The minimum amount to spend to get a good deal?

ibanez13 · #1 10-17-2010

I am looking to start wholesaling. The big problem I found is that almost all wholesalers have really high prices. However, if you place a big enough order, the price is drastically reduced. Most have minimum orders of around $100, but that gets you nothing. The price you pay is about the same as the going rate on eBay. How much is typically needed for a wholesale order to get a pretty good price? Would a $5,000 order do it, or should I plan on $10,000 or higher?

rsot · #2 10-17-2010

I am no wholesaler at all but I did do some research into it. Seems like 3k+ is where the meat is at.

slapped · #3 10-17-2010

In all Honesty it Really depends on what you are trying to Buy,,,,For Example Lets say you are Talking about 52in LCD TV's,,an order of 10 units of the SAME Make/Model would be a Large Order and get you a Pretty good Discount,,,,You would still have to lay out about $10,000 or more,,,,now lets say you are talking about 3ft HDMI Cables,,,an Order of 500 Pieces is Considered a Lot and would also get you a Big Discount,,,500 3Ft HDMI Cables can go for LESS than $3,000,,,,,

how about 10,000 Iphone screen protectors,,,,that too is a BIG Order,,,,they can be purchased for LESS than $1000,,,,,,

So you see it all depends on the Product you want to Buy that determines how many Peices is considered a BIG order that deseveres the Biggest discount,,,the Dollar amount has VERY Little to do with it,,,,,,It's ALL About Volume and TURNOVER Rate

ibanez13 · #4 10-17-2010

I was thinking something in between expensive LCD TVs but not as lame as iPhone screen protectors. I will shoot for about $3,000 to $5,000 saved up ready to place an order and then check around to see what I can get.

oomalikoo · #5 10-17-2010

the hdmi cables might be good. the cables at the store are always overpriced.

jeffweico · #6 10-17-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by oomalikoo

the hdmi cables might be good. the cables at the store are always overpriced.

Yes. And the thing about HDMI is the signal is DIGITAL. You either get the signal, or you don't. If a cable is defective, you MIGHT still get a picture with those little pixellated boxes. But if the cable is OK, they all work the same.

I know that Monster Cables, in particular, takes issue with this and insists that you need to spend $100 on a good HDMI cable, but that is just complete baloney!

I always buy my HDMI cables online. What costs $7 online is $39 at Radio Shack, or $69 at Best Buy if you buy the cable when you buy the big screen TV. Margins on those TV's is RAZOR THIN due to competition, but if they can sell you the HDMI cable at $69, that puts another $60 in their pockets. And then there is, of course, the extended warranty. Not to mention, the $100 TV stand is now the $399 TV stand since they know that you will be placing a more expensive TV on it.

But more to the point of this discussion. YES, this is a good start. Sell a product online that costs more locally. This is the kind of thing that you can price competitively and still make money. Trying to sell big screen TV's is not for the small guy. Unless, of course, you have some special relationship with a supplier - but those are extremely rare.

ibanez13 · #7 10-17-2010

A big issue for me would be space. I don't really have the room to hold 10 big screen TVs.

slapped · #8 10-17-2010

Well, I hope at Least I was able to shed some light into what you are trying to Achieve,,It seem to Me that you are in Search of a Product,,,All I will Say to you about that is NEVER Consider a Possible Product "LAME",,,

You should be getting involved in this to Someday say : "My Company did $600,000 in Sales this Month" (With your Profit Being $15,000),,,,,,,,,,,

As Opposed to saying: "My Company sells Sony Playstation 3, and Sharp 52in Quattrons" ( With your Profit being $100),,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

At the End of the Day it is all about MONEY EARNED,, NOT The Glamour of the Products that you sell,,,,,,,,,,,,

Take My word for it it is MUCH Easier Earning $1,000 selling Screen Protectors than it is Selling Ipods,,,,,

jeffweico · #9 10-18-2010

Slapped is 100% correct.

TeraPeak and Vendio are both good places to do research. They have eBay's data organized and stored, so you can type in an item and see how many sold over the last 3 months, the average sales price and Vendio even anlyzes the best times for you to start your auctions (or Buy It Now Listings) and what features (if any) to use.

