Right now, my primary supplier is charging a 2% surcharge and their prices are generally competitive with Valor’s and their shipping charges are less even tho they are further away.

As far as the handling charge goes, we were told when you started it that it was to cover the costs involved with the actual packaging process. Guess what? Whether the item is being drop shipped or the item is being sent to the dealer, the overhead is exactly the same. Is it any wonder that it feels like we’re getting screwed on the handling?

The fact that drop shippers send out multiple items per day isn’t supposed to be the issue. The issue was supposed to be that Valor needed to cover the costs involved with shipping.

But you’re right. You were looking for suggestions to the web site. We used to discuss other issues on the forum, but the forum appears to have died.

I do have a suggestion, tho. If you are going to charge a surcharge for credit card use, how about setting up a toggle so that dealers can select that they will be paying with a credit card and the prices will automatically reflect the surcharged price. Makes it easier to compare prices with other vendors who have similar setups or vendors who don’t charge the surcharge. They do exist and at least one we use also offers free shipping. Prices are higher, but the lack of a surcharge and the free shipping often means the prices are competitive or lower.

As for the fee, most of our drop shippers we have now do 10 -40 orders a day. So it’s not just $1 handling to them, it’s $10 to $40. We have many very successful drop shippers using us. We offer Net 7 terms for dropshipping if you qualify, so you can get the cash discount.

We have really steered away from the drop shipping anyhow. We give, I believe, a great drop shipping service to our current customers, but we are not adding new customers now that just drop ship without qualifying them. They were coming out of the wood work and it wasn’t fair to our current customer base and to our vendors to add these people as customers. But that’s another post.

What I’m really looking for here is suggestions for the website itself.

Second, 3% is outrageous. If you’re paying 3% for your credit card processing, you need to fire whoever signed that contract.

I also don’t understand why drop shippers only pay $1.00 for a handling charge while those who buy items for stock pay $2.50. Can I drop ship to my address and save myself the $1.50?

Between these two items, I find that I’m able to buy most of the items I previously purchased from Valor from other vendors and save money.

And I know we don’t have enough images. We have someone taking photos almost full time. Problem always is the photos we are adding this week or this month may not be anything you are ever looking at.

You’ve made a lot of good changes to the website and to Valor overall over the last few years. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

I would like to see the checkout process get streamlined a little. Less clicks to add new Ship To addresses and complete checkout. Would be nice if all shipping options were presented on the checkout page rather than having to click to a different page to update the shipping selection… things along those lines.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the current site, and as stated previously, I’m VERY happy with the turn-around on shipping orders out. Keep up the great work!

Rick