Dear All, I import stones from China and my suppliers just increased their prices. How can I ask their support in maintaining the same prices since business are going down this year and a price increase would not help my customers to buy more? Does somebody have a professional letter template?Thank you, Silmara.

I don't want my cardboard supplier to raise his prices, either, but the fact is that fuel prices and labor costs are going up and smart business people pass that increase cost of business on to the customer. Yes, it doesn't make it easier for me, but that isn't my supplier's concern.

You can look around for other suppliers and try to get a better price, but I don't know of any supplier that is going to reduce their profit margin because a vendor is having a slow market.

I don't think you necessarily need to use a template... negotiation of this sort sometimes works best when it's a little more personal, not professional.

Simply ask the company to sell you the supplies at last years rate (or whatever rate you've paid previously). Let them know that you might not be able to continue to work with them/buy from them at their new rates.

In the meantime 1) shop around for alternate suppliers 2) consider raising your prices (it happens in business everywhere unfortunately) and 3) look at ways to increase your own volume of sales - if you're selling more, you're buying more and will have more leverage/buying power.

Good luck!

-Adeena
Author of "Cute Little Store: Between the entrepreneurial dream and business reality"

Dear All, I import stones from China and my suppliers just increased their prices. How can I ask their support in maintaining the same prices since business are going down this year and a price increase would not help my customers to buy more? Does somebody have a professional letter template?Thank you, Silmara.
Thank you for your help :-)