free of cost but we do need a $ 100 deposit fee to
do so as it does take time to do so and so we need this as a display of
a little more support / seriousness from a seller. Else in our list of free
things to do, there are always other higher priority things to do at the
moment.
You can pay on a commission basis or on a monthly basis or per lead basis
whichever you prefer
Your deposit fee will be adjusted against this payment.
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
How do we display our Application / Project
Images?
Display your Application / Project Images FREE in www.findstone.com/applications.htm
by emailing it to us.
This covers images of projects where your stone has been used in retail
or commercial settings.
Buyers - the trade, homeowners, or architects - who show interest in these
pictures will be referred to you.
Once again, you can deal with them on a per lead or commission basis.
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
How can we share our expertise or provide
services?
Send a small write-up for www.findstone.com/expertprofiles.htm
Answer questions in the Expert Advice section www.findstone.com/aw.htm
to build your reputation and credibility.
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
Can FindStone promote our products?
We can do a promotional mailing of your products or services to our
20000 stone industry members.
You will get immediate buyers and superior prices from companies who would
never have been able to know about you.
You have to FIRST select the method you wish to follow from the following
options:
a. Buy the contact of responders at $ 10 each. This would be irrespective
of the quality of response. Expect about 10 responses.
b. Buy the contact of each qualified response. That means that you can have
a dialog through us. If you choose to then buy any contact, you must pay
$ 100 for each.
c. Deal on a commission basis as per www.findstone.com/mou.htm
We need a $ 100 deposit upfront as doing all this will cost us time, effort
and money, as well as the opportunity cost of doing something else. We will
refund if it is unutilized within 60 days. See www.findstone.com/payment.htm
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
How to deal with buyers’ inquiries listed in
FindStone?
There are 4 ways:
- join any subscription plan to contact buyers directly
(most suitable if you sell a broad range e.g. traders, exporters, slab /
tile factories, agents)
- pay the stated contact price and contact the buyer directly
(most suitable if you specialize in specific items)
- work on a commission basis by negotiating through findstone
(most suitable for small companies)
- get the buyer to pay us to contact you by making your offer through
findstone
(we do not really recommend this)
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
A. Monthly Subscription Plan: NEW!
When buying contacts through subscription plan, you do not have
to pay us any commission.
Buy
buyers' contacts and deal directly: To
pay, go to www.findstone.com/payment.htm
A.
Plan 150: Get contacts of ALL
buyer's inquiries for any month (past, present or future) for all
the products that you can supply by paying US$ 150 net.
B.
Product Plan: Get
contacts of all buyers of individual products. Click here
.
C.
Country Plan: Get
contacts of all buyers of stones of individual countries. Click
here
.
D.
Design Your Own Plan:
NEW!
Tell us how much you would pay on a monthly or per 10-inquiries basis
to get all inquiries pertaining to any product or product category, or
geographical area of buyers or source or stone, or type of buyers,
or any combination that is appropriate for your business.
2.
Buy individual contacts:
Price
of individual contacts is $ 25 irrespective of the amount stated at
the end of the inquiry unless that is lower. To
close the contact for others, pay $ 125. If it turns out
the buyer is not serious or has bought or is unresponsive, we will give
you credit for the payment made to us by you for buying the contact.
Note:
a) All the buyers
are serious. That is our guarantee. If it turns out the buyer is
not serious, we will give you credit for the payment made to us by you
for buying the contact.
b) If a buyer has paid a deposit, that deposit is to show his urgency.
You have to still buy the contact.
c) If any inquiry is sold to someone or if we have put anyone
in contact with the buyer on a commission basis on the request of the
buyer, it will be indicated at the end of that inquiry.
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
How can we buy a buyer’s contact?
The price of the buyer's contact is written at the end of the inquiry.
Contacts are sold on a first-come-first-served basis i.e. the inquiry
is closed when sold.
This plan is best for those who specialize in specific items or where
the buyer is open to any material.
To pay, go to www.findstone.com/payment.htm
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
What if we buy
a contact and don't get the order?
If you did not get an order because you were not competitive or your quality
was not suitable, then you do not get any credit.
We give you credit if the buyer:
- is not genuine
- has no intention to buy
- is unresponsive
- has already placed orders
Remember, you may ask clarifications from the buyer before paying us for
the contact.
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
How do we pay?
www.findstone.com/payment.htm has our address, bank details, paypal,
and credit card payment links.
You can also pay through Western Union.
