Tech Data Charging $100 Fee

The one-time fee was instituted Feb. 1 to help Tech Data focus its resources on more serious customers, said Tim Curran, senior vice president of sales at the company, based here.

"We found a significant number of people would sign up but not do any business with us. It was an administrative burden to us to set up an account and maintain it when they were not serious," Curran said.

The change does not affect current customers, he said.

To offset the fee, new account holders receive a $200 credit toward a menu of education, marketing and technical services from Tech Data, Curran said. In addition, the distributor profiles and links the customer to appropriate business units and account managers to better serve the solution providers, he said.

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The number of new accounts is down almost 40 percent since the fee was instituted, but revenue generated from the new customers has not decreased, Curran said.

Other distributors agreed there are costs incurred to set up accounts, but they have no plans to charge sign-up fees.

"If [solution providers go through the hassle of filling out an application, we believe the intent is there," said Daniel Schwab, vice president of marketing at D&H Distributing, Harrisburg, Pa.

"If you're serious in the business, $100 is not a detriment to establish a relationship with a [distributor such as Tech Data," said Norbert Sluzewski, president of DataVox Technologies, a New York-based solution provider and current Tech Data customer.