At Design Insider, we put in a good faith effort to provide you a rolodex of vendors that we truly love and personally work with. But ultimately, these vendors operate their own businesses independently of ours and we cannot control or guarantee that your experiences with them will meet your expectations. What we can do is help educate you so that you will be prepared to reach out to them. Some suggestions we can give you for optimizing your experiences with Design Insider vendors include:

Know where you fit in.

We have built this platform for designers of all levels, including the everyday designer. For example.

• The person who loves interiors and wants to build or remodel his or her own home or apartment.

• The person who gets compliments on his or her style and wants to try interiors as a side hustle.

• The person who dreams of having a small business designing interiors for others.

• The design student who wants to start producing curated, professional quality classwork from day one.

• The design student graduate who is looking for mentorship and business support when taking on real clients.

• The budding designer who is looking to grow his or her small business or project size.

• The seasoned designer who wants to expand his or her vendor portfolio and design within a community.

But it’s important to know where you fit in so that you know how to shop.

Many vendors do require business qualifications in order to establish trade accounts with you. A portion of our vendors only transact B2B (business to business), which often means you cannot see inventory or make a purchase until your account is set up and approved. On the other hand, the majority of our vendors transact both B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer). This means that even without owning a business or setting up a trade account, you can still shop their inventory at retail prices.

If you are joining Design Insider primarily to purchase with trade discounts, then either having or incorporating a design-oriented business will be an essential first step for you.

If you do not have a business, nor do you want one, we recommend filtering by our “everyday designer” tag to find those vendors who are offering great products through retail websites. Even if you don’t have a trade account set up, you can often still find seasonal sales through these vendors, offering periodic opportunities for better pricing.

Make sure that you meet a vendor’s requirements for a Trade Account before applying.

We have documented the process of setting up an account in detail on each vendor card. This allows you to be prepared with the information a vendor will request from you and shortcut the process of reaching out to them. The top two things that vendors request are your business contact information (business name, contact person, address, phone number, email, etc.) and your business Tax ID number. If you want to be able to purchase without paying taxes, then you will also need to present them with a resale certificate.

Be patient and build your portfolio over time.

Depending on your business incorporation status, your design expertise, and the amount of free time you have to dedicate to this process, you may be able to start shopping from some vendors more quickly than others. Remember that having some relationships and some trade accounts are better than having none, so try signing up where you are eligible. Over time, you will build a solid portfolio of your own favorite resources that can act as your go-to arsenal for designing.

Some other things that will help you build positive relationships with the right vendors are:

• Reading a vendor’s terms of service before you purchase

• Asking nicely if you have questions or would like to request an exception to a policy

• Checking lead times and shipping policies before you order

• Reading the comments section of a vendor card as a part of the process of researching vendors

• Using the comments section of a vendor card to share your vendor experiences with others

• Sharing photos or feedback of vendors products installed in finished spaces

Use our filters.

We have tagged vendor cards so that you can filter by product category, style, and price range.

PRICE RANGE SCALE

Furniture/Outdoor:

• $$ = clearance items - $3,000 price point

• $$$ = $3,000+ price point available

• $$$$ = $5,000+ price point available

• $$$$$ = $8,000+ price point available

Hardware:

• $$ = up to $200 price point

• $$$ = Up to $500 price point

• $$$$ = up to $1,000 price point

• $$$$$ = above $1,000 price point

Lighting/Accessories:

• $$ = $0-$500 price point available

• $$$ = $500 - $1,000 price point available

• $$$$ = $1,000 - $2,000 price point available

• $$$$$ = $2,000+ price point available

Plumbing Fixtures:

• $$ = up to $3,000 price point

• $$$ = up to $5,000 price point

• $$$$ = above $5,000 price point

Tile:

• $$ = up to $20 per square foot

• $$$ = up to $20 per square foot

• $$$$ = up to $50 per square foot

• $$$$$ = $50+ per square foot

Wood Flooring:

• Have to inquire for pricing

We have also created a tag called “everyday designer” that will be useful to anyone with a personal project. There are well over 100 vendors who fit the everyday designer criteria. When labeling a vendor with an everyday designer tag, we needed to be able to answer “yes” to the following question:

“If a person wanted a staple piece for their home, could he or she come to this vendor website and order an item for themselves in under 10 minutes with no business credentials?”

We find and share sources for beautiful design items in order to make it easier for designers of all levels and interests to bring their own spin into their projects – no matter how big or how small. This means we can help if you are designing a room or designing an entire house.

If you are signing up for Design Insider ONLY to purchase using trade discounts, then you will first need to establish a design business in order to gain access to those trade discount prices from our vendors.

If you are happy to shop vendors at retail prices without needing to set up a trade account, we have created a filter titled “everyday designer” that will be useful to anyone with a personal project. There are well over 100 vendors who fit the everyday designer criteria. When labeling a vendor with an everyday designer tag, we needed to be able to answer “yes” to the following question:

“If a person wanted a staple piece for their home, could he or she come to this vendor website and order an item for themselves in under 10 minutes with no business credentials?”