Never get emotionally involved with your merchandise. I don't know what the percentage of people who fail is who break that rule, but it must be very high. Everyone thinks they can sell what they personally like, but those markets are usually saturated since a lot of other people like the same things.

What you end up selling may not be very sexy, but when you make $5,000 selling it, it gets a whole lot sexier, doesn't it?

nobody999 · #10 10-18-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibanez13

A big issue for me would be space. I don't really have the room to hold 10 big screen TVs.

get a local storage....if i remember correctly a 10X10 is about $120 a month

ibanez13 · #11 10-18-2010

I bought screen protectors on for my Droid on eBay. They were 6 cents shipped. That's why I consider them lame. At that price, I would have to do local pickup only. I don't really like the idea of selling electronics. I sold a few, and then you have to worry about whether or not the buyer knows what they are doing. Otherwise, you get returns for "broken" items that turns out are perfectly fine. Plus, electronics come out with a real high price tag, and then a month later a better version comes you. If something happens and you can't sell for a while, the value drops out and then you are just hoping to break even.

jeffweico · #12 10-18-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibanez13

I bought screen protectors on for my Droid on eBay. They were 6 cents shipped. That's why I consider them lame. At that price, I would have to do local pickup only. I don't really like the idea of selling electronics. I sold a few, and then you have to worry about whether or not the buyer knows what they are doing. Otherwise, you get returns for "broken" items that turns out are perfectly fine. Plus, electronics come out with a real high price tag, and then a month later a better version comes you. If something happens and you can't sell for a while, the value drops out and then you are just hoping to break even.

Electronics are not really good for small retailers. Highland, Silo, Circuit City and others have all failed in this business. And they had lots of resources and financial backing. They got better pricing than you could ever hope to get. Yet they all ended up in Chapter 11....

Having said that, if you could find a NICHE product that you can get cheap and you can actually SELL it (8 track tape players probably won't work too well) you can make some money.

Back in the 1990's, I found a closeout deal on a piece of software from IBM called "Voice Pilot" an early voice recognition package. For what they were, they worked OK - of course it cannot compare to what we have now.

Bought 10 of them them as a closeout for $4 each. Came up with the auction title "YOU TALK, IT TYPES!". Listed it as a category featured auction starting at $1. Sold all 10 above $25 each. Went back to my source and bought them out, almost 2,000 units. It took me 2 months to sell all of them, but I got over $20 for each one.

Of course, then I had some problems. Not with CUSTOMERS, but COMPETITORS. They saw that I was successful and wanted that $$$. One put up a listing for the ones he bought and stated in his ad that people should avoid buying from me because I was a scam artist who would take their money and not deliver anything. Another one emailed all of my winning bidders (email addresses were publicly available on eBay back then) stating this was HIS auction and that if they received a winning bid notice from me, that it was a scam, and that they should report me to eBay - and send their money to HIM, of course. And then there were those people who would email my bidders one by one offering to sell them the product cheaper.

None of these things amounted to much, but it WAS stressful. Then there was one guy in particular that REALLY irked me. He emailed Safe Harbor and told them that HE came up with the title "You Talk, It Types" and that I stole it from him. Even though he didn't have a SINGLE AUCTION for this software!

Most of these things could not happen now, since email addresses are hidden. And they no longer have Dutch Auctions or Home Page Featured Auctions. But if you find a niche product and you are successful, be prepared to deal with this kind of stuff. Monkey See Monkey Do.

pla123 · #13 10-19-2010

That might work for wholesalers , but I dont see a big margin for people selling screen protectors on ebay ,

the market is too competitive,,,only the big guys make money with those
257,693 results found for screen protector
136,246 results found for playstation 3
115,449 results found for xbox 360

holymoly · #14 12-04-2010

Yes, you should be looking at QUANTITY not PRICE. I would be hitting items in the 30-50 range just to see how everything sells FIRST!

I know you've done the research.

I know it's a NICHE MARKET.

I know you make double sure.

Do you have the products, have you sold them before? Probably not...so just test the waters with a smaller order, see what you can handle. Don't bite off more than you can chew.