Wholesaling consists of the sale of goods/merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services.

Leading Wholesale Business articles and buying wholesale products to help you on your way to success.

By Richard Grady, Sat Dec 10th

Copyright 2005 Richard Grady

As most of you know, I have worked with wholesalers both on andoffline for many years and a number of my websites are basedaround helping people find and trade with suppliers.

I receive a fairly constant stream of emails from customers andpotential customers asking various questions about buying fromwholesalers and this has been the case for the past few years.These questions always increase in volume around this time ofthe year as people try and grasp a bit of buying madness thatsurrounds Christmas. In view of this, I would like to throw afew do's and don'ts out there which will benefit anyone new totrading.....

1. One of the most common 'gripes' I get from people is thatthey can't find low prices for popular products online. It neverceases to amaze me how little effort some people want to putinto making money....

The fact is that it is highly unlikely that you will find thebest prices for the majority of products online - this isespecially the case in the UK as many of the larger wholesalersdon't even have websites. More often than not, an onlinewholesaler is merely someone that has gone to an offlinewholesaler and purchased a load of stock to mark up and offer toonline buyers. If the wholesaler you are buying from onlinedoesn't have a trade warehouse or premises that you can visitand purchase from, there is every possibility that they are nota wholesaler at all but simply a middleman.

Cut out the middleman and pick up the phone or better still,visit prospective suppliers and build a relationship with them.Buying stock online may be convenient but in mostcases you won't be getting the best deal and you may also bemissing out on additional stock that isn't advertised online.Note that this isn't so much the case in the US where many bigwholesalers do have excellent online 'warehouses' - we are yetto catch up in the UK :-(

2. eBay is an excellent venue for buyers and sellers BUT it isalso the biggest marketplace in the World. This means that ifyou want to sell there, you will be in competition with some ofthe largest traders in the World. Don't be surprised if you canbuy products cheaper on eBay than you can from your localwholesaler. Chances are that the seller has negotiated a massivediscount for buying in huge bulk or they may even be importingthe products themselves (or using their buying power to sourcedirect from the manufacturer). Unless you

are in the position ofbeing able to buy in similar quantities, you simply won't beable to compete on a like for like basis with many popularproduct lines.

3. People often email me asking where they can find a wholesalerfor a really specific, niche item (for example horse-ridingsaddles). With something so specific, it is highly unlikely thatyou will find an individual wholesaler that deals solely in thatproduct. Often time it will be necessary to make your wholesalepurchases direct from the manufacturer. Therefore, if you arehaving trouble locating a supplier for a particular item, don'tbe afraid to pick up the telephone to the manufacturer andsimply ask them who their main distributors are.

4. I've said it so many times before but I still get emailsabout this one - avoid products such as DVDs, computer games,electrical goods etc like the plague. The profit margin is tinyand you won't be able to compete with the bigger sellers. Idon't know how much clearer I can make it - unless you want towork for peanuts, just steer clear of these products. The onlyexception is if you can add value in some way and differentiateyourself from the other larger sellers.

5. Remember too that if you are struggling to find a product ata particular price, there is every possibility that what you arelooking for just doesn't exist. I have lost count of the numberof times people have emailed me asking where they can buy'product A for £x each' and when I have asked them why theythink they should be able to buy it at that price, they replythat 'it sounds about the right sort of price for a wholesalepurchase'!! Seriously - they have just made up the figure intheir head that they 'think' they should be able to buy at!!Usually in these situations, the figure is wayyyy off.....

6. As with everything, buying and selling products takes a bitof effort (in fact, it can often take a lot of effort) but thosewilling to put the work in are the ones that benefit financially.

 Copyright © 2004 Wholesale Directories | Wholesale Products Simplewaytoearn.com - All rights reserved