Becoming a Wholeseller...

[roamingstop]

Put simply. Does anyone (especially Ambassadors) know what are the minimum requirements to becomes a Lego Wholeseller? Is there a link somewhere for information for Europeans?

I'm guessing there is probably something like a minimum order quantity each month (e.g. 5,000 USD?), spaced over a minimum of 1-2 years. However how this works for different European groups would be interesting.

I know I should have asked this question when I happened to be in Bad Aibling (Germany) in September last year... when staying in the same hotel St George as the TLG Germany / Austria / Switzerland and their conference. But at the time I never thought of it. (I wonder what was behind those locked room doors).

Thanks

RS

[davee123]

Put simply. Does anyone (especially Ambassadors) know what are the minimum requirements to becomes a Lego Wholeseller?

Back in the day ('90s), you needed to have a storefront, and I believe you needed to buy a certain cross-theme sampling of their products. So you couldn't buy JUST train sets (if you were a toy train shop), or something similar. Basically, you had to represent the LEGO brand in a certain way.

That all changed in the early 2000's, though. LEGO started catering more to large chain retailers like Toys R Us, WalMart, Target, etc., and actively reduced the number of hours that sales staff worked with smaller stores (not sure if that involved cutting staff or just re-assigning staff). I'm not sure what (if any) requirements changed for retailers, but I do know that small retailers were pretty much screwed in terms of getting "new" stuff. They were forced into being a few months behind all the large-scale vendors :(

DaveE

[MicroMax]

Do you want to become a Wholeseller or Retailer?

You don't have to deal with LEGO directly here in Germany if you can only buy lower quantities because you are a small retailer that is specialized in something (like a Toy- Train store or in my case only Licensed Movie, Games and Sports items). Then you can buy from other Wholeseller Companies that sell for a Wholesale Price that is cheaper then in stores but not as cheap as if you buy large Quantities from LEGO directly (no, not from the METRO group) you should get a list of Wholesellers in your country from your appropriate LEGO office.

[Brickdoctor]

Do you want to become a Wholeseller or Retailer?

You don't have to deal with LEGO directly here in Germany if you can only buy lower quantities because you are a small retailer that is specialized in something (like a Toy- Train store or in my case only Licensed Movie, Games and Sports items). Then you can buy from other Wholeseller Companies that sell for a Wholesale Price that is cheaper then in stores but not as cheap as if you buy large Quantities from LEGO directly (no, not from the METRO group) you should get a list of Wholesellers in your country from your appropriate LEGO office.

Wholeseller of course. Then when you see a set you want, you only pay wholesale price for it. And you can charge MSRP and still make a profit, which makes you and customers happy.

[mostlytechnic]

Wholeseller of course. Then when you see a set you want, you only pay wholesale price for it. And you can charge MSRP and still make a profit, which makes you and customers happy.

I think you mean you want to be a retailer...

Retailer: buys at low price, sells to public at MSRP

Wholesaler: buys at low price, sells to other stores in significant quantities at less than MSRP

I don't know what the current LEGO requirements are to be a retailer. I sell toys on Amazon, do about $200,000 (US$) a year in gross sales (it's not my full-time job) with around 75% of that being LEGO and have no chance of buying direct from LEGO. I'm not near big enough. I buy some stuff from local stores (such as when TRU has buy 2 get 1 free sales) and some from wholesalers.

[roamingstop]

I don't know what the current LEGO requirements are to be a retailer.

Depends upon country... In CH it seems you need to buy 3000 Euro merchandise upfront - and submit a business plan and evidence of your sales channels (including web only if you have it)... and then it is evaluated. I know of a similar story for someone in USA.

[Apache]

My friend Called Lego to inquire about Opening a Store and becoming a Lego Retailer. TLG told him that in order to apply to sell LEGO directly from LEGO one must have been selling LEGO with a Website for at least 2 years. Only then would she tell him how much he would have to buy. She also said, TRU, Walmart, and Target come first and then the other small retailers.

[Hinckley]

Put simply. Does anyone (especially Ambassadors) know what are the minimum requirements to becomes a Lego Wholeseller? Is there a link somewhere for information for Europeans?

I'm guessing there is probably something like a minimum order quantity each month (e.g. 5,000 USD?), spaced over a minimum of 1-2 years. However how this works for different European groups would be interesting.

I know I should have asked this question when I happened to be in Bad Aibling (Germany) in September last year... when staying in the same hotel St George as the TLG Germany / Austria / Switzerland and their conference. But at the time I never thought of it. (I wonder what was behind those locked room doors).

Thanks

RS

It's near impossible to become an independent LEGO seller. I tried it in the past and even the sales rep for my region didn't fully know the rules. It lead me in a very frustrating circle and in the end it wasn't available to me because I couldn't demonstrate three years worth of positive customer service reviews. I asked if eBay or Bricklink feedback counted, but they never got back to me. I don't think the company is interested in small independent retailers...

[mostlytechnic]

Nope, they're not really interested in small sellers. Target, Walmart, Amazon, TRU (and the equivalents in the rest of the world) keep them busy enough. I used to know someone who worked at Lego and said that even the big stores usually didn't get everything they ordered for the holidays. So then why would Lego bother with small guys?

[admDaggett]

I can understand this opinion - it is not that they don't care about the smaller ones, they just don't have the capacity for that.

Many big companies act like that - you have to be a major player to contact a major player.

So, if you want to become a wholesaler (only for Lego) - I wouldn't bet my money on that.

As a retailer, try to find a Lego Wholesaler who sellls you stuff - maybe you even have a shop around your place where companies buy stuff - like Metro in Germany. They should be a great source.

[worldscape]

Hello Guys,

I'm from Romania and I saw this topic. From few month I start to sell online Toys bought from Germany in romania, but I'll want to do this business officialy and I start to search for a good german wholeseller. In romania is only one company who bought directly from LEGO and they give me a margin of -10%...

Maybe if is somebody to help me with informatin or something like that.

Regards.

[Blondie-Wan]

It's near impossible to become an independent LEGO seller. I tried it in the past and even the sales rep for my region didn't fully know the rules. It lead me in a very frustrating circle and in the end it wasn't available to me because I couldn't demonstrate three years worth of positive customer service reviews. I asked if eBay or Bricklink feedback counted, but they never got back to me. I don't think the company is interested in small independent retailers...

That's unfortunate, and I do think TLG could and should do more to work with small sellers. That said, I know of a couple small stores in town here (Tallahassee, FL) that sell LEGO products. One of them mostly has only sets from a few years ago, though; I'm not sure if the owner has actually had any recent dealings with LEGO at all. The other stocks a lot of recent / current sets, though, so presumably it's still possible - at least for stores that were already selling LEGO products a few years ago.