Wholesale Distributor

Buying Ebay Wholesale Products

2006-08-31T17:51:00.000-07:00

Debunking the Myths of Wholesale Buying
written by SaleHoo Limited © SaleHoo Limited - All Rights Reserved
http://www.salehoo.com
Buying and selling wholesale goods is frequently viewed as a sort of ‘get rich quick’ scheme, where sellers can make enormous profits from very little investment or work. Three months after they started, people just don’t understand why things haven’t gone according to plan! There are four myths in particular that seem to lead would-be sellers astray time and time again:
Myth #1: Ebay is the best place to sell your wholesale goods.Now this is a particularly popular one. As the world’s biggest marketplace, eBay has made its fair share of millionaires. What you don’t hear about so commonly, is all the people who struggle to make a profit from eBay because 100 other people are selling the exact same products – for more competitive prices.
This is not a new situation. Supermarkets and large discount stores often run at a loss on some items in order to attract more customers. For small or new sellers, this is a deadly scenario.
The fact is, eBay is simply too competitive in some categories. Electronics, jewelry, designer clothing and computer games are all dangerous territory for the new seller. You won’t stand a chance against established sellers who’ve already got a strong following and highly competitive prices.
So what should you do? If your product falls into these or any other highly competitive category, I recommend shifting your focus to less competitive markets such as selling through classified newspapers in your local area.
While you won’t be reaching audiences of the size that online auctions sites such as eBay provide, buyers that use these alternative mediums to purchase goods are 9 out of 10 times more likely to pay significantly more for products. Not only will your margins can be much higher, you’ll also have far less competition to deal with.
It’s also a good idea to try using eBay international sites such as www.ebay.co.uk or www.ebay.com.au , as well as other auction sites with less competition such as www.trademe.co.nz and www.ubid.com . I find that these sites give consistently higher margins compared to eBay US, and the number of buyers is still very high.
One advantage of eBay US however, is that the huge amount of competition makes it a brilliant place to pick up cheap as dirt goods to sell elsewhere! It’s not uncommon to find best prices on eBay.
Myth #2: You can find all your wholesale sources online.The Internet provides easy access to a great many wholesalers these days, and it’s a quick way of making initial contacts. However, it certainly doesn’t provide access to all wholesalers. If you’re serious about finding the best wholesale prices for your products, then it pays to check out other sources as well.
Try looking through trade magazines such as Closeout News and Wholesale Merchandise, to name just a few. With less people vying for stock, there’s a good chance you’ll find some exceedingly good prices tucked away in the corners!
And another thing, in my experience, building up personal relationships with sellers is absolutely essential for getting the best priced goods. So whether you’ve found your supplier online or in a magazine, make a phone call, start up an email exchange, or have regular chats on MSN and get to know them.
The time you spend building a relationship will not only mean you’re in a stronger position to get better prices, but, because you know your supplier, you’ll be more confident that things will go smoothly when you finally do place your order.
Myth #3: Pricing research is unnecessary and takes up too much valuable time.Whenever I mention this one, people always chorus: ‘But of course we know research is important!’
Well why don’t you spend more time doing it then?
The amount of people that pass over pricing research constantly amazes me. Everyone always agrees that it is important to research prices, but when it comes down to it, they seem to think that they just ‘know’ how much items cost wholesale, and how much profit they are likely to make later.
But how can they just ‘know’? This is not information we’re given at birth! (Or perhaps I’m just unlucky!) Prices are constantly in flux, and carrying out some decent (and yes, time-consuming) research is essential to a successful business for two important reasons:
1. Firstly, it’s important to get a good idea of the average resale price for your item before you get started. For a number of popular items (DVDs, electronics and computer games in particular), the profit margins tend to be very low. Despite this, many sellers just see the popularity of the item and dive in head first. Overly-saturated markets just mean a hell of a lot of work for very little in return. Throw big, established sellers into the mix and it’s almost impossible to compete. But you won’t know this until you research it first! So visit auction sites, read classified ads and any material you can get your hands on until you have a good idea of exactly what you’re going to get.
2. The second reason for research is that your preconceptions of value may be completely wrong. People have a tendency to believe that ‘wholesale’ automatically means a fifth of the retail price. This is usually totally out of line! Some sellers have emailed me in shock when they realize that they actually have to spend a significant amount of money on their wholesale stock. ‘I always thought that purchasing a container of wholesale plasma TVs would only require a few hundred dollars investment, but it looks more like several thousand,’ wailed one seller recently, ‘Am I looking in the wrong place?’ Well, I’m sorry to shatter your hopes and dreams, but buying wholesale doesn’t always mean huge profits for very little investment. For some items, such a scenario is possible – but only if you do the research!
Myth #4: Niche items can be bought from individual wholesalers.Finding a niche item that no-one else is supplying at a competitive rate is every sellers dream. However, if you think you’re going to be able to find a wholesaler supplier for the item by doing a quick Internet search for ‘Left-handed Guitar necks’ then you couldn’t be more wrong.
Niche products are hard to find precisely because they aren’t wanted by absolutely everybody. Thus, finding a supplier will take quite a bit of work on your behalf as these items usually can’t be purchased from individual wholesalers. Instead, you’ll have to contact large wholesalers, or even contact the manufacturer directly.
It’ll be a lot harder than you think, but if you’ve done your market research effectively and you take the time to find a good supplier, then your hard work will pay off.

