Once weekly I will be breaking down one of the known, and some unknown net-30 credit vendors and rating them for our readers, on to our first . .
Company Summary: Not quite as old-fashioned as its name suggests, Quill Corporation is a distributor of office products to more than one million small and medium-sized US businesses. To compete with office supply superstores, Quill markets some 50,000 products under the Quill brand as well as other national brands (Bic, Hewlett-Packard, Mead, Papermate, Pendaflex, Xerox). It offers office supplies (binders, paper, envelopes, toner), furniture (bookcases, chairs, desks, file cabinets), and technology products (PCs, copiers, phones, software); it sells its wares through catalogs, by phone, and on the company’s Web site. Former CEO Jack Miller founded Quill in 1956; the company was acquired by office retail giant Staples in 1998.
Why should you care: Quill is always one of the first companies to give business credit, as soon as immediately after you have a DnB file showing. Quill also has one of the largest selection that I have seen in a net-30 for quite a while, and their massive catalogs don’t begin to describe the amount of inventory they have on hand, and have access to. A couple of phone calls revealed that you can have custom hats, t-shirts, and even pens created by Quill, and of course you can use your trusty net-30 account to leverage your resources. I don’t know of another starter net-30 where you can go from pens and pencils, to furniture and ipods all from the same company , all on business credit.
Reporting: The debate is pretty fierce between those who swear that Quill reports, and those who think that it’s a now “worthless” net-30. In my personal business credit experience, I have known Quill to report monthly, and lately quarterly, which may explain some frustration. (Imagine paying for your first order, only to find out that you missed the reporting cycle by a couple of days!) Unfortunately DnB has a strict policy against identifying its reporting members, I would still venture t say the Quill reports, but maybe not as often as you may like.
Final Verdict: Quill is a top 5 net-30 account whether you like it or not. I would stay under $100 for a first order, under $500 for a second, and under $1000 for a third, after that I think they give you a free reign to do as you like after you’ve proven the ability to pay within the net-30 billing period. Worst case scenario is that you may get a friendly email asking you to call in, but don’t be concerned, just answer the questions that they ask and you should be on your way with your first business credit account.
–Elijah
[...] ARTICLESSTATION.COM wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt Once weekly I will be breaking down one of the known, and some unknown net-30 credit vendors and rating them for our readers, on to our first . . Company Summary: Not quite as old-fashioned as its name suggests, Quill Corporation is a distributor of office products to more than one million small and medium-sized US businesses. To compete with office supply superstores, Quill markets some 50,000 products under the Quill brand as well as other national brands (Bic, Hewlett-Packard, Mead, Paperma [...]
After stumbling upon this blog I chose Quill as our first net30 account. I was very pleased. I ordered some pens and some legals pads (they came with a free American Tourister two piece luggage set). Anyway shipping was super fast however I had then seen that we could order custom products and decided that we would rather have those than the mini legal pads (my husband is a personal trainer and gives them to his clients to use as a food journal). So I called Quill and asked how I could return the legal pads so I could order the new notebooks and after a brief moment on hold the operator came back and said, “We just ask that you donate them to the school, church, or charity of your choice, in the name of Quill. I have already credited your account for the amount of the purchase.” I then asked her how I should ship back the lugagge, and she told me to keep the luggage and have a great day! I was blown away by Quill’s customer service and their overall quickness in shipping as well as answering the phone. I would definitely recommend using Quill! We received a catalog with our order and have already picked out a new desk and some chairs for the new studio! Thanks for such a great blog, and welcome Elijah, I am so excited to have so many new posts these past two days. I had been checking everyday since the 9th! Glad you are back too “Mike”! I have already suggested your blog to two other friends who are trying to establish their own business, they were talking about personal gaurantees but I told them noooo way! Go see Mike’s blog… I’m so glad I found this as I was about to shell out $4000 for Business Credit Services and I know I would have paid the $400+ to DNB when they called had I not found your blog! Thanks so much!
-Naomi Stephens!
I just paid my invoice with Quill today, so I don’t know how soon they will report but I do know from first hand experience that they have phenomenal customer service. One of the things we ordered had come with a free gift. Unfortunately after we received our order we found something that would work better. So I called Quill to inquire about and exchange or return. When I called and asked how to return part of the order, they requested that I donate the items to the school, church or charity of my choice, in the name of Quill. I then asked what address I needed to ship the free gift back to, and they said to keep it complements of Quill. I asked several times if they were certain and they said “definitely, enjoy it”.
I was amazed with how pleasant they were and with the speed in which they answered their phones. They were very professional and I would definitely recommend Quill to anyone.
As for this blog, it is fantastic! Welcome aboard Elijah, and thanks to both of you for all of the hard work! Without this blog I would have paid $4000 to Business Credit Services or ended up being duped by DNB! Thanks to this blog I can save my money to go towards more tangible things for my business instead of paying for something I could do myself if only I had the knowledge. So thanks a million!
Sincerely,
Naomi Stephens
This blog has helped me tremendously! When I found site I had already Inc.’d but still on pause. Blog read steps complete now ready to apply. Applications are tricky…I need help!