Direct Buy Membership Cost
80Direct Buy Membership Cost - Is a Membership Worth the Cost?
"What does a Direct Buy Membership cost?"
Being a bargain hunter, you always look for the best deal you can find. You dig deep and come up with the information you need to make the right decision. In this article, I will do my best to show you the costs associated with Direct Buy membership and the opinions of people just like you who have allready done research to answer this question.
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Direct Buy Membership Cost Index:
- Direct Buy Membership Costs - What do you get for your money
- Alternatives to Direct Buy Membership
- Reader Comments
- Direct Buy Membership news
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Direct Buy Membership Costs - What do you get for your money
DirectBuy (tm) is a Canadian based company founded in 1971 that provides wholesale purchasing power to its members. With locations in Canada and the U.S. Direct Buy offers a store front location that provides access to the complete product line and pricing from more than 500 manufacturers and their direct distributors. Assistants are provided to help you with your product search and help with designing, arrange delivery, and find service support.
Price:
- Initial cost - $3500 to $4500
- Annual Fee - $200.
***See below for low cost alternative***
Best Features:
- Customer Service - they do go out of their way to help you get what you need
- Every things in one location - Find what you need and then find the people to deliver, install, or repair what you've bought.
Worst Features:
- A huge initial investment - Unless you are building or remodeling a home and will be purchasing a lot of items, I would have to question it's economic benefit
- Complaints of high pressure sales tactics when you take the required pre-membership tour at one of their brick and mortar locations
- Service available at their store front locations. Requiring a trip to get what you want.
Direct Buy Membership Alternative:
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Salehoo - Wholesale Directory
Official Site: http://salehoo.com
Cost: $67.00
Who are they? Salehoo is a directory of Wholesalers, Dropshippers, Liquidators, and Manufacturers. Based in New Zealand, Salehoo has a global outlook. Most importantly, Salehoo maintains a list of wholesalers who have no minimum purchase criteria. This is important because it enables the purchase of a single item at wholesale price.
Salehoo can be accessed from the internet making it possible to research and find items that you need no matter where you are. Work, Home, Coffee shop, Retailer stores or where ever. Give it a try on you Blackberry or iPhone to get an idea just how powerful this can be.
** Bargain hunters: This feature enables you to buy one single item direct from the manufacturer or wholesaler, potentially saving you a lot of money.
Here's a way to buy at wholesale and get a nice additional discount. It's a little known fact that the wholesalers you find on SaleHoo have affiliate programs that allow you to earn commissions on items you buy.
Some of the wholesalers listed in SaleHoo's directory will require a merchant account - really just some way to handle credit card transactions. You can sign up with PayPal and get a free account. You will then be able to process credit card transactions, satisfying the wholesalers requirements.
* Compensated affiliate.
Example of a SaleHoo Wholesaler Listing
More on Buying Wholesale
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Do You Know About Direct Buy Membership Costs? Share Your Thoughts... Loading...
The article above denotes the membership as being between $3500 to $4500 or there abouts.. try $6,000.00 to join and dont forget the franchise owners also charge an 8% handling fee on top of the merchandise you buy. Often times you will find that researching the manufacturers direct will get you a good deal as opposed to paying SIX GRAND to join. No, DirectBuy is NOT the answer - trust me.. doing it the DIRECTBUY way is feeding the greed of the franchise owners!
Wow, the initial cost is so high. I do think they can lower the initial cost in order to get more customers.
the initial cost is nothing short of pure greed.Search the web and i guarantee you can find the smae items for the discounted price minus this outrageous join up fee.Shame on you!
I went to direct buy not knowing how much the membership was, you can imgine my suprise when they told me 5000 but they were willing to sell it for 4500. i was thinking to my self have you all lost your mind!! And then to add injury to insult when i didnt have the 1000 dollar deposit that day once i walked out the door i could NEVER come back!! not even when i have the money!! because thats there policy! WOW now thats crazy!!!
I have been more than satisfied with my experience with DirectBuy, I paid a low deposit of $290, and paid my membership of $2900 off within a couple months. I have found so many things there and that has meant everything to me! In addition, when I didn't want to go to the showroom I used the website. Other direct buy concepts do not have the range of products that I want. Its not just for building or remodeling, but I have purchased jewelry, lamps, stereo equipment for my husband, vacuum's, toys and other cool stuff, especially around the holidays. When I joined I was nervous, but I already paid off my membership within 2 years, without doing a whole lot. You have to be smart about it, if you're thinking that oh I'll buy one couch or tv from them and it'll be worth it, that's silly. Instead, you should think about all of the other things that add up and the big things you will eventually buy...its worth it!