Credibility issues:
1. We are situated near the main railway station of Bombay and is in the
heart of the business district.
2. Do note that the road is named after our CEO's family.
3. Do ask your bank to check with our bank for a reference.
4. We are a self-service marketplace with transparent systems.
5. Our methods are simple, straightforward, easy and effective.
6. One press article about us is at www.findstone.com/press/acw.htm
7. If you have dealings with someone in our country, you can send the
payment to them, and they can release it to us as mutually agreed.
8. If you have a friend in Bombay, ask them to visit us.
9. Phone and talk to us to clarify your doubts or email us.
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
How do we sell on a commission basis?
To work on a commission basis, the system
is simple and works as follows:
- send us a $ 100 / Rupees 5000
deposit fee
- send an offer (or specific questions)
to each inquiry of your interest in www.findstone.com/tiall.htm
- your offers are forwarded to the buyers
- the buyers' comments are sent to you
- this goes on till you and the buyer reach an agreement
- you are then put in contact with each other
Your deposit fee is
valid till you get an order. Every $ 100 deposit entitles you to be
in contact with TWO live contacts at any point of time i.e. where
talks have not failed. All deposits are adjusted against commission
or purchase of future contacts. So if a buyer does not buy from you, your
deposit remains unused. Do note that we need the deposit right from the
beginning itself. If you do not want to do this, please see www.findstone.com/phil.htm
Once you are put in contact:
- you must send us copies of correspondence that you exchange with the
buyer
- mail samples, phone & follow-up till buyer says yes or no
- tell us the end-result & reason for it
- give us monthly feedback - enquiry no. / country / company name / status
- phone us monthly to discuss which types of inquiries work for you &
which don't
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
Is there a suggested format for quoting
1. Always mention
your personal name, and city/state/country. It helps us and the buyer.
Don't mention any other contact details including company name. In particular,
do NOT reply with a standard introductory email. We simply delete such
emails as they are meaningless to the buyer. The buyer assumes that you
can supply.
2. It is COMPULSORY to mention your profile page URL from www.findstone.com/suppliers.htm
. If you do not have a Company Profile page in www.findstone.com
, then fill www.findstone.com/supplierform.htm
to get one FREE.
3. It is important to convey the landed price, quality guarantee, safety
of money and ease of purchase.
So a suggested format to quote is:
- Item - trade name, material type, item type e.g. Indian Paradiso granite
cut-to-size slabs
- Image - e.g. in www.findstone.com/country-stone.htm
or on any other website
- Quantity - number of pieces and sq.ft. / sq.m
- Approximate weight
- Packing style
- Delivery period
- Price FOB or CIF - preferably in the buyer's currency
- Your best payment terms
- Freight costs (approximate)
- Quality guarantee (If the buyer can not arrange inspection, how will
you guarantee quality or resolve any quality problems?)
- Your Company Profile URL
For an example, see
www.findstone.com/pl/1220.htm
Do remember to quote as follows:
- in inches, feet, lbs, cu. ft. to USA buyers
- in the metric system - m, cm, mm, kg, cu.m. - to all others
Indians often prefer length and breadth in feet and inches.
________________________________________________________________________________________top_
Can you give examples of supplier responses which
are not helpful?
Below are the difficulties in dealing with certain types of responses
made by suppliers to buyers' enquiries:
1 Supplier: On going through your
enquiries, some of the buyers ask for photographs or image of the products
but you suggest not to send photographs. How to proceed with.
Our reply: most images are in the stone
album - or you can send us separately - we will put it there.
2 Supplier: You advise not to ask
questions without quoting prices. But how one can quote a price without
asking for details of the buyer's requirement or some clarification since
most of the enquiries are without product details, size specification
etc.
Our reply: we always ask those questions
- see Offer no. 2 in any of the See Offers link.
3 Supplier from India: There are
some buyers, who show interest to purchase blocks, clearly specifying
the colours and origin, which may not be available in India. But being
buyers of blocks, they may definitely require granite blocks of INDIAN
origin in future though not require immediately.
Our reply: - So they can come back to us
in the future.
Supplier's response: At this stage, if we send our offer letter
for Indian Blocks, which may be referred by the buyer for his future requirement,
will you forward it to the buyer.
Our reply:- No because the buyer can see
that we have many suppliers of Indian blocks and will contact us to float
their inquiry when they need it.
Supplier's further response: Or else, will you provide contact
details after taking undertaking from us that you are entitled for commission
after fulfilling the buyer's requirement.