About the Author: SaleHoo is one of the fastest growing wholesale websites on the internet. It contactins a database of wholesale suppliers and manufacturers offering thousands of products to consumers at prices considerably less than retail. Located at http://www.salehoo.com, visitors are allowed to sign up for unlimited and lifetime access to the completely searchable database of wholesale products. Deeply discounted brand name items may be purchased directly from the source for the customer's personal use or for resale purposes. Items may be sold at online auctions, flea markets and retail stores. The database is regularly updated, ensuring that the latest retail products are always available for purchase.
Click here for more detailshttp://www.salehoo.com

Finding Wholesale Distributors

2006-08-19T17:51:00.000-07:00

Wholesale Information: How to Buy at Real Wholesale Prices

Copyright 2006 Jorge Olson
Learn how you can buy merchandise at real wholesale prices. You have to learn how wholesale prices can vary so you can know when you are buying at real wholesale prices and not what the supplier wants you to believe are wholesale prices.
Is finding products at wholesale prices difficult? The answer is no. It's not difficult. The difficult part is getting them for "real" wholesale prices.
What do I mean by "real wholesale prices"? Well, most suppliers will know in the first 20 seconds if you are a seasoned buyer or just starting out. They will price their merchandise accordingly.
If you are buying wholesale products to sell on eBay, to stores or out of your home it's all the same to them. They will have up to 10 different "wholesale prices" for the same items.
Even experienced buyers and large established business pay too much on their wholesale products. So don't expect to know more than them when it comes to buying at real bottom wholesale prices.
I got my first introduction into the wholesale product pricing in one of my first wholesale consulting gigs. I was going over the prices of their best selling products to see the profit margins when I was impressed with just how low the price of merchandise was. Or so it seemed to me at the time.
As part of my job I visited all the wholesale trade shows around the country comparing prices. This is when I noticed large discrepancies in pricing for the same exact items.
Walking from booth to booth I was looking for a list of about 500 items in just a few product categories including small electronics, sunglasses, house wares, tools and toys. We needed anywhere from 50 to 100 different products from each category.
After some walking and more walking I found the exact same products with the same brands in different booths. The products were the same but the prices were much different, more than double, as much as 150% more in one booth compared to another, in the same trade show, sometimes the booths no more than 100 feet apart.
This was a shock to me. I thought prices would only range by 3% or a few cents. I was very wrong. Later I found out that only a few people are really manufacturers or buy direct from manufacturers. Fewer suppliers are real importers of products. Most buy from wholesalers themselves and then resell the products to other wholesalers or retailers.
Later on, when I visited current suppliers of my customer I renegotiated prices and told him I knew the "other" suppliers' prices. After a few meetings I managed to lower prices by as much as 50%. Now, to give you a good perspective, my customer had been purchasing from these suppliers for 12 years and with these new prices his profit doubled. Needless to say my customer was very happy and very surprised.
Here are some tips and techniques you can apply immediately to lower your wholesale purchasing prices.
Get to the source: What does this mean? It means you should know who the original source is for the products you are buying, especially if those products are not name brand items. For example, if you are buying t-shirts you should know who makes the t-shirts and where, who imports them, who prints the design if they have one, what is the material and who is selling it and where. Don't just buy 1,000 t-shirts because they tell you they are "good sellers". Make sure you know where they come from.
Even if you are buying closeouts you have to make sure who else sells them and who is the source. I've bought and sold a lot of closeouts in my time and let me tell you, they are closeouts for a reason. Even popular closeout websites that claim they are selling closeouts or liquidations are expensive. I check out their prices often and they are usually wholesalers selling products for a good profit.
Knowledge will be the key to your products. If you know what you are buying and the real prices of production, transportation, warehousing you will be able to negotiate with your suppliers. If you don't, you will usually pay up to 150% more for the same items that others are buying in the same quantities.
Here are 5 questions that you can ask your wholesale supplier that will help you determine the right wholesale price:
1. What is the real retail price of the item and where does it sell for that price?
2. Who is selling it to those Retail Stores and how much profit does the store make and their supplier? This will give you an idea of how much the store pays and how much the store supplier pays.
3. What is the price per case, per pallet and per truckload? This will give you an idea of their best pricing.
4. Who is your best customer? How much do they buy per month? This will tell you who gets the best price for the product.
5. Do you manufacture or import this product? This will tell you if they are the original source for the product or, if, like you, they are a wholesaler or distributor.
About the Author
Jorge Olson is a consultant, speaker and entrepreneur and owns several Wholesale Distribution companies. Visit his consulting website at http://www.DistributionBiz.com His latest Website teaches you step by step how to get started and make money in Wholesale Distribution. You can find it at http://www.WholesaleTeacher.com