Question:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Now, I know there is no advantage to someone on here explaining how to access wholesale prices, but you never know. Some knowledgeable person might be planning suicide tomorrow and want to share before they do. My progress, so far: I contacted a manufacturer. I was interested in selling their widgets. They had $10,000 as their minimum order. So, since I am not that rich, and the rep understood this, they suggested several wholesale distributors that sell their line. I checked out one of the wholesalers and found that the wholesaler is very picky about their customers. They needed a certificate for my resale license number. They also wanted a signed 8 page contract FAXed to them. I went through all their push-ups and got an account. I logged into their secure website. I found they are very large with about four distribution warehouses around the country. So far, so good. Now I checked their prices. What utter bullshit. This apparently genuine wholesaler charges a few percent *above* the retail prices at Walmart and Amazon.com. Also, they had no discounts for quantity purchases. I emailed their West Coast sales rep about this. I got a BS answer. He said that not all of their prices were like this. I then did a systematic search through about 30 items from various manufactures on their site. I found the same results. Every price was higher than retail. Also, the sales rep advised me that even though I had an account, he could not sell me some of the lines at all without certification by the manufacturer, which is a separate process. Help! What do I do? All I can think is to get an SBA loan and go direct from a manufacturer.
I had the same experience here in Australia. Some computer retailers www.msy.com.au sell parts for less than I can get from the importer www.cassa.com.au So – you cant easily compete with mass merchansiers, or other ebayers selling the same thing – therefor sell unique items Alternatives – sell what others dont eg buy from local small manufacturers – import jewelery – or learn how to manufacture jewelry – it has a VERY high markup – lots of stuff to import on www.alibaba.com For ebay I "manufacture" unique computer systems eg systems without monitors, computer games systems with unique cases, etc. Profit margin is far better than selling computer parts. gtoomey www.gregorytoomey.com
Response:
All I can think is to get an SBA loan and go direct from a manufacturer.
Bypass the manufacturers and wholesale distributors and go directly to eBay sellers. Their prices will be much lower than you could get from the manufacturers and wholesale distributors. Then you have to figure out how to con buyers into paying more than you did. That usually involves adding some value that makes the item worth more. My own successes at re-selling come from five avenues: 1. Buy manufacturer and wholesaler close-outs at pennies on the dollar. Instead of looking for a product that sells for $20 and trying to buy it at a wholesale cost of, say, $8.00, find a closeout that sold for $20 which you can now buy for $1.00 or less. Then figure out a new use for it or a new market, because there is probably a very good *reason* why the item is being closed out and why it didn’t sell well at $20. 2. See if the wholesaler can import something especially for you. One of my best selling widgets wholesales for $4.00. My source imports them for me without any packaging (which I was discarding anyway) and sells them to me for $1.30. They import them from overseas in 1000-unit lots and they come by slowest carrier to keep the costs low. I buy and pay for 100-200 a month as I need for them, so I don’t have to spring for 1000 at a time. 3. Add value. Competitors were undercutting my price. It’s suicide to try and match the prices of those who place no value on their time. Instead, I doubled my price and bundled a related item that costs me almost nothing, but which makes the original widget more useful. For another product, I include an instructional booklet I print up myself, and which adds enough value to let me double my price. 4. Sell them up Part 1. My $1.30 widget is sold by nobody else on eBay, partly because a super-cheapie widget that does about 60 percent of what mine does can be purchased wholesale for about 10 cents. However, the cheapie doesn’t work for all applications. Mine does. My auctions appeal to those who would rather pay $15-$25 for a deluxe widget than $5.00 for the cheapie. In fact, I sell a lot to buyers who complain that the $5.00 widget doesn’t even work. My moneyback guarantee gives them the confidence to try out mine, even though they’ve been burned once before. 5. Sell them up Part 2. Most of my items are available in several packages, and there are links in my auctions to the upgraded packages. Somebody may view my $9.98/$10.98 BIN auction and decide they want the $14.98-$37.98 version instead. Though the $9.98 version is not a loss leader, it tends to boost sales of the other items. Indeed, I was caught unprepared this month when I started selling two or three of my $37.98 versions a day when I’d only been selling one a week before. I’m not sure why the top-end item is selling so well now, but I’m going with the flow until I figure it out. There’s more of this crappy advice in my book. See the link below. Dave Everything I know, and then some: http://www.auctionmyths.com
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – All I can think is to get an SBA loan and go direct from a manufacturer. Bypass the manufacturers and wholesale distributors and go directly to eBay sellers. Their prices will be much lower than you could get from the manufacturers and wholesale distributors. Then you have to figure out how to con buyers into paying more than you did.
. As it’s been said here by others, the trick is to buy from someone who doesn’t know the value of what they’re selling and sell to someone who doesn’t know the value of what they’re buying.
Response:
As it’s been said here by others, the trick is to buy from someone who doesn’t know the value of what they’re selling and sell to someone who doesn’t know the value of what they’re buying.
