Vendor Information

Shipping & Stock

Vendors have two important options:

Option 1 - You Stock and Ship

If you select this option, we forward your orders to you, via e-mail or fax, and you ship from your location (a drop-ship arrangement). We charge our customers your exact shipping charges, calculated by your methods, and add this amount to your monthly vendor payment.

Option 2 - We Stock and Ship

If you select this option, we package and ship from our stock of your items directly to the customer. There are no charges to the vendor whatsoever for storage, packing, handling or shipping. Customers will be charged shipping fees calculated by our online shipping quote system, which provides rates from the US Postal Service, UPS, FedEx, and DHL.

Either way...

Both options provide the vendor with all the other features and services described in these pages. Vendors may monitor sales using our email/fax notification system and through our online Vendor Account Management System, VAMS™.

The choice is yours...

Either option may be viable for you. In part, the decision depends on your willingness and ability to ship orders in a reliable and timely manner. We guarantee our customers that most orders will be shipped within 4 to 6 days, and our vendors agree to do this also.

There are also some financial and marketing factors to consider in the following paragraphs. The stocking and shipping of your products is an important decision that may effect your long-term success as a vendor at Virginia's Best.

Virginia's Best Shipping

Shipping Charges

The calculation of customer shipping charges is directly dependent on who is doing the shipping. If the vendor is stocking and shipping an item, then we must charge the customer that vendor's exact shipping charges. There are as many ways of calculating shipping charges as there are vendors, so we have expended considerable effort to design a system that is capable of pre-determining almost any type of shipping charge.

If we ship your items for you, then we charge customers a shipping fee based on the total weight of the items ordered, the destination zipcode, and the carrier selected by the customer. We display actual shipping rates directly from the Post Office, UPS, Fedex, and DHL. By giving customers a choice of shipping carriers and methods, they are more in control of their costs and feel more comfortable with the shipping charges.

The Shipping Catch-22

Vendor-specific shipping charges are a very important factor for customers when they order items from multiple vendors. Each self-shipping vendor from which the customer orders will require separate shipping charges for their products. This is necessary since they are shipping from multiple locations using multiple methods. The order total will include all of the shipping charges from each vendor. This can be considerably more than the cost of shipping all the items together in one package, as we do when you stock with us.

This is exactly the same method used by Amazon.com except they lump all the shipping charges into a single charge without explanation. We feel our customers deserve to know what they are being charged and why.

Shipping and Vendor Payments

All vendor payments are based on items shipped in the previous month. It is therefore extremely important that vendors shipping their own orders must confirm each shipment, thus setting the shipping date. Un-confirmed orders look like un-shipped orders. Just send us an e-mail or use the online VAMS™ order confirmation page.

Virginia's Best Stock

Virginia's Best carries a wide variety of products. For some, it is not possible or practical for us to keep a quantity in stock. These items must be shipped by the vendor directly to customers. For other items, we can stock the items here at Virginia's Best. The stocking choice is entirely optional for most products, and is the vendor's choice. The exceptions to this rule are as follows:

We must stock : Books, CD's Vendor must stock : Food items with a short shelf-life High-value items lacking proper insurance Original works of art Vendor's Choice : All other types

Why Stock at Virginia's Best?

According to a recent national survey of online shoppers by NetIQ, 35% abandoned their shopping carts due to high shipping charges. You can reduce average customer shipping costs by stocking your products with us. This increases the likelihood of a customer ordering your catalog items. There is absolutely no charge to the vendor for stocking, packing or shipping your products. You can reduce your shipping overhead to zero!

What Should We Stock and How Much?

Some vendors produce hundreds of different items. Even though they may want us to stock their items, we may not be able to accommodate all of them. Initally, we will rely on the vendor's sales experience to tell us which products we should keep on hand. Later, we can decide on the right products and quantities to keep in stock based on the vendor's sales volume.

Stock Ownership

All stock held by Virginia's Best remains the property of the vendor until the item is sold. The product then belongs to the buyer.