# 3rd Party Contract



## SPress (Feb 5, 2008)

I am just getting into doing 3rd party contract work. Meaning, I do printing for companies that offer it to their customers but don't do it in house. So a type of sub-contract work. 
Really, the only benefit of this is guaranteed work. They have such a large customer base that they can keep us busy all year. 
But I need a sample contract for them to sign saying they will give us X amount of work each year for us to be willing to give them such a good price with each job. 
Do any of you have a sample contract that I could look at?
I have already searched the forum for "contract" and "contracts".
Thanks!


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

Yeah, I want one of those too. 

If you can get your customer to sign one of these, great, you are a better salesman than me. I would think you might be met with resistance. My customers have good seasons and not so good seasons. They are not going to guarantee me a certain minimum amount of business if they can't be guaranteed that they will have it to give to me in the first place.

While I do discount larger customers, every order I accept has to stand on it's own. I don't lose money on 1 order with the thought that I will make it up on a future order. That future one may never come. So, I take less profit per order, and remain grateful for as long as I have them as customers.

Question, you have your customers sign a guaranteed volume contract, and one year they fall short. Then what? Would you try to collect the shortfall? Would you increase your rates and risk them going elsewhere? Would you sue them?

Anyway, here are various examples of guarantee contracts, although not specific to the printing industry. Sample Contracts - Guaranties - Competitive Intelligence for Investors

Suggest you talk to your attorney before you send anything out to your customers for signature.


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## 109935 (Apr 14, 2007)

The barrier to getting a customer to agree to a volume contract is that nobody has a crystal ball to forecast future sales.
Perhaps the way to go could be to offer volume rebates. Offer your going rate with rebates for exceeded volume. If the customer believes their sales will be a certain level, they should have no problem with that. If on the other hand they do not achieve the sales figures they hoped for, then they are not entitled to the lower price.
Being optimists, they should agree. If not, it may suggest they know their forecasts are being put forward to take advantage of you.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

109935 said:


> Perhaps the way to go could be to offer volume rebates. Offer your going rate with rebates for exceeded volume. If the customer believes their sales will be a certain level, they should have no problem with that. If on the other hand they do not achieve the sales figures they hoped for, then they are not entitled to the lower price.
> Being optimists, they should agree. If not, it may suggest they know their forecasts are being put forward to take advantage of you.



Excellent idea.


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## SPress (Feb 5, 2008)

It is not so much a volume contract as much as it is an exclusivity contract. They have to promise all the work they DO have for the year, will go to us. In exchange they get this great flat rate all year. 
As an example, Schools. They will do a sale for the school once or twice a year. If they sign our contract then we will be guaranteed all their business and in exchange we will give them pricing at a higher quantity discount regardless if they reach that quantity or not. 
Places like schools, shop around like crazy, and every year there are different people in charge of ordering. 
A contract on file would just simplify things on both ends. 
Also, in our area, companies like ours are using 3 year contracts. But they won't share a sample contract, of course.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

But if you are already giving them this great flat rate, they are going to use you for everything anyway.

So it's not so much a guarantee contract you need, but an exclusivity one. And you mention schools, so what comes to mind are the contracts schools sign for the candy & gift wrap paper sales drives. Sally Foster, etc. They must have the same contract you are looking for.


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## SPress (Feb 5, 2008)

True, I am going to the National PTA convention next month. I will have to ask the vendors there if they have a contract on hand that I could look over.


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## XYLisa (Jan 20, 2008)

We do this kind of work all the time and don't require a contract of them. We have a contractors price list and a retail list, we give them contractors price regardless of volume. If you want them to use you exclusively....how would you enforce it if they chose to use another company? I don't personally see that a contract is needed...give them good service and a good product and they'll come back.


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## scpromos (May 27, 2006)

We use a couple of different vendors for screenprinting and embroidery and none has ever required a contract from us. If they did I would just move on and look for the next vendor.


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