The Wholesale Forums

[SD1]

Hello all,

I have been to a trade show and ordered samples from a supplier in Paris. They have told me that they will send me an email confirming my order along with an invoice and I should email them back with my TNT or FEDEX account number so that they can ship the goods to me.

Thing is I do not have an account with a courier and do not wish to be committed to one as I use Royal Mail to send out my goods to customers.

Has anyone used either of these companies for a one off collection and delivery within Europe?

Also I typed FedEx into Google and it came back with DHL. Are they one and the same? Please help.

Thanks

[Anthony]

For a one-off delivery I highly doubt (speculating) you will need a shipping account. The price may be higher for the one-off but I see no reason why you cannot arrange a collection with your suppliers and TNT/Fedex.

Why not tell your suppliers that you do not have a shipping account and can you use theirs?

[FiveStarWholesale]

Most suppliers abroad use UPS/Fedex as a way of sending out samples. They will ask for your UPS a/c number as they can put this on the label and UPS will charge you for delivery. It also saves the supplier the time and hassle as UPS/Fedex will collect from them directly.

As Anthony says, if you don't want to set up an account with them (It's free by the way), then ask the supplier to send it through their account and bill you.

It does look more professional though if you have a UPS/Fedex account.

[SD1]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Why not tell your suppliers that you do not have a shipping account and can you use theirs?

Hiya,

Anthony, yes I did tell the Sales Manager that I didn't have an account and she basically told me to set one up.

Usually when I get goods shipped to me it is on the suppliers account and they just include the charge in their invoice to me.

Thanks Tenstar, I didn't know it was free to set up an account and I also thought that I might be committed to send a certain number of packages with them each month, quarter or year.

If the account is free to set up I guess it might worth setting one up if there is no parcel commitment, as I may require regular deliveries if I decide to go ahead and use this particular supplier.

When I tapped FedEx into Google it brought up a sponsored link for DHL with FedEx in the title above the link. Very clever actually, DHL hijacking searches for Fedex.

I'll check out fedex.com now.

Thanks guys.

[Anthony]

If you are going for regular deliveries then it would be definitely worthwhile to set an account up. If however you are only planning one or two then I see no reason why the supplier you are dealing with cannot arrange the shipping and bill you accordingly.

Let us know how you get on.