How Do I Become an Ella's Bubbles Dealer or Drop-Ship Partner?

You become an Ella's Bubbles dealer by completing the dealer application in the Become a Dealer section of ellasbubbles.com with your business details, and the partnership team follows up from there. Approved dealers receive dealer pricing and access to the dealer portal, and an approved dealer's orders can ship straight to the end customer's home, which is how drop shipping works with Ella. The three trade paths are laid out in Becoming an Ella Dealer, Joining the Installer Network, and Contractor Pricing, and this page puts the dealer and drop-ship pieces together in one place.

The Application, Step by Step

1. Go to the Become a Dealer section on the Ella's Bubbles website and open the dealer application form.
2. Enter your business name, your location, the territory you serve and whether you install the products you sell.
3. Submit the form. The partnership team reviews it and follows up with you.
4. Once approved, you gain access to dealer pricing and to the dealer portal for proposals and orders.

If the form will not submit, open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support with the same details or call (800) 480-6850, and the team will set you up manually. The same approach applies if you are really an installer or a contractor rather than a reseller. Independent installers who want customer referrals and contractors who buy tubs for their own clients' projects each have their own application, and each follows the same path of submitting company details and hearing back from the partnership team.

What Is Published About Requirements and Terms, and What Is Not

People often search for a list of requirements and wholesale terms. Here is what Ella actually publishes:

• The application details. Business name, location, territory served and whether you install are what the form asks for.
• The kinds of relationships. A dealer re-sells Ella products and keeps a monthly marketing budget, and purchasing a display tub may be required to qualify. A distributor purchases and stocks product.
• Territories. Dealers serve a territory, which is why the application asks for yours.
• Confidential pricing. Dealer pricing is confidential. The team does not disclose dealer cost to businesses that have not been approved, so the terms are not posted anywhere and are shared only after approval.
• The ordering channel. Trade orders go through the dealer channel, using the dealer portal and the order form, rather than any other route.

Anything beyond that list, such as the specifics of your pricing or what your territory includes, is a conversation to have with the partnership team as part of your application. It is better to ask than to rely on terms quoted secondhand.

How Drop Shipping Works Once You Are Approved

A dealer order does not have to pass through your warehouse. The order form has separate billing and shipping sections, so you enter your own billing details and your customer's details as the consignee. The full process is in Dealer Orders Shipped Straight to the Customer, and in short it runs like this:

1. Request the order form from the team at (800) 480-6850 or through ellasbubbles.com/support for the model, door side, drain side and options your customer selected.
2. Complete the billing section with your dealership's information and payment details.
3. Complete the shipping section with the customer's full name, delivery address and a phone number the carrier can call to schedule delivery.
4. Specify your preferred shipping delivery option on the form.
5. Return the form, wait for the confirmation invoice by email, and review every line before confirming. A receipt follows once payment is applied.

The point that matters most to a drop-ship partner is the paperwork. The only document that travels with the tub is a packing slip that lists the contents, and it shows no pricing, so your customer never sees your cost. Your confirmation invoice and receipt come to you separately by email. The bill of lading is the carrier's document, and when support emails one to a dealer, the request is to print three copies: one to attach to the order, one for the driver and one for your file. Check the consignee name, address and phone number carefully on the confirmation invoice, because the carrier uses those details to schedule delivery. Ella tubs are assembled and tested to order, so the team confirms current timing for each specific order rather than promising it in advance.

How the Tub Is Protected When You Never See the Freight

With a drop shipment, the first person to see the tub is your customer, so packaging matters more than usual. In the video on this page, a dealer walks through how Ella tubs leave the building. The tub is protected with very thick corrugated material in multi-piece boxes, and the skids are wrapped in a layer of plywood to guard against forklift and terminal damage. The dealer explains that a tub ships either in the corrugated five-piece box or in a half-inch plywood crate, and says this care was a big selling point when deciding to carry Ella's Bubbles walk-in tubs. Because your customer, not you, will meet the truck, tell them that the carrier will call the phone number on the order to arrange delivery.

What You Can Offer and the Support Behind It

The Ella's Bubbles Dealer Program gives approved dealers more than 28 walk-in tub models, including lay-down tubs for a longer soak and two-seat tubs, plus wheelchair roll-in shower pans in 30x60, 32x60 and 36x60 inch sizes, custom acrylic shower bases and a three-piece acrylic wall system measuring 40 by 60 by 98 inches high that ships as a single unit or in pallets for bulk orders. A summary of the range is in What Products Does Ella's Bubbles Offer?. Products ship from the Chicago warehouse to the dealer network.

On the selling side, Ella's Bubbles provides brochures, video calls from the Chicago showroom to help with sales conversations, in-person showroom visits or live video tours for you and your clients, a shower builder page that can be made available for your website, and pop-up banners with your dealer information for local trade shows, with an in-house design team to help create custom show materials.

If your business is outside the United States, Ella's Bubbles, founded in 2005 as a Chicago-based OEM manufacturer of acrylic walk-in tubs, has announced that its products are available for dropship around the globe. For international shipments, customs, tariffs, taxes and storage fees are the customer's responsibility, and tubs are built for North American 120 volt electrical service. Purchases in Canada are handled through Ella's partner, Walk-In Tubs Canada, as explained in Ordering From Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, or Internationally.

Watch: Superior Walk-In Tub Packaging for Damage Free Delivery | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Ella's Bubbles Reseller Program
• What Training and Installation Resources Does Ella Provide to New Dealers and Installers?
• Dealer Showroom and Trade Show Display Programs

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