Our reply: - Really it is a waste of time.
It is better to use our Promotional Services to find buyers who can buy.
4 Supplier: Now, we are planning
to quote our offer for Landscaping Stones for many enquiries with the
confidence that we will have at least some response. Can we cut and paste
photographs or send as attachments?
Our reply - Send separately. We will put
it in our Online Stores. Then you can refer buyers to that page.
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
Give us some examples
of poor responses of suppliers?
- "We can supply. Please contact us (or please see our website)"
Our reaction: And how shall findstone make money?
- "It is our pleasure to introduce ourselves. We are a big company,
established in ....., with .... workers, able to supply you all products
......"
Our reaction: Good but so say most Indian and Chinese
companies and the buyer really doesn't care. If you can offer what he
wants, please quote.
- "Please inform us the required colour, material, size, quantity
to quote"
Our reaction: We always ask these questions to
the buyer. So give some options for the buyer to select.
- "Give me their address to contact"
Our reaction: How cute.
- "Are you still looking for it?"
Our reaction: Of course, else we would have closed
the enquiry.
- "Contact me for further information"
Our reaction: .... scratching our head and wondering
what to do next
- "We are granite & marble processers in Bangalore, India &
can supply all the Indian color granite polished / flamed slabs &
tiles. Kindly look into the attachment which states prices of different
varieties that we can supply."
Our reaction: Please give the URL (link) of your
price list in findstone. We can not send attachments easily.
- "Please tell us the buyer's fax number and email address. We will
contact the buyer directly. We will pay after we receive the buyer's order.
Trust us."
Our reaction: Interesting. We are trusting this
supplier for our commissions anyway even though he won't trust us with
$ 100, even though we are probably financially bigger and publicly more
visible than him.
- "We are interested in the following inquiries: e 3461 USA, e 3452
USA, e 3442 Saudi Arabia, e 3440 USA, e 3436 USA, e 3342 Luxembourg. Would
you please make a contact, e.g. by sending us the addresses. We grant
you agreed commission resulting of these deals."
Our reaction: This is going to be another Catch
22 situation. He will offer something the buyer does not want, the buyer
will not respond, this supplier won't even phone the buyer to ascertain
why the buyer is silent, he will think the buyers are not genuine, we
will think we got cheated, the buyer will not know what to do, and all
relationships will get spoilt instead of getting established.
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
Give us
some examples of good responses of suppliers?
Here are some of the responses that we
and the buyers like:
We are stone supplier from China. Here we'd like to recommend our sandstone
product ZH-s201 to you. Please find the image on http://www.findstone.com/CHIsand1.htm.
Pricelist of ZH-s021:
| Item
No. |
Size
|
Price
(FOB XIAMEN) |
|
ZH-S201 |
600X600X20MM
|
USD20
/ M2 |
| 600X600X30MM
|
USD24
/ M2 |
If there are some special requirement such
as finish, dimension and so on please don't hesitate to contact us, we
will quote for you accordingly.
Shanxi Black Polished 300*600*20mm
CNF HAIFA 21.60/m2
Other black granite such as Crystal Black
CNF HAIFA 17.90/m2
G603 Pilished 500*900*27mm including 4 holes per slab
CNF HAIFA 17.90/m2
G654 Pilished 500*900*27mm including 4 holes per slab
CNF HAIFA 26.00/m2
Slate and Quartzite - price per square
metre of floor tiles is US$20 to US$15 (depending on thickness and size)
C&F Rotterdam - based on 3 container per month order. Do not know
if you wants blocks, slabs or tiles, please state if above quote is incorrect.
Also please state if for roofing or floor tiles.
WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN THE FOLLOWING
GRANITE BLOCKS FROM INDIA.
BLOCK SIZE 240 X 120 X 80 in cms
ALLOWANCE 5CM- 7CM on all sides
PACKING in break
bulk
INSPECTION before shipment
PAYMENT Against irrevocable
letter of credit payable at Sight
Sl No
Description
FOB Price in US$ PER CUBIC METRE
-------------- -------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------
1
PARADISO
610.00
2
TAN BROWN
460.00
The sizes available in Mint Fossil Stones
are :
55/55, 55/40, 40/40, 55/70 (any other size can be made)
Thickness 25-35mm
Edges : Fine Hand cut
Price : US$ 8.50 FOB Mumbai port
Quantity required for one container : App. 370 sqm
India
I am writing to you as a Sales Director
to offer you our services, meeting your demand to import fireplaces.
