Buying Thermal Paper: Why You Need to Consider More than Just the Price

Just a few years ago, the best way to acquire thermal paper was to receive quotes from several suppliers and hope that the offers would fit your budget. While this process was somewhat effective, with strong B2B relationships being formed, it also meant that you were putting price before quality, which is never really a good idea.

Why the Process of Purchasing Thermal Paper Has Changed?

Today, the process of purchasing thermal paper has changed somewhat. Today, it is common for organizations to receive bids through something that is referred to as the reverse auction. This is when the thermal paper quotes are passed directly between the seller and the buyer, the suppliers bid anonymously and in most cases, the lowest price wins the business.

While there are some benefits offered by this style of purchasing thermal paper, it also has a few drawbacks. Some of the biggest issues include:

• The quality of the paper isn’t always considered, which means that lower quality paper may be sold by sellers during the reverse auction. Keep in mind, lower quality thermal paper results in printer damage, paper tears, scuffing and paper jams.

• Lower quality customer service is typically offered by sellers to compensate for the more affordable cost.

• A reverse auction may make logistic management of larger projects that involve thermal paper more difficult.

What to Consider when Buying Thermal Paper Products

It is important that you avoid thermal paper issues by considering the following factors. When you are informed and take a more active role in the purchase of your thermal paper, you can get the best of both worlds – affordable prices and quality thermal paper.

The Thermal Paper’s Quality

When purchasing thermal paper suppliers one of the first things you should consider is quality. If the quality isn’t up to par, then it won’t be able to perform at the high level you need it to. If you wind up purchasing cheap, low-quality thermal paper, it is only going to cost you more in the long run.

The Thermal Paper Type

While paper quality is important, it isn’t the only factor that will affect how your thermal paper performs. There are certain types of paper that are going to work better with your specific machine. Finding a supplier with a high level of expertise will make sure that you get the right thermal paper for your specific machine.

If you opt for a supplier found with the reverse auction method, then you are likely going to walk away with a “one size fits all” solution that won’t work very well.

Ability to Customize the Options

A quality thermal paper supplier is going to provide a large amount of professional expertise, which means that they will also be able to offer you a custom solution, when it is a better option.

As you can see, finding a quality supplier that offers high quality thermal paper is going to be the best option. While price is a factor to consider, it isn’t the most important, as quality should be the first and most important element to ensure that you get the thermal paper you need.