By Sue DiFranco
Copyright © 2002 Sue DiFranco/Fun Facts Publishing  

The controversy continues in the scrapbook online/brick-and-mortar/wholesaler debate.

For those not in the know, some scrapbook wholesalers either refuse to sell to online stores completely, or charge a higher wholesale price to them. This has been affecting, and will continue to affect, everyone from the online stores and brick-and-mortar stores, to the wholesalers, to consumers themselves. For a more detailed look at the controversy, please read this article featured several months back.

Well, it looks like this controversy isn't just limited to our industry. According to the April issue of Entrepreneur Magazine, "Old Economy companies...have used their
lobbies to inhibit e-commerce." It states that a federal law was put into place last January, influenced by wine and spirits wholesalers, to stop online wine sales. It also refers to brick-and-mortar auctioneers who are pushing for state laws inhibiting sales by eBay. And it notes that optometrists and contact lens manufacturers have also used legal action to stop the sales of contacts on the Web.

These are just three examples - who knows how many other industries are also being affected by old-school wholesalers who are either intimidated by the strength of e-commerce, or bending from the force of brick-and-mortar stores.

The bad news in this, which we are already aware of, is that their attempts at trying to stop e-commerce ultimately hurt entrepreneurs. The Progressive Policy Institute estimates that these barriers cost American consumers and businesses $15 billion annually.

How? The small companies who sell contact lenses are affected; small businesses who purchase equipment on eBay are affected; small vineyards who only stay afloat through e-commerce are affected; and as we noted before, ultimately every segment of the scrapbook industry is affected.

The good news? The "small guys" are banding together. Family Winemakers of California, an organization of small vineyards, for example, is suing the state of Florida for prohibiting online wine sales to Florida citizens. And, as the article notes, progress will be made: "Look at the outcome of America's Horse and Mule Association's campaign to limit the use of trucks and cars in the 1920s."

Will online scrapbook retailers band together next?