Amongst our products we have more than 65 models of fireplaces. Below
are a small sample of the different lines of this product in order that
it has a reference of decorative aesthetics and prices.
FIREPLACES PRICES (FindStone's Online Stores>>Supplier 9>>Spain>>Fireplaces)
009-0008 596 €
009-0001 1.042 €
009-0007 1.136 €
009-0002 1.212 €
009-0006 1.440 €
009-0003 1.894 €
009-0005 3.246 €
009-0004 570 €
We hope this meets all your needs. If you are interested in our offer,
please let us know so as to agree on the commercial terms of partnership
between both companies. Otherwise, we would be grateful to you for letting
us know.
Price for Carrara marbles tiles 12 x 12
x 1 polished, bevelled and calibrated is 2,5 USDoll x S.F. ex Factory
We are producer of Rosalia
Our standard measures are CIF
2*30*60- $18
2*30*free(300mm-590mm)- $16
3*33*1000mm-1100mm-1200mm- $29
Turkey
We wish to supply you rough blocks in Kuppam
green at USD 315/cbm fob madras India
red multi at USD500/m3
Please elaborate your requirements
Please find below our quotation for CREMA
MARFIL polished slabs, for quantities from 2 to 4 containers:
Thickness 2cm, high commercial quality, 29,- €/m2
Thickness 3cm, high commercial quality, 41,- €/m2
Thickness 2cm, 1st quality, 36,- €/m2
Thickness 3cm, 1st quality, 49,- €/m2
Prices are EXW Spanish Factory.
Regarding the quotation for tiles, we would need to know the sizes and
the desired finish (polished, honed, antik...?).
We would urge even
the above suppliers to add the following:
- their city, state, country
- a one-line description about themselves
- their willingness to send images, samples, talk on the phone, or visit
the buyer.
- a link to their profiles, price lists, ready stock, and images in the
findstone site.
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
How can we make
an offer when the buyer has not given sufficient info?
Just because information given by the buyer is insufficient, it does
not mean that the buyer is not serious.
If a buyer does not specify properly, you should, in fact, be happy. It
means that he has not yet decided so he is open to being influenced towards
your products and your company.
Many buyers also presume that suppliers have standard products, qualities,
sizes, etc., and want to first know what these are so that they can make
an intelligent selection.
Help the buyer by giving a check list of CHOICES that YOU offer such as:
a) price list
b) product list with specifications
c) questions that you need answered to be able to quote
The most important thing is to establish your credibility by giving an
intelligent reply. Talk to the buyer just as if the buyer had contacted
you directly. What questions would you ask? What choices would you give?
Do's:
- give a basic offer and state the possible options, or
- suggest options with prices, or
- give a full price list, or
- give a checklist of questions that you need answered to make an offer,
or
- buy the contact and deal direct
Don'ts:
- do not simply say that you can supply
- do not ask to simply contact you through your email, website, or phone
- do not give only a general description of your company
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
Can we contact buyers on a commission basis even
if the buyer has not responded to our offer?
Yes, you may do so.
We would like to retain a $ 100 deposit fee for EVERY ACTIVE BUYER you
are in contact through us.
"Active" means any buyer who has not said 'no' to you.
So either give a status report on all the contacts we have given to you
till then or pay an additional deposit.
Some of the reasons are:
- it makes suppliers give us timely feedback about the status of the inquiries
- it ensures that suppliers only ask for contacts that they are serious
about
- it keeps accounting up to date
- it enables us and suppliers to be more aware of what is working for
them and what is not
- it balances our cash-flows and reduces our risks
- we don't feel pressured to sell the contact or work with a new supplier
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
Can we contact the buyer directly without doing
the initial negotiation through FindStone?
It is possible. After all, selling is easier, more effective, and more
successful when suppliers and buyers are in direct contact rather than
indirectly via email through us as emails are incomplete and impersonal.
But sometimes all that a supplier does is send an email to the buyer even
when put in direct contact.
If you commit to phoning the buyer, sending samples at your cost, and
keeping us informed, we could put you in direct contact.
But, we do need to know you better as we do not like giving away free
contacts.
So if there is no deal, we would like to charge something for the contact
anyway, say $ 20.
We are anyway open to receiving your proposal on this.
_________________________________________________________________________________________top_
Why should we pay a deposit fee?
We need a $ 100 / Euro 100 / INR 5000 deposit fee for various reasons:
- To know which supplier is serious and which is not.
