Trophy Parts Supplier

[Jenny Ayala]

I am a small trophy retailer in the Atlanta area, I been in the trophy
business for about 4 years. We have Laser (Trotec), Sublimation,
embroidery, sand blast, silk screen, and more. We offer trophies to all
sports but have been particularly successful selling to the Spanish
soccer leagues. For the last couple years we have seen a trend for some
league owners to buy the trophies direct from Marco Awards. These
league owners do not have engraving equipment only sublimation. None sell
outside their own leagues. We ask Marco about this practice, and given them
the names of the companies they are selling direct to. We can not
get a reasonable answer. Is anyone else experiencing a similar
situation? We are extremely frustrated that Marco would sell direct to a
market we helped develop.

[Tony Taurisano]

I've never heard of Marco doing that in the past Jenny. Who did you talk to there?
I've been buying from them since they were Discount Trophy with 1 place and havent heard of that from them.

Tony

[Martin Boekers]

The problem may occur when asked for a tax ID and not a business liscense #.

Tax ID's can cover organizations that aren't resellers. I have had to jump through
hoops with some vendors to prove I am a reseller and not an in house provider.

These league owners may be resellers to if they charge the teams for the
trophies in the package that the sell to support the league.

You can search this forum as a while back there were discusions about this type
of thing with a company not selling to a school as they were using it inhouse and
not reselling I think the issue was. (not sure off hand)

The thing when you voice your concern is to talk with the right person at Marco.
Sometimes the order taker isn't sure how to address these concerns. I do think you
should address this because it is affecting your business.

If you look in some catalogs now some are selling laserprinter decal sheets, this
would make it easy for most group & organizations to set up since that probably
already have a copier or laser printer.

These practices effect all of us.

[Ross Moshinsky]

This is incredibly common. JDS, Marco, ect will sell to anyone. They don't care. I go to the warehouses and see different boxes. Some are addressed to schools. Others to personal addresses.

If you want to fire up a debate, here is the question to ask: What makes these folks so much different than the "hobbiest" engraver who spends the same amount at JDS annually?

[Martin Boekers]

I believe in earlier posts that JDS wouldn't sell to someone here as they weren't classified
as a reseller. They were for use in house, your right it did stir up a big debate between
who should be able to buy from vendors. An actual licensed business reseller are anyone willing
to pay for it. There are many suppliers that will sell to anyone and engrave it at retail
cost so it's not taking away from our work.

If anyone was able to do this at wholesale, not much work left for us

There is a great wholesaler in Saint Louis that only sells to the food service industry.
They have an incredible selection of high grade products quite a bit cheaper than the
store I would love to go there and purchase from them, but they won't sell to me as I
am not a reseller in the food service industry. :-(

[mike berry]

I do not believe that JDS sells to "just anyone"

Classic Medallics...that's another story.....they have nice catalogs they send to schools as I understand it.

If Marco is selling to "anybody" we will be closing our account with them the same way we did Classic......JDS will really be our one supplier for trophy parts!

[Rodne Gold]

Seems a Common problem in the trophy industry worldwide , we faced the same issues , however we fought it by importing our own stock and undercutting the so called wholesalers (and making more profit) , carrying a completely different and unique range and using our lasers and other machinery to fabricate a great custom range.

[Dan Hintz]

I've noticed labeled boxes from JDS and Marco brought out to the awards ceremonies... they hand them to the kids fresh out of the box, no engraving (if you're lucky, the engraving is very generic, like "Little League 2010"). The days of personalized trophies appears to be over :(

"Congratulations on working so hard, Johnny... here's your generic award, just like everyone else, even that kid that played in the sand all season."

[Mike Null]

JDS has refused to sell to those who don't have a license.

[Tony Taurisano]

I know years ago Marco sold to baseball card dealers so they could plaque up pictures and such
and probably still do. Those guys were more of a hassle than anything for us.

I've been buying from Marco since 1989. I really hope they arent selling direct to end users
because I'll buy everything they have from JDS instead.

This has been an ongoing thing in the industry since I've been doing it.

Superior Trophy (components) = Dinn Bros. (end user)
Certificate Source = Jones School Supply
Image Award Ribbons = Hodges Bade Company

I'm sure there are more.

[Martin Boekers]

Hey, I say fair is fair, if schools can buy wholesale for inhouse use
why can't we buy discounted educational software for inhouse use.

Seems fair, doesn't it!:D

I know, apples & oranges.... but I couldn't resist.

[Tony Taurisano]

Problem we have around here and other probably do to, I get local schools
calling me for material to engrave on their Laser Engravers.
$10 a sheet for aluminum sounds fair to me.

[Mike Null]

If they can afford a laser engraver they can afford $10 aluminum.

[Tony Taurisano]

Well doing a little bit or searching I found this: http://www.landmarkawards.com/

Located in beautiful downtown East Hartford CT. Sure as heck looks it could be the
retail arm of Marco??

I emailed my long time contact there. Cant wait to see what she says.

[Dan Ashlin]

Well doing a little bit or searching I found this: http://www.landmarkawards.com/

Located in beautiful downtown East Hartford CT. Sure as heck looks it could be the
retail arm of Marco??

I emailed my long time contact there. Cant wait to see what she says.

That, or they called marco and said "one of everything please" It's a shame, since they have a few better quality items than JDS, but to be honest I have never been fully satisfied with Marco. From a logistics standpoint, they seem to be very unorganized. I call jds and order 12 random things and they all come from the same warehouse, ship the next day and show up at the right place. Marco's come from 12 different places, and have sometimes showed up at my house not the store. I guess that's because that's my billing address? in either case, I'm done with marco.

[Tony Taurisano]

Well after an email and a phone call from them, I was told landmarkawards.com is not associated at all with Marco.

I've only had a few issues with Marco over the years but they can make it right most of the time. I guess I'm lucky too.
Even being in Central NY, I can get stuff from 3 warehouses in 1 day ground UPS. I do order from JDS also which is also
a day. I'm digging their new "Value" plaques. Much cheaper than Marco's.

[Martin Boekers]

Many of these shops, download a catalog from a supplier for their online catalog.
Saves them the time and expense of creating a custom one. I do buy a fair amount from
Marco as well as JDS. Haven't had too many issues with either. Both these suppliers
are quick, reasonable and are easy on replacing damaged merchandise. Call them up
and they have the replacements shipped the same day.

I am dealing with bad parts from World Class Awards since Feb, yes Feb each time I call
they are working on it.

I have problems with some Product from LRI from weeks ago, fill out this form do this do
that someone will contact you etc.


I have been trying for weeks to order mugs from Mugworld, evidently they merged/bought out
from another company and don't return email or phone calls.

I do understand problems will and do occur, it's how you handle it that makes the difference.

OK my rants done for today!

[Jenny Ayala]

After we posted this thread, we were contacted by Marco. A manager in Atlanta who knows us said he would look into this and get back to us. So far no word from him even though he committed to calling before now. Still frustrated with Marco.