A Question

[Millgate]

Hi guys,

 

I have a question for you about inks, toners etc and if you could help me out, it would be great.

 

The last company i worked for was very focused on pushing clients to use their website for orders. However, even though i could see why they did it, i never liked it. It is easier to order consumables online but for everything else, you get a better deal going to your account manager.

 

Millgate have an online store but we focus on being account managers opposed to using that BUT what do you guys think???

 

I'm thinking about giving Edugeekers who want it, an online log in for our site so they can order toners and bits and bobs with ease. Just a few clicks and the items will be with you next day and you would still get free shipping. Good idea? Is it something you would use?

 

Thanks in advance for your help

 

Luke

[Steve21]

Well from personal experience of using Dells "Portal", No no no and noooooooo!!!!

 

It never gives the correct discounts, always get a better discount talking to someone, and there's no official quotes etc from it, in terms of setting up POs blahblah.

 

Also find managers actually try to help sometimes, aka recently was ordering set of toners for a printer, and found there was a bundle of 1 of each for cheaper. Website wouldn't tell you this.

 

My two cents,

Steve

[elsiegee40]

Website orders good for toners, IF we can still order on account. Credit card payment not good!

[Soulfish]

Generally I order most small consumables (and some larger items) via Insights web store. The pricing is good (and pre-discounted due to account terms) with free delivery, and I can browse whenever I've got a few minutes spare. Perfect for when I want to find a single cable to do a job, or order a single hard drive etc. For larger orders I'll contact our account manager but I find it can be a hassle talking to any account manager telling them what you want and then getting them to send you pricing and finally ordering it when it's only a simple thing.

 

For our toner however everything is auto-ordered by the printers themselves. Beauty of having a managed print contract for all printers and MFDs!

[Millgate]

Thanks for those guys. The website i would set up would have set prices so you would still get a good price and yes, you would still be able to order on the account once we've set you up

[teejay]

Sounds good. The customised catalogue feature used by some websites to limit the catalogue to just products you select is a usefull feature, also user management so we can allow certain staff to have access to raise quotes but not order.

[36Degrees]

I can't order online but I do like to be able to log in and get prices. I don't really have time to email or ring a multitude of people to get prices but I can easily log in to various websites to compare.

 

The only exception is toner cartridges. Due to the way prices seem to fluctuate I will wait until I need a reasonable number then email a quote request to several account managers.