- To ensure commitment and seriousness of a supplier. (It is very easy
for a supplier to ask for a contact.)
- To give preference to or work closely with a supplier.
- To reduce our risk. (This reduces the risk of not getting our due commission.)
- To ensure we get compensated for our time. (Many suppliers do not know
how to deal over the internet or with buyers of different countries. We
end up spending time to educate them.)
- To work closely with serious companies who are comfortable & supportive
of our concept.
Why would a supplier not pay such a small amount?
The reasons that have come to our mind are - fear, ego of own company
size, poor financial situation, bad intentions, non-understanding of a
marketplace concept, or own silly ideas of what works.
Fear is valid. We can only suggest you put it aside and try us out.
If you are a big company, make a win-win proposal and send us catalogs,
references, company history and profile, etc. to study.
We need suppliers who will put in time, effort and money to close deals.
If a supplier is unwilling (for whatever reason) to give this trivial
deposit, our experience shows that such suppliers have no commitment in
doing deals through FindStone irrespective of how big they are and it
usually ends up just being a big waste of time for us.
We also need to prioritize. We have many ideas still to be implemented.
Also we get more work daily than we can handle. So priority is given to
buyers and to paying suppliers. And we have found the $ 100 deposit fee
a simple but important qualifier.
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Do we have to give the deposit fee once only or
each time?
We would like to have the deposit fee for EVERY ACTIVE BUYER you are in
contact through us.
"Active" means any buyer who has not said 'no' to you.
So you have to either give a status report on all the contacts we have
given you or pay an additional deposit.
Some of the reasons are:
- it makes suppliers give us timely feedback about the status of the inquiry
- it ensures that suppliers only ask for contacts that they are serious
about
- it keeps accounting up to date
- it enables us and suppliers to be more aware of what is working for
them and what is not
- it balances our cash-flows and reduces our risks
- we don't feel pressured to sell the contact or work with a new supplier
The maximum amount that we need to have is $ 500.
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We still don't want to pay the deposit of $ 100.
If you do not want to pay the deposit,
- fill www.findstone.com/supplierform.htm
and then send the following for us to take a decision:-
- www.findstone.com/mou.htm
- your company registration number
- your company profile, history, etc.
- your product list and price list
- mobile and home phone numbers of Managing Director/CEO, marketing manager,
finance manager
- two trade references in our country or yours with full contact details
- contact details of your auditor
- details of 2 Arbitrators e.g. Stone Association, Chamber of Commerce,
Industry Association
Do appreciate that it is we who have to trust suppliers for large amounts.
Suppliers have to only trust us for a small amount.
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Why doesn't FindStone ask buyers to pay to contact us?
We do. The percentage of buyers who pay are very few and good opportunities
get lost.
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Does FindStone trade?
No!
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Can I be FindStone’s agent?
Fill www.findstone.com/supplierform.htm
and give us your proposal in detail. We are always willing to discuss.
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Which types of suppliers are difficult to work with?
Top of the list – Those who say ‘Trust Us!’ particularly
those who don’t give any reason why we should trust them and it is clear
that they are small.
Our thought 1: In this industry, any company
can draw up a large list of experiences and companies, where they have
cheated or been cheated.
Our thought 2: Don’t they realize that we
are anyway trusting them for our commissions while they can’t trust us
for $ 100 when quite often we are bigger than they are?
Those who say ‘We can offer / source anything
so work only with us!’
Our thought: Don’t they realize those days
are over? If they are still getting random orders, they must consider
themselves lucky and plan how to exit painlessly. Anyway, it is neither
our concern nor our prerogative. What our concern is that, invariably,
their prices are way too high.
Those who say ‘Give me the contact and
we will deal directly’ for inquiries where the material is still undefined
(a container of granite tiles) or less defined (Egyptian slabs).
Our thought 1: Why don’t they at least qualify
if the buyer wants the type of stone that they are offering?
Our thought 2: This is going to become a
Catch 22 situation. Buyers don’t take the trouble to respond to say ‘no’,
and sellers then think that the buyer is not genuine. To make things worse,
such sellers will not even phone the buyer to ascertain what they want
or why they are silent.
Those who say ‘Get me the order and I
will pay you.’
