Hockey program team sales? Is this normal?

[VegasHockey 1280]

A local hockey association wants us to handle all of the team orders (track suits, jackets, gloves, etc) and then have our store handle the embroidery, distribution, and collection of money from the parents. Here is where it gets weird.... The association does not want to place and pay for the order, they are looking for our store to place the order and take on that custom team inventory without any payment from the association. We would then get that money back from selling the items to the players without any financial guarantee from the association. I have never heard of any store or association doing business in this manner. I explained to them this is illogical and they seem to think this is actually normal business...?!

Edited April 20, 2020 by SkateWorksPNW

[caveman27 208]

2 hours ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

A local hockey association wants us to handle all of the team orders (track suits, jackets, gloves, etc) and then have our store handle the embroidery, distribution, and collection of money from the parents. Here is where it gets weird.... The association does not want to place and pay for the order, they are looking for our store to place the order and take on that custom team inventory without any payment from the association. We would then get that money back from selling the items to the players without any financial guarantee from the association. I have never heard of any store or association doing business in this manner. I explained to them this is illogical and they seem to think this is actually normal business...?!

Oh so the big elephant in the room is, if a player backs out of the league and orders a jersey, you eat the loss on the custom-ordered item because no one is going to buy a jersey with someone else's name and number in a specific jersey size. Most of the time, most players who register will play the season. But, there will always be some players who become ill or get injured, some players move out of town, or some just quit for whatever reason. The association is probably big with multiple teams at each level, but if just five children quit: one in Mites, one in Squirt, one in Pee Wee, one in Bantam, one in Midget, that adds up. You need to take a down-payment so if it falls through, you will at least break-even. There is no reason you can't request a down-payment for custom items. 

[IPv6Freely 2093]

“No.”

[Cavs019 708]

Sounds like a great deal for them, and an absolutely terrible one for you - especially in the current environment.

Team orders were always paid up front in my experience. 

Edited April 21, 2020 by Cavs019

[VegasHockey 1280]

2 hours ago, Cavs019 said:

Sounds like a great deal for them, and an absolutely terrible one for you - especially in the current environment.

Team orders were always paid up front in my experience. 

Yeah. I am thinking they are crazy. 

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

12 hours ago, IPv6Freely said:

“No.”

HELL NO

[marka 526]

Howdy,

If you don't want to just say "no", then give them two options... One where prices are such that you're comfortable taking the risk that folks will bail on what they've ordered / whatever.  And the 2nd one where the situation is "normal" and they give you a lump sum payment for a big order.

Mark

[VegasHockey 1280]

  

12 minutes ago, marka said:

Howdy,

If you don't want to just say "no", then give them two options... One where prices are such that you're comfortable taking the risk that folks will bail on what they've ordered / whatever.  And the 2nd one where the situation is "normal" and they give you a lump sum payment for a big order.

Mark

I wanted to see if this was uncommon before telling them no as the association seems to think this is not an abnormal ask... 

Edited April 21, 2020 by SkateWorksPNW

[VegasHockey 1280]

I am going to go back to the association with terms and a contract. Ideally, I would like to secure 2-3 years of the team sales and I will work out a payment structure for them. They can pay half of the order up front and the remaining amount over the remainder of the season. I think this is reasonable and flexible. 

Edited April 21, 2020 by SkateWorksPNW

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

Usually what you would do is place the order for the association and then throw in some extra inventory that you can sell in store (at your own pricing structure) for kids who lose their jackets or parents who may want to buy an extra or something like that.  An association should not expect you to assume the risk of the whole inventory.

I've seen the setup that you've described, but it's the case when the pro shop is owned by the rink/association.  

Terms are fine if you choose to go that route.  And if those sales are going to go through your POS, make sure to get those fees from them as well.

[caveman27 208]

20 minutes ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

I am going to go back to the association with terms and a contract. Ideally, I would like to secure 2-3 years of the team sales and I will work out a payment structure for them. They can pay half of the order up front and the remaining amount over the remainder of the season. I think this is reasonable and flexible. 

When you said gloves in your original post, are you talking about hockey gloves or winter gloves? 

How many things do they want available for purchase: hockey socks, hockey jerseys, hockey helmets, hockey pants or shells? I can understand that some AA, A or B teams would have more of a need/want to look better than a house or C league, and so they would want custom-colors and all that jazz that go with looking uniform with a color scheme that isn't just some color that is easily purchased any any hockey store, like purple, white and silver. Here, the local team has red, white, and blue, which is easy to buy socks, helmet and gloves for, but the travel team has NY Rangers-pattern pant shells and a hockey bag with them team logo on it.

Edited April 21, 2020 by caveman27

[VegasHockey 1280]

9 hours ago, caveman27 said:

When you said gloves in your original post, are you talking about hockey gloves or winter gloves? 

How many things do they want available for purchase: hockey socks, hockey jerseys, hockey helmets, hockey pants or shells? I can understand that some AA, A or B teams would have more of a need/want to look better than a house or C league, and so they would want custom-colors and all that jazz that go with looking uniform with a color scheme that isn't just some color that is easily purchased any hockey store, like purple, white and silver. Here, the local team has red, white, and blue, which is easy to buy socks, helmet and gloves for, but the travel team has NY Rangers-pattern pant shells and a hockey bag with them team logo on it.

Hockey gloves. They use custom colors and logos. Definitely not something that anyone would want to buy that doesn't play for this specific association. 

[caveman27 208]

41 minutes ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

Hockey gloves. They use custom colors and logos. Definitely not something that anyone would want to buy that doesn't play for this specific association. 

Those folks are nuts if they expect you to pre-buy a ton of custom-colored gloves with logos. Good luck with your counter-proposal. 

[DarkStar50 679]

On warmup suits, our Pro Shop takes a credit card number with expiration date when we do the fitting with sizing samples in the spring. When the warmup suits are picked up in the shop in late August/early September, the customer pays at that time. We clearly state during the fitting session and it is written on the order form which they sign to confirm the size they tried on is the size they are getting(that's another story) that if they do not pick up the warmup suit by September 10, we will charge their credit card. There have been no problems with this procedure. Our Pro Shop does stock the custom team gloves, pants, and shells. They are mandatory as part of the player contract to purchase. The rink does own the Pro Shop however, we have had hardly any problems with that either in selling our inventory. Having a private organization come to you is certainly a risk as the people in charge usually only stick around for as long as their kid is a player in the organization.