Some are more traditional office supply type services like Staples,
Office Depot, Office Max, and etc. And others are Internet pure plays like
Onvia, BizBuyer, BuyersZone and more that offer a wide range of small
business products from telephone service, health plans, furniture, Internet
services and so much more.
If all you've used are brick and mortar stores, I'd suggest you take a
quick spin and try some of these sites out!
BizBuyer
contains over 20,000 vendors in 53 categories, wherein you submit a quote
request to the selling vendor and the vendor responds with a quote.
Onvia.com
was closed for routine maintenance when I logged onto their site. However,
Onvia offers several products which you can purchase directly from Onvia and
in addition has a growing array of merchants that you submit a request for
quote to.
BuyerZone
is an interesting site as it does not only give you links to many categories
and vendors, but specializing in buyer's guides to help you decide what
products to buy and in Yahoo is even classified as a "Office
Supply/Trade Magazine"
Works.com
harnesses the collective buyer power of its members and claims to offer up
to 30% monthly savings in office supply purchasing. An added plus is works
gives free shipping on all orders over $25.00
Atyouroffice.com,
Staples, Office Max, and Office Depot are traditional office supply
"stores" that offer integrated shopping - no request for quote or
etc, right on line. The four sties are basically the same, however as you
try them out you may find some have better features than others, (easier
shopping, better search function, better customer support, or etc)
If you are not sure what you want it might be better to walk to your
nearest local office supply store. However, if you know what you want and
are comfortable using online shopping, as I am and do, check the above
resources out and have fun saving money.
About the
Author:
Ramon Ray, ramon@smallbiztechnology.com
Small business technology analyst and consultant http://www.smallbiztechnology.com,
The OASIS of small business technology