I think that Direct buy is not for everybody but in our case we wanted to install a travertine floor in a very big kitchen. We recover 3,500 in the very first time we used it. We also changed the carpet of our house (it is a new home but with 2 little kids we had to in 5 years) and we went to many places and the best end price was in Direct buy so at least for us it has been a good experience but again if you are buying cheap furniture or electronics you are better off not joinning.
Direct Buy is for those willing to look at a different way of shopping. There are a number of items available. I actually was under the impression that the only benefits would be to people doing something to their home. I went in to an orientation and discovered they have manufactuers that make everything from end tables to pearl necklaces! I didn't go for the highest membership (which, by the way, wasn't 6k)but now I'm able to make my money go further which is everything to me.
has anyone had a 8% fee charged after your purchase?
I bought a shed which retails for around $6000-$7000 depending on which stores you go to and I went to Direct buy and found the same one for 3000. But, honestly, unless your planning on buying a lot of stuff like furniture, outside decorations and other stuff for your home then I wouldn't suggest getting the membership.
The 8% handling fee and all the other expenses tacked on will still be less $ than the amount you would pay at another store OR would pay the same amount if that other store is heavily discounted (like 40% off or something) but usually when those stores have that kind of sale you have to use their credit card or whatever
Membership cost vary for each DirectBuy location. They are all locally owned, therefore the owners determine the membership price. There are 3 levels of the membership. The handling fee does not all go to the center, but keep in mind that the handling fee is the only way that they make their money to pay their bills and employees. It is a great investment if you have a lot of home improvement plans.
In light of comments and testimonials soliciting others to "be like me, I'm a member and I'm saving money", this scam, which is nothing more than and a variation of the "Advance Fee Fraud" scheme, is parting yet more of the "something for nothing" crowd from their money.
Here's how it works: the potential victim is baited to call for more information after seeing a tempting infomercial and how on the "inside" someone can get better deals or a telephone "tickler" call is made to a potential victim and an informative letter or brochure is sent afterwards inviting them to an open house so they can see for themselves how much others like them have saved and how much they themselves would save, along with some form of an invitation to join. The letter and subsequent follow-up telephone calls promise rich rewards of savings by buying direct from the manufacturer, at cost, with no Mark Up, No Middleman if only they were "members" of this so called highly esteemed and long time in business organisation. Typically, the pitch at the open house includes mention the so called fact that tens of thousands of other smart and savvy consumers have saved along with a slick selection of what they have saved on -- and you, too, can begin saving as soon as you join this elustrous group by signing a "membership agreement" costing thousands of dollars payable in advance of receiving any benefits - you are told that amount is paltry compared to the savings you will obtain over a 10 year period - and you must sign the contract on a now or never basis. You are even made to feel stupid if you don't sign - only a fool would not take advantage of the savings - spend a little to save a lot sort of thing.
If you're not saying "scam" by now, you should be. Should you agree to participate in this Advance Fee savings scam, something will go wrong. Savings evaporate ... or.. Wrong or defective merchandise will be ordered ... or ... Order delays ... or ... Order mishaps and screw-ups. You will not be allowed to cancel your "membership" and get out of the deal.
If you decide to order merchandise, money from you, in advance of receiving the merchandise -- an insignificant sum, really, in light of the windfall of savings about to land in your lap -- will be required to order merchandise without any written guarantees of actually saving money.. You pay, you wait for the merchandise . . . and all you'll get in return are more excuses about why the order is held up and assurances that everything can be straightened out if you'll just be patient and wait a little while longer or send a bit more to pay for this or that price increase. Once you start making threats, these scammers will threaten to sue you if you don't make good on your end of paying for the membership contract in full.
Beware that the Membership Agreement is in reality nothing more than a legally binding sales contract that may have been glossed over in light of all the savings you are excited about expecting. Carefully look at it - it contains NO GUARANTEES OF SAVINGS - instead there is a "NO ORAL PROMISES" clause: "No oral promises or statements not contained in this Membership Agreement shall bind or obligate the club." It's like a get out of jail free card - they can tell you anything pie in the sky in the open house tour or over the phone to get you to join, but once you sign the sales or Membership Agreement, you agree to the NO ORAL PROMISES clause! So what happens if it turns out not to be what you expected? Ouch. Too late. You're stuck. That NO ORAL PROMISES clause comes back and bites you. Want a refund? Beware that the Membership Agreement states: "Members understand this program is not sold on a trial basis and that no refund of membership fees will be made." So you only partially paid on your contract and think that you're just not going to pay the rest of the contracted amount? -- beware that the Membership Agreement states further: "Members do not have the right to terminate the Membership Agreement without paying the amount remaining for this Membership." And if you think you're going to get a refund because you never found anything cheaper and therefore didn't use the club, think again. There's a clause in the Membership Agreement about this too: "The Membership Agreement is not conditioned on the use of this Membership."