Our thought 1: Do they remember the steps
involved to get the order? i.e. the buyer must like their price and delivery
schedule, they must like the buyer’s payment terms, they buyer must approve
their physical samples, the responsibility of inspection or guarantee
of quality must be established, and if it for a project, the buyer needs
to be sure that the material will be definitely supplied, properly, and
in time, else there will be a disaster, and so the buyer needs to interact
with the actual supplier and not with us.
Our thought 2: Don’t they understand that
if we wanted to trade, why would we work with them and not maybe with
other suppliers?
Those who say ‘$ 100 for a contact? It
didn’t cost you anything to get it! Would you pay for the inquiries that
we get?’
Our thought 1: True, the cost of getting
a particular inquiry may often be zero, but the entire organizational
costs are geared to getting these ‘free’ inquiries and thus have to be
paid for through these inquiries.
Our thought 2: Yes, we will pay $ 10 for
any inquiry.
Those who say ‘Why don’t you charge a
yearly subscription of, say $ 250, and give me all the leads?’
Our thought 1: We would love to. It would
take away all our headaches. But the harsh reality is that there are not
enough takers. Internet companies of all types have learnt this painful
lesson.
Our thought 2: Why do people want to make
it easier for other suppliers? In fact, they should be saying, what would
it cost for us to get exclusivity for this inquiry, all such inquiries,
all inquiries for my country's material, all such types of buyers, etc.
Those who say ‘You should take 1-2% commission’
Our thought 1: We would be happy to reduce
commissions but the economics to do that are not yet there. If we take
any figure, say $ 10000 per month, to get that with 1% commission, we
would need a dealflow of $ 1 million per month. And that’s not happening.
Our thought 2: Isn’t it wiser for us to
pursue $ 100 x 100 payments instead of $ 1 million in sales?
Our thought 3: Another one who does not
understand that their own indirect costs of getting such inquiries are
higher or who does not understand marketing costs.
Those who say ‘I like 20 inquiries. At
$ 100 each, this would mean that I would pay $ 2000. And, I may not even
get a single order.’
Our thought 1: This person has not even
begun and has already made a full movie plot.
Our thought 2: He has been interested since
so many months, has not begun with even one inquiry, and now wants to
straight away jump with 20 !?
Our thought 3: Now how do we convey that
we also want that everyone who pays us should benefit and we will go the
extra mile to help people?
Those who say ‘I don’t want to pay even
one dollar upfront!’
Our thought 1: Is this an financial or organizational
hurdle or is it an ego issue?
Our thought 2: Will this company spend to
phone the buyer or send samples? Of course, visiting the buyer or inviting
the buyer is out of the question for this company, isn't it?
Our thought 3: If he doesn’t trust us with
his $ 100, why doesn’t he say that? It may be easily resolvable.
Those who say ‘We are big!’
Our thought 1: What are they trying to say?
Because they are big, they are honest? Because they are big, their company
policy does not allow them to deviate from their existing policy? Because
they are big, they have too much internal red tape for this small amount?
Because they are big, we are insulting them by implying that we will not
get paid later. OK, so convince us that we will benefit and we will forgo
the $ 100.
Those who say ‘The bank charges for sending
$ 100 is $ 20!’
Our thought 1: And so what are we supposed
to do?
Our thought 2: So send $ 500 on account.
Our thought 3: Pay by credit card or mail
a banker's check or demand draft
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I am still not convinced.
It is perfectly natural. Dealing through the internet is a mental challenge
and it takes time to do so especially as there remains a notion that it
is supposed to be 'free'.
Also the concept of a marketplace is a difficult one for some people to
digest. We do not view ourselves as traders or agents and so our mentality
is different and many don't realize that we see ourselves as a self-service
marketplace and we do not run after suppliers.
We come across skeptical suppliers daily so we accept that as human nature.
We need suppliers who understand that there is a cost of marketing and
who want to benefit from our worldwide reach and who are willing to put
in resources to work with us.
We are not saying that our approach is necessarily the only right one.
We do periodically experiment with different ideas to see what delivers
better value to suppliers and buyers.
The best thing we can suggest is that you take a risk of $ 100. The second
best thing we can suggest is to remain on our mailing list. We may change
our policies or you may change your mind.
We waste years of our life cumulatively
and lose opportunities for the sake of small amounts of money. It's human
nature. We hope you will be able to overcome the ego or fear or laziness
that creates this tendency. On our part, we always welcome suggestions
but we do need uniform systems to cope with the volume of email that our
site gets because it is such an open and deep site.
As of now, our system is simple, easy and very effective!
Happy Selling.
www.findstone.com
info@findstone.com
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