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I've never charged for them. We buy them for $5, half of the suggested retail price on the back of the catalog, so I'm losing money when I give them away. I just hope that when I do, an order will eventually be placed. Usually, it is. The whole "It's not a catalog, it's an idea book" never worked for me. Just seems tacky somehow. I don't know of any other company that charges.
I am a hobby demo and I usually order one case so I can give them as a gift to my family and friends who are stampers. Since they are idea books, they make wonderful gifts. If they want to order something from the catty that is fine and if they don't want to order, that is fine too. I sometimes have other people who want to purchase the current and old cattys. I sell the current book for $10.00 and old books for $5.00. I always make sure I keep one old catty to add to my collection of books.
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Originally Posted by lazydazy
Do you charge for your catalogs? and if so how much?
Also, if you have a customer that spends X amount of money, do you give them one for free or as a bonus?
The book price is 9.95 and if your demo does not have any bought in bulk (she may have sold them or given them away) that is the price. Some demos can afford to give them away for free because they have built up a business. Others cannot.
__________________ Dear Paperlicious is my blog...with a series on how I'm learning to improve my cardmaking by studying others.
I offer the catty for free with purchase of $20.00 or more, but I am just starting out and I can't take a bigger loss at this point. You have to spend money to make money and they are not free to us.
If I'm at a party and one of the guests wants to purchase a catalog I sell them for the $9.95 retail price -- that's only fair to the hostess since it goes towards her party total. Outside of a workshop, if someone places an order of $150 or more they get a free catalog because to me that's the equivalent of hosting a party. Everything else is a case-by case basis.
If someone submits a large order (though not quite $150) I may offer them a catalog at a discount or free. If someone tells me "I need a free catalog because I'm going to place a large order" and it's someone I don't know, I typically will ask them to pay for the catalog but give them a coupon that they can use on that large order so that they will get the money they paid back through the coupon.
And I do firmly believe in the value of the SU catalog as more than just a list of merchandise. I refer to it for ideas all the time. If it wasn't valuable, no one would want it, since they can see all the merchandise for free in the on-line catalog.
It, too, give catalogs away to whoever wants one. More often than not, people will order but they can't order if they can't see the products. The on-line version is handy but nothing beats curling up in bed with a new IB&C!
Mary Beth
I bought my first catalog from my demo for (IIRC) $5 because I placed an order with her. I had the option of either returning the catalog to her or paying $10 for it if I didn't place an order.
Since then, I've gotten my catalogs free because my demo gives them to the members of her hostess club.
I usually offer a pre-order for my customers and sell them for $5 each - however that comes with a coupon for $5 in free product if they spend $100 with me during the catalog period. I give them away to my stamp club members, hostesses and anyone who spends $100 in one order. If someone puts it on a party order though then they do have to pay the $9.95 - it is only fair to the hostess.
I have to say that it really depends. Generally I give a catalog free to my regular stampers. In addition, I am generally willing to give a free catalog to someone who lives nearby since I can follow-up with them. On the other hand if someone out of the blue emails me to request a free catalog, then I make the decision on a case by case basis-mostly because not only does the catalog itself cost me $5 but postage is an additional $5.
I think this is a dilema for all demos regardless of which company you represent so this is a wonderful platform to let customers know that the catalogs are not free! Demo's buy them, demo's pay S & H on them and then demo's struggle with whether or not to charge for the catalog or give them away.
I was with SU for 5 years before joining TAC. I most mostly a hobby demo so not really an issue for me because I didn't really need more than one copy of the catty.
When I joined TAC, a box of catties was included in the kit price, so I did an experiment. The catties were techinically "free" so I decided to give them away to anyone who expressed an interest. It was my goal to distribute all 10 catalogs and I did. I even mailed them out to anyone who asked - 6 people asked which means it cost me around $25 on mailing alone. Out of all 10 catalogs I distributed, I received one $62 order. TAC's commission is 25% so I "made" $13. Without even factoring in the actual cost of the catalogs to me, it doesn't a math genius to see that's really not a win win situation
This is not meant as a "Poor me" post , this is just the result of the experiment I chose to conduct, which might help illustrate for customers the reality of asking your demo to give you a catalog, especially when you don't place any orders. Giving away one catty might not hurt, but the costs really do mount up, especially when the catalog can be viewed online for nothing (yes, I prefer to have the printed copy in my hand too, but I would happily pay for that privilege if I had to. Luckily, I have a great SU demo that I swap catties with, so we are both happy)
For myself, in the future, unless you are a hostess, I know I will be asking for the cost of the catty and the s&h cost upfront in return for a coupon for a discount off the first order.
Close to My Heart and The Angel Company also charge for their catalogs.
Hero Arts charges for theirs as well.
If you've been stamping a long time, the only way to get access to lots of stamp designs (before the online shops started up) was to buy catalogs. Every company I know charged at least the price of postage for your basic photocopied black and white stapled together cheapie catalog...for those who included color samples, you could pay $5 for a catalog that was 20 pages long. $10 for SU!'s catalog is a bargain, IMO.
However, I usually sell mine for $5, because I like to get them out there. I give them free to long-standing loyal customers and I give them out with larger orders too. And sometimes, I just give one away because someone is so new and enthusiastic about stamping that I think they need one. ;)
I have been selling mine for $5 but giving my hostesses a free one as a thanks for hostessing - they always put in an order and I like to have that catty in their hand. That said, it IS a crapshoot because those who get te catty don't always buy! It is definitely a dilemma although I know most big business demos are giving them away and writing them off as the cost of doing business. *STAMPIN HUGS* Alex
My demo used to give the catalogs for free to those of us who hosted a party. Otherwise, we'd have to pay. Our typical parties had 5-6 people, and four of us usually hosted a party at some point, booking them at that particular party. The others wouldn't purchase a catalog. So she gave away four catalogs but had four parties booked for the upcoming months.
As previous people have stated it does cost money to give catalogs...including the smaller mini catalogs as well...
Personally because I do have to order catalogs up front and it can be a good chunk of change I do charge my customers $6 for the catalog - when they get the catalog they will also be receiving all mini/preview catalogs mailed to them as well...$6 just covers my cost...
I do have coupons for my customers who pre-order thier catty...so if my customers place orders they basically get back the $ they spent on the catalog in products along the way...
__________________ Jenni -Happy SU Demo - MY GALLERY & MY CHAOTIC LIFE One kid makes you a Parent - Two makes you a Referee
My old demo gives each gal of the Stampers 10 a catty for free. But then she is garanteed a 20.00 order every month. She also give the hostess of parties a free catty. Everyone else she charges $5.00.
I'm a hobby demo now BUT used to be a business demo.
Customers could earn a free catalog two ways:
After hosting a workshop/party (they were provided with a loaner until the night of the party)
or
By placing an order of $100 or more
Since I bought catalogs by the box back then I would charge my customers $5 because with shipping that was close to my actual cost.
I never gave them away. I couldn't afford to do that.
I did give away the mini-catalogs though ... they are pretty cheap and a nice way to get product info and your name into the hands of a potential customer and my existing customers really liked getting them too!
Once I did have to charge a customer $9.95 for a catalog. I didn't have any more left and she wanted one so it was added to her order.
SU demos, ? about price of catalog...
