Input on being a dealer?

[copiman]

We are a new start up company. We will need to be making a desicion on what manufacturer to go with. Was wondering if anyone had any input on this. The things we are looking at is dealer cost of equipment, supplies, parts, and technicial support. One thing I have noticed are PM cycles seem to vary and parts cost as well. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Ricoh is out of the question. Also, someone told me that KonicaMinolta is going to follow Ricoh. Buying up dealers to be in position to service thier products direct. Anyone hear about this?

[ZeusGT]

LOL.. "Ricoh is out of the question" I can understand where you are coming from. We are an indenpendent copier company and we made that decision because the market here is weak and having the burdon of meeting a corporate quota was not something that I wanted to deal with. I enjoy being an indenpendent copier company because I have the free will to sell whatever copier best suites their companies needs. Konica Minolta will almost bankrupt you with their incredible supply costs. My very best product line that suites ours and our clients needs is Xerox. It took several years and just placing the different brands in field to find the perfect one for us. What works well for one may not work well for others. I hear too many other techies shudder at the fact that we service and sell Xerox. They normally don't have a reason why, but they just know they don't like them...lol. Xerox works out very well for us. For some reason, I can't place a Ricoh out in the field that works well long enough that the customer is happy with it. Same goes for a Konica Minolta (jams way too much and the supplies don't last long enough). Good luck and be careful.

[copiman]

Thank you for the input. Was starting to think nobody cared. Thanks again and good luck to you as well.

[JR2ALTA]

I recommend buying a couple of manuals from the guy who sells them here.

That way you can digest some of the "assembly/disassembly" procedures. See what's easiest for you techs.

Konica Minolta can literally take up to 45 minutes to replace cassette feed wheels. Will you be profitable if your tech can be in and out in an hour, or if he's at a call 2 hours because the manufacturer over-engineers buries everything?

I have been curious about Xerox, I agree that have a bad rap, I don't know why because I never worked on one.

Look into Copystar, they're rebranded Kyocera but without quotas.

Offer some fax units and HPs too, easy money.

[eddie110171]

Look into Copystar, they're rebranded Kyocera but without quotas.

+1
I wouldn't say without quotas at least if you are a authorized dealer. But they are usually happy with 3-5 units per month once you get going, pretty easy to keep them happy and they have great support.

If you become a Kyocera/Copystar small business dealer then there is no quotas but you have to buy through a authorized dealer and you are only given access to the lower and mid-speed units. Still a great way to get started.

[cccjjn]

All of the manufacturers treat you like gold in the beginning. After a few years they start screwing you. Been thru Konica, Ricoh, Kyocera so far. Ricoh was awesome until about 2007 and its been all down hill since and we have brought on a second line and are looking to change primary lines currently. Ricoh may become our seconday product line real soon.

[exit148]

Your best bet is to go thru one of the machine distributors & forget going direct to the Mfr's. No matter what brand you sign with, it takes a lot of up front money to become authorized. Going with Copystar, Sharp, Samsung, Toshiba or Konica Minolta thru one of the distributors is the way to go.

[copiman]

Thanks everyone for your input. Would like to hear more on this.

[Dr.silver]

I have worked on Canons, Ricohs, Panasonics, Hp, and Kyocera/copystars. My experience with them all the Kyocera models are the best to service. Ricohs are pigs machines. I would go Kyocera do to call volume, Kyocera's run great and are reliable.

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

You may want to consider NEC. They are low to mid volume color and black and white konica minoltas up to the 65/70 ppm b/w color and traditionally two of their highest volume b/w 60/80ppm machines have been Kyocera Mita/Copystar.

I don't have any reference point as to what you will pay as a dealer compared to if you actually sold kyocera or konica.

NEC is sort of a hybrid between low end buying though a distributor and going full fledged authorized dealer. They may have changed but they didn't have minimum sales quotas when I started; however, their best pricing was only given if you either: a)bought 3 or more units on the same invoice; or b)purchased however much you wanted in as small of orders as you wanted but committed to $150,000 per year. Can't recall if that's equipment, supplies/parts, or a combo. You can get a waiver on b/w training but must complete color training. Classes are held in Texas. Support is so so. Sometimes no one answers when you call but I don't have another manufacturer to compare it to. You also are limited to a territory in your contract. Expect absolutely 0% marketing support from them as well. The copiers/printers are buried in their big billion dollar web portal junk and I never even had seen us listed as a reseller if the public could actually find us.

I hear NEC is switching or negotiating with Sharp to carry a lot of their line. This has a lot of people upset as we think Kyocera and Konica were a better mix.

Or you could do what I'm trying to do more of and be a jack of all brands. I find I like cherry picking the makes and models I want to deal with rather than going 100% one brand. Of course this causes a big head ache on being familiar with different service manual layouts and machine diagnostics. Also, without that manufacturer "backing" it's a little uncomfortable sometimes on parts, supplies, and availability/costs, etc.

Good luck and let us know what you're going to do.