Buyers taking advantage of Wholesale for personal purposes?

[Former_Member]

Has anyone run into any buyers who purchase from you wholesale and are obviously not planning on reselling your items? I make custom bridal jewelry and everything is made to order. I've run into a couple buyers who turned out to be brides and have access to a resale ID, and end up buying necklaces from me for 50% off for their personal use!

Anyone else have a similar situation?

[Former_Member]

Do you impose a minimum order? If someone has to purchase 6 of my purses in addition to supplying me the resale ID number, that usually heads off purchases for personal use.

[ShopIdeable]

If they are going through Etsy Wholesale to make these purchases, and you are 100% certain they are purchasing for their own personal use and not to resell...I think it would be a good idea to let Etsy Wholesale know about it.

[FableThicket]

I would definitely set a minimum purchase amount so this doesn't happen to you again.

[Former_Member · Accepted solution]

Hi there,

Buyers shouldn't be doing this as the intention for access to the Wholesale platform is that buyers are purchasing items to resell in their shops. Our Terms of Use also state that buyers are acting on behalf of the business ID they represent, so buyers abusing this privilege are going against our TOU.

You're welcome to write to wholesalesupport@etsy.com with more details if you'd like us to privately look into this for you.

Thanks!

[GeorgiaTeaberry]

Hello, I just sent the email below to the support email listed above. I thought I would post it here as well.
Hello, I have received 2 wholesale orders for very small amounts. I accepted the first one, but I am not going to accept the 2nd one. I do have my minimum clearly stated. I assumed Etsy would have a system in place that would stop an order from being placed if it was below the minimum, something similar to the way it works with coupon codes. Please advice asap, I don't like the idea of having to turn away prospective wholesale buyers.

[ShopIdeable]

Georgia-
Here is the system Etsy has in place (disregard if you already know):
When you set a dollar or qnty. amount, and it is not met there is a window that pops up on the buyers end. They are cautioned that you may not accept the order due to the minimums not being met. They are given the option to go ahead with the PO and send it on to you, with the understanding that the minimum is not met. You can then decide if you would like to accept the order or decline...or, ask them which items they would like to add to their order to meet the minimum required to receive wholesale pricing.

[GeorgiaTeaberry]

Thanks, I can see giving a new buyer a little wiggle room, but two $20 wholesale orders?? I wonder if people are catching on to the fact that they can TRY to get wholesale prices with no minimum if sellers cave in for fear of loosing sales.

[Former_Member]

I agree that buyers not meeting minimums can be frustrating, but I like having the flexibility of accepting a less-than-minimum order rather than EW not allowing the order to go through at all. *Sometimes* there are extenuating circumstances that an automatic system wouldn't be aware of.

Having said that, a wholesale order of $20? No way. That's so clearly someone using their tax id to go shopping on the cheap. I think in my response to an order like that, in addition to not accepting it, I'd be hard pressed not to include a little mention of the IRS...

[ShopIdeable]

$20 orders (ouch). Maybe they want samples (giving the benefit of the doubt). If samples are the case, there is a post on here that addresses the way some sellers handle that. That is why it is nice to have policies and minimums in place, so you can refer the buyer to them when needed.