This is also the basis of the used car industry. Everything I know, and then some: http://www.auctionmyths.com
Response:
Two things - the old saying it takes money to make money – I was in very small retail for over 25 years - there were several items I could compete with WalMart on – I paid more, of course, but my over head was pretty small – WalMart was tough I used to love to compete with the mid priced department stores ie Dillards, Macys, Foleys etc etc Back to point 1 - you need sufficient cash to buy in decent quantities - buying price is just as important as selling price OK Don get with it
Response:
Back to point 1 - you need sufficient cash to buy in decent quantities - buying price is just as important as selling price
My mentor in the business always said "Make your money when you buy it, not when you sell it.". How true. How true.
Response:
Back to point 1 - you need sufficient cash to buy in decent quantities - buying price is just as important as selling price My mentor in the business always said "Make your money when you buy it, not when you sell it.". How true. How true.
If more than FIVE PERCENT of your buy offers are accepted, you are paying waaaay too much. http://www.tinaja.com/glib/ebaysell.pdf — Many thanks, Don Lancaster Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552 Please visit my GURU’s LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Now, I know there is no advantage to someone on here explaining how to access wholesale prices, but you never know. Some knowledgeable person might be planning suicide tomorrow and want to share before they do. My progress, so far: I contacted a manufacturer. I was interested in selling their widgets. They had $10,000 as their minimum order. So, since I am not that rich, and the rep understood this, they suggested several wholesale distributors that sell their line. I checked out one of the wholesalers and found that the wholesaler is very picky about their customers. They needed a certificate for my resale license number. They also wanted a signed 8 page contract FAXed to them. I went through all their push-ups and got an account. I logged into their secure website. I found they are very large with about four distribution warehouses around the country. So far, so good. Now I checked their prices. What utter bullshit. This apparently genuine wholesaler charges a few percent *above* the retail prices at Walmart and Amazon.com. Also, they had no discounts for quantity purchases. I emailed their West Coast sales rep about this. I got a BS answer. He said that not all of their prices were like this. I then did a systematic search through about 30 items from various manufactures on their site. I found the same results. Every price was higher than retail. Also, the sales rep advised me that even though I had an account, he could not sell me some of the lines at all without certification by the manufacturer, which is a separate process. Help! What do I do? All I can think is to get an SBA loan and go direct from a manufacturer.
Does not sound good at all. You need an expert in this. Don will be along shortly to help you out.
Response:
Now, I know there is no advantage to someone on here explaining how to access wholesale prices, but you never know. Some knowledgeable person might be planning suicide tomorrow and want to share before they do. My progress, so far: I contacted a manufacturer. I was interested in selling their widgets. They had $10,000 as their minimum order. So, since I am not that rich, and the rep understood this, they suggested several wholesale distributors that checked their prices. What utter bullshit. This apparently genuine wholesaler charges a few percent *above* the retail prices at Walmart and Amazon.com.
Welcome to the real world. That’s what Walmart’s competition has been complaining about for years. Through their volume purchasing, Walmart has been able to work out pricing well below typical wholesale for many, many years. Others do also do it, but typically not as effectively as Walmart has. Hint – even the $10k level from the manufacturer is probably peanuts vs. a Walmart sale. Another hint – selling retail and /or wholesale on eBay is rarely (if ever) profitable.
Response:
Does not sound good at all. You need an expert in this. Don will be along shortly to help you out.
Yes, Don is likely to come along shortly but I doubt he’ll be of any help. Ed
Response:
What do I do?
Learn the first lesson of business, which is that no one cares whether you’re in it. Wal-Mart undersells that distributor because they buy a million, not $10,000. All I can think is to get an SBA loan and go direct from a manufacturer.
Fine, if you ant to be a distributor. Keep in mind what Wal-Mart sells for. — Outgoing mail is certified bollocks
Response:
All I can think is to get an SBA loan and go direct from a manufacturer.
You will almost certainly still be paying more than the item sells for on eBay. —-== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com – Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==—- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups —-= East and West-Coast Server Farms – Total Privacy via Encryption =—-
Response:
Now, I know there is no advantage to someone on here explaining how to access wholesale prices, but you never know. Some knowledgeable person might be planning suicide tomorrow and want to share before they do. My progress, so far: I contacted a manufacturer. I was interested in selling their widgets. They had $10,000 as their minimum order. So, since I am not that rich, and the rep understood this, they suggested several wholesale distributors that sell their line. I checked out one of the wholesalers and found that the wholesaler is very picky about their customers. They needed a certificate for my resale license number. They also wanted a signed 8 page contract FAXed to them. I went through all their push-ups and got an account. I logged into their secure website. I found they are very large with about four distribution warehouses around the country. So far, so good. Now I checked their prices. What utter bullshit. This apparently genuine wholesaler charges a few percent *above* the retail prices at Walmart and Amazon.com. Also, they had no discounts for quantity purchases. I emailed their West Coast sales rep about this. I got a BS answer. He said that not all of their prices were like this. I then did a systematic search through about 30 items from various manufactures on their site. I found the same results. Every price was higher than retail. Also, the sales rep advised me that even though I had an account, he could not sell me some of the lines at all without certification by the manufacturer, which is a separate process. Help! What do I do? All I can think is to get an SBA loan and go direct from a manufacturer.
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