Trade Account worthwhile?

Just had my trade account approved and I’m asking myself why I bothered. I spent ages searching product categories to identify any with discounts and I wish I could say ‘great’ but I’ll have to say ‘what’s the point’? I have trade discounts with a plumbing and an electrical supplier and no matter what is purchased they apply a universal discount to the bottom line, and over a financial year they increase the discount percentage with increased spending. My new Axminster trade account appears to be useful to buy (some) adhesives with a small discount, a few other low cost consumables and little else.

I was immediately going to order a Festool D8 connector kit to go with my Domino jointer at £320, but no discount and in two minutes found the same elsewhere at £294. Sorry Axminster, you lost a sale - again!

I have to agree with you and have heard many times before that the trade account is not worth having. Also their prices are not very competitive and apart from a few blades, I rarely buy anything from Axminster these days.

Sorry Axminster but you really do need to look at the competition!

Hi.

I do agree with you. Prices for a lot of items are expensive.
But I have gone in-store and asked for a discount on large items, and I’ve had one.
Sometimes if you don’t ask you don’t get.
You want to try a company on line called Rutlands. They have some good offers. Sign up for the email notifications.

James.

Hi James, yes I use Rutland, and DandM Tools, Classic Hand Tools, Toolfest and just bought the Festool kit from Toucan. I bought everything from Axi at one time but not for the last three years. They do have great customer service but it seems all the others do also. Not a hard decision. Geoffrey

Me too! I never had a trade account but also agree that Axminster have lost their way on pricing. They were invariably competitive until a few years ago but, as others have said, are rarely so now. Just one example: my new planer/thicknesser and extractor combo, bought a year ago from Scott & Sargeant is excellent and was over £300 (15%) cheaper than Axminster’s. I’ve shopped with Axminster since the 1980s, but sadly less and less these days.

15 months ago I had extensive email traffic trying to get discount on over £3K of potential purchases and was eventually offered £89 discount. Didn’t happen because I sort of felt insulted have spent a really serious amount over 17 years. When they introduced the trade account I thought they had decided to recognise regular and often big spenders. Nope.

The other thing I don’t like is the ever expanding range of Axminster branded products that are effectively almost exact copies of well known brands. Not suggesting at all they are doing anything wrong but you have less and less choice, another reason I increasingly use other suppliers.