Thanks Roland & Thomas for explaining ASI; now...UPIC and PPAI?
(My "newbie-ness" is showing.)
Sandra
A&E Custom Embroidery
936.588.1015 800.291.6953
We make your life more colorful...and your business more visible!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roland R. Irish III" <signman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <amayausers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 6:02 PM
Subject: [amayausers] Re: wholesale pricing
ASI stands for Advertising Specialties Institute (out of Philadelphia) They are a 'clearing house' - manufacturers and suppliers pay to join, and you (the ad specialty 'distributor' or salesperson) also pay to get a listing with them. For $$ (up to $1000 and more PER YEAR) you get constant mailings-big cases full of catalogs and samples from the mfg. and suppliers I think every 3 months, access to a web based search engine, etc. If you join UPIC, PPAI, and there' s 2 others I can't remember-you pay less than $100 or with UPIC absolutely nothing-and with one service (Impact, I think) for $75 once a year, you get a catalog from all the same companies listed with ASI..... depends on whether you want to pay for all the services you can learn to do yourself! I was ASI for a couple years, then realized I was only using the same 20-30 suppliers anyways so I went and joined UPIC for free and haven't regretted it. My website is linked to several different 'search' engines for specialty companies and it costs me nothing. Without advertising at all, I do an average of $10-15,000 per year with a profit margin of 25 to 50%.....and no expenses. Roland