In a nutshell, the con works by blinding the victim with promises of an unimaginable fortune of what others like them have saved, what they could have saved if only they joined earlier, and what they can expect to save by joining now. All the while the con artists are keeping certain important information secret from their intended victim, so once the sucker is excited and sufficiently glittery-eyed over the prospect of what he or she would do with all the money he will save, he is then squeezed for however much membership fee in full at the time of "joining" or have the sales contract balance immediately financed by a separate finance company, actually a subsidiary of the parent scam company. The money the victim parts with willingly, thinking "What's $5,000 here when I'm going to end up saving over $50,000 when this is all done?" He fails to realize during the sting that he's never going to actually get the promised savings because all of savings are expressly disclaimed in the fine print of the contracts and merchandise ordering materials. The very sales contract, which the victim was at first eager to sign, now comes back to bite him with all those adverse terms and conditions.
The scam involves their very effectivly hiding the fact that not all savings are passed on directly to members. This is accomplished by the franchisEE agreeing in the franchise agreement (the terms of which are unknown to the victim member) that the franchisOR can keep all discounts and rebates and not pass them on to the member. It is only by reviewing the 260-plus page agreement with the franchisOR that the victim would every learn that the franchiseOR reserves "the right to keep rebates, discounts and other payments from manufacturers and suppliers." They also keep early-pay disccounts and all members' purchases are paid by the member at the time of ordering. All of this messing around is designed to part the victim from his money. This marketing scheme is now the subject of a numer of class action lawsuits around the country.
Once the scam is explained, it seems so obvious a con that you'd wonder who would fall for it. Yet fall for it people do because they're mesmerized by the wealth that will soon be theirs in the form of all the savings by not paying any markup or middleman costs - and how smart they are by taking advantage of the join now or never opportunity. They also fail to realize there's a hook hanging just out of sight; at first all they see is that others are getting savings and they want to join this cadre, thus they're ill-prepared to mentally shift gears when the con artists turns the tables. Because the premise of "saving tons of money" is wholeheartedly swallowed early on, it's not at a later point questioned when things begin to go wrong with the transaction and the dupes who have been targeted find out the hard way that there is a no refund policy on all the money they have paid in advance of receiving these now questionable "savings."
Beware paying in advance for something for nothing - no written guarantees of promises made should send you running - especially in light of the tactics of "Be like me, I'm a member and I've saved money." -- You may not!
Has anyone ever won the $50,000 home makeover giveaway*
they send you a key in the mail and you must go to the store to turn you're key in the lock to see if you "won"?
I've got a reservation day and time that I have to go in order to see if I'm the lucky person.
Any comments please!
Hi Rosette!
Thats a good question and I did a little research to try to find an answer.
What I found was that each Direct Buy has it's own contest and it's own set of rules. I looked at the rules for St. Louis-West and they say that you can submit a written request for a winners list to the "National Program Sponsor" by 1-31-2011 and include the "Local Program Sponsors" name and address.
I could not find anyone stepping up to claim that they were a winner.
What a racket! The exploitation of human nature at its worst: Greed. Its worked well for the casino owners in Vegas for years. Direct Buy has just applied it in a different form here with their claims of huge savings instead. The emotional hook. As if they really care about saving you money. Ha! Ha! How could you afford not to join, right?
As for the $50,000 contest, it would take just new 7 memberships to pay for it. As if they are really being generous at all, especially after they throw in whatever markups they choose assuming there ever is a winner at all.
A fool and his money............
I guess I was lucky... I purchased a membership in 1996 for a fraction of the cost. Being a member for the past 15 years, I do have to say that I have been pleased with the products and service I have received but my opinion does not put a band-aid on the overall business practice I have seen. I too feel that the $$$$ is ridiculous and would have never paid the current rate. Indeed it seems criminal. But some people have the willingness to pay that amount. My biggest issue now is that after 15 years, they cancelled my membership without warning stating that we have gone beyond the 10 year agreement and the new owners of my regional showroom is playing catch-up on this. Now they are asking for $2500 renewal. Needless to say, that's absurd and they will lose a 15 year customer. My take is this: I have spent and saved a lot of $$$ over time. They have also made their money from me on the handling charges they tack on. But I ask this... 6-10% of nothing is still NOTHING! Why stick it to a loyal member only to get negative press out of it.
Sure, I don't have to renew- and I won't. With the recession going on, there are bargains everywhere and we suspect that we will not need Direct Buy to find a good price on the goods we want to purchase.
