Pet distributor giant Bradley Caldwell announced in an email today that they were raising their drop ship fee for items under $25 from $2 to $7.50. This would mean that the dropship fee, in some cases, would cost more than the item, all but eliminating the sale of those items unless retailers who use their service are willing to take the loss.The email was sent by BCI eCommerce Coordinator Danette Kusek, and stated: “Good Afternoon, Starting December 3rd Bradley Caldwell will be implementing a $7.50 handling charge for orders submitted under $25.00. Orders above the $25.00 will only be charged our 2.00 handling charge. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”
The response was swift and outraged, including such comments as: “Ouch, Are you trying to get rid of all the small drop shipments?”
“BCI is getting out of control”
to
“What?! Is Bradley trying to do close me down?”
For those just joining in, Bradley Caldwell is a huge pet supply distributor that offers a comprehensive drop ship program for everything from cat treats to fish ponds to horse blankets to hamster cages and more.
Typically, retailers, and online retailers inparticular, pay an annual fee of $175 to license and download proprietary software called “Bulls Eye”, that allows access directly into the BCI inventory in real time, where orders are placed, shipped and tracked.
With increasing cost pressure from what I assume to be rising fuel and delivery costs, the drop ship method of selling pet supplies will continue to feel pricing pressure as drop shippers try and protect already all-too-thin profit margins.
What’s your thoughts?
7 responses so far ↓
Bill // November 3, 2007 at 3:13 am |
This is a bad move on their part that will end up hurting everyone..
Petsourceusa // November 5, 2007 at 9:18 pm |
I agree, Dropshipping is an excellent marketing tool for many distributors. I understand a nominal fee for the service but, the distributors almost always will profit more than the “marketer” so why make it impossible for the marketer to make any money? This offers nothing to motivate the marketer to sell their products for them. So raising the fee to an unreasonable level is a lose – lose situation.
Petazon // February 5, 2008 at 1:07 pm |
Bad move by Bradley.
Swartz Creek Elevator // March 15, 2008 at 1:53 pm |
After being a BCI customer for close to 30 years. We had to say good bye to them. Their shipping is way out of line and their customer service is terrible. They turned us in to collections with out any notice on an invoice that was a booking and not due for 90 days.
Move to Holt Products you won’t be sorry.
Swartz Creek Elevator // March 15, 2008 at 1:55 pm |
After being a BCI customer for close to 30 years. We had to say good bye to them. Their shipping is way out of line and their customer service is terrible. They turned us in to collections with out any notice on an invoice that was a booking and not due for 90 days.
Move to Holt Products you won’t be sorry.
Scott Gibson // April 21, 2008 at 10:38 pm |
Hey Swartz, who is Holt Products? Id be very interested in a drop ship program, and am I am not interested in BCI if they have these outrageous drop ship fees.
John // April 22, 2008 at 12:57 am |
I don’t think rising fuel costs would have much to do with is mainly because no gas is being used to pack an order and have FedEx pick up a package.
$7.50 is way too much to pay for an order under $25 though.