Some people (like DB) fail to realize that when you increase fees (just like taxes), people don't spend and do what they can to avoid it or find a competitor that is ready to work with them. I wish them luck, but I can find $2500+ dollars in savings elsewhere.
Yet another Directbuy lawsuit recently filed:
Desert Buy Palm Springs Inc v. DirectBuy Inc et al
Ninth Circuit California Central District Court
Filed: January 13, 2011 as case 5:2011cv00107
http://dockets.justia.com/search?q=DirectBuy+Inc
Directbuy Gets Sued By West Virginia Attorney General
http://www.wvrecord.com/news/232893-mcgraws-office
It is really bad for Directbuy, the FRANCHISOR, to keep and retain all discounts and rebates and any other price reductions by specific agreement with the franchiseEE without the franchisOR or the francisEE informing the potential member (and existing members) that they do so, especially since all merchandise must be paid for in advance and all members are led to believe that they are receiving all discounts and rebates.
So you think you are getting a great deal?
$4500-$6000? Sorry for the LOL, but the stove top I want is $3000. Total I expect to spend about $8000 for everything I am going to replace. Why would I waste it on a "fee"? Thanks for the information!
Just what I suspected. After talking with them on the phone once, it seemed like a setup. Reminded me of a time share scam I once almost bought into. I will not be doing any business with this company. Thanks for the posted comments.
Yup...sure sounds like the old TimeShare pitch all over again. If I could only stop the nightmares...and the annual maintenance fees...
$7000 to join in San Jose...not for us! Felt I lost 2hrs of my life listening to their sales pitch..what a racquet..on the mailer they said we get a $100 just to listen but we never received it..total hoax!!
thank goodness we got away after four hours. reason for having your significant other....both signs up both are held under the contract, both will be obligated to pay....hmm they get their money from either person correct?
think if it's too good to be true it just might be.
they may have taken my money if they'de only given me a chance to research a bit more, but preassure tactics are a sure sign of a scam.
to all potential BD clients please research and weight you risk or savings. sure a 3000 tv sold at 1200 is a heck of a savings but take into account you already paid 5k for the membership plus 1200 tv. total 6200 tv....hmm who's the dummy now....
They have an internet shopping membership that was only $990 in their Nashville location. If you are not doing a kitchen or windows or a bunch of custom stuff, it is a deal. I just looked up a commercial range and it was $2000 less than everywhere else. We knew about it when we went to their local website and followed it to their Facebook page. Smart, huh?
range at DB 4000
range at store 6000
difference 20000 (-membership fee 990 + the franchise fee)in all you saved $690.00 How far did you have to travel to get range or was it delivered and what was the delivery charge?
what about fees at 8% 320.00 2000-1310-690
There is so much miss-information. I will provide real facts:
Cost: Varies slightly depending on location but generally most location offer 4 basic membership plans
1. Online Plan 1 to 3 year term $900 to $2000 total cost. Monthly payments available $79 to $99
2. Full Access Fixed Term 1 to 3 years $2500 - $4000. Monthly payments available $129 to $159
3. Full Access extendable for life $4500 - $6000
Monthly payments $199 - $249 for 2 to 3 years then a small annual fee of around $250 a year.
4. Premium Membership extendable for life $6000 - $8000
Some extra bells and whistle intended for those doing major project requiring premium expedited services.
There may be minor cost differences between States and Provinces.
Product Pricing: The price you pay is wholesale price from the supplier plus 8% handling + Freight cost + government duties and taxes. Less then best retail prices 99% of the time.
Savings: Typical savings against non promotional retail pricing is 15% - 30% in the electronics and appliance category and 25% - 65% in furnishing, décor, and custom items.
Guarantees: DirectBuy guarantees lower total final cost of identical new product through its price guarantee program. It even guaranties a lower final cost against retail promotional sale prices, even internet sales, usually at least 10% to 30% less.
Look before Visiting: If you want to product brands and pricing before going to a presentation, when whey call to set up an appointment just ask for an online look. They will provide a temporary password and show you what’s online.
Decision: When you visit like at an auction you get to see what you’re interested in. If you like it, then you need to buy it or loose it. Can’t return of a number of years.
It’s really not that complicated.
My two cents-
DirectBuy- Buying at cost. Obviously you save money. you have to use the membership to see a return on investment.
$50,000 Home Makeover- yes people win, we had 4 out of the 10 winners from our location so i seen them get their cheque personally
- I worked at DirectBuy for 5 years
:-)
Our neighbors bought this, and literally never used it.
Jake Chambers 2 years ago
A great hub about Direct Buy membership cost. I've often wondered how much they actually charged, but the alternative idea is really interesting. I had never thought of using a wholesale directory that way! I think I'll give it a try, I mean what's to lose?