Forum

Some Tips On buying Wholesale !
 

Ok , let me get my experince out - will probaly be in a couple parts , This is only my experience about buying wholesaling and nothing more .
I worked in Finance and the World of Real Estate for 14 years sold my business with a partner in 2006 was looking for something to get into and always wanted to do ebay full time and me and my wife had a baby on the way - it was a hobby before as i would by lots- collections-small bulk of items break them down keep what i wanted and sell the rest for a profit did this with cds- dvds- memorbillia -etc .
So i embarked on trying to buy wholesale , had hoped like many others that i would be able to buy wholesale and sell just like the store at the mall - hey i had some money to work with .I quicky found out without the BRICK AND MORTAR rule that most companys have ie a storefront , you aint buying nothing and they dont like internet sellers unless they have a store and are actively selling the same products in the storefront - you also have boundrys meaning some items can only be sold within so many miles of each other by each retailer. This alone should explain why you will always have problems with Vero if you are living on the darkside - so to speak ..and i do know what Designer items , nfl jerseys and dvds cost and you would be surprised at how much these items cost retailers they are not cheap and are a dead giveaway to Vero when you are selling a item for $30-50 that cost a retailer $80 -100 .
So i gave up on all that and decided well what about these wholesale list and i gave them a try and another try and than another try . till i was out quite a bit of money and hadnt bought anything ,but one these wholesale sites was legit just didnt have very good products to me and everybody was already selling the same stuff on ebay so supply and demand was about 10-1 as far as selling history on ebay .. but they did have a Forum on the whoelsale website and i read other peoples experiences and till one day it hit me , The best place to buy wholesale may be the very place that i first started buying which was Ebay ...and for me now it is 100% of what i sell i get from ebay or it was a contact i made through ebay and you would be surprised many of the top sellers are willing to work with you and sell to you by marking up a small bit and sometimes selling remaining stock at a loss as it frees up money for new items they have coming in ....
ok i will add more tomorrow with some tips and examples but just to tell you it is hard work(which will scare many ) as everybody want that MAGIC LIST - sorry its just not that easy - catch tomorrow.

Anything honest and worthwhile requires some work...Good post!

Nice,nice. It is the basis of success on ebay. Hard work.
BTW, do you have the pleasure of knowing ebayhateluv? This is just how ebhl 'does' ebay.:cheer::cheer:

Excellent post, I myself purchase from Alibaba, but you have to be careful.

Part 2)

The biggest thing i did was i began to study and research the people and the items selling on ebay in a wholesale manner ,I tracked the items went through completed listings day after day and was very Nosey and asked alot of questions - i would lie and say i had some similar items and ask sellers were they interested in buying -- This is where you will get your EDUCATION !!- people will tell you what is worth money by asking you if you have certain items-I learned to list BAIT auctions Example list a Bulk Lot of old jeans with vague photo list a few names in the description -- Guess what ?people would ask about particular pairs of old Designer jeans and other old designer jeans -i would than look though ebay and see that these old jeans were fetching $100- $300 a pair- i tracked one seller who was buying old Vintage jeans and only paying $3-$20 a pair and than flipping them for $100-$300 a pair......The other thing is i have had people tell me This does not work or they have tried it and it didnt work ..when i ask well how much did they make when they tried - i am normally told well i never did buy anything ..To that i say if you cannot find something in the millions of items listed on ebay to make a profit off of - Than you have not tried hard enough !! The problems is everyone wants it easy ... I am not going to tell you what i sell of course but i am going to give some more examples of people i spied on for months and even a couple friends that buy off ebay and than sell the items on Amazon ..catch you later

nice story!!!

I enjoyed the story.

Very Interesting!!

Part 3


I also found 2 examples of selling dvds .Ran into a old friend last year hadnt talked to in years asked what he did and we were both surprised as we both were selling online
he deals in strictly ''out of print '' Dvds and vhs ...I dont know if he has a guide he uses or he just studied his items like i did .. but he buys off of ebay and also hits local flea markets - pawn shops - yard sales etc ..He sells heavy on AMAZON and so-so on ebay ...his profit is 3k-6k a month as is mark up is high ,most items he has $1-5 in as most people dont understand the out of print items and sell like cheap,, like The Legend Of Billie Jean vhs usually fetches $40-70 delending on condition he picks them up for next to nothing he sells about 100 items a month on ebay and around 200 on amazon on average .

Another person actually bought a small collection of 50 dvds from me paid about $100 shipped ,, i was curious so i followed her activity for a couple of months .she was high volume but low profit per item ...her mark up was about $2-4 a dvd but she was selling 100-150 a day just strictly buying lots off of ebay usually keeping the cost under $2 a dvd ..do the math and she is making a average of $200-400 a day -sure its alot of work but pretty good money.

These examples may not seem attractive or may seem like alot of work but remember these people dont have to do deal ' With that Pit in the Stomach ' Stress over Vero and if they do it would probaly be a isolated incident as both their accounts are over 9 years old and one has 75,000 feedback the other has 12,000 on ebay and 5,000 on amazon .

I will keep adding more post from my 6 months or so of research if you are enjoying and maybe something will help somebody. Thanks

TBH, your posts are very encouraging and a great example of 'how to be a ebay star' LOL. :cheer::cheer:

thanks good info here

Very inspiring , Gibsonton!:yar:

i too want to thank you for posting -- interesting stuff

Ill add some more next week ..i truly trust in the theory 'pass it down " .

Wow these are great, I would love for most of my stuff to be legit, I hate getting suspended. Thanks!

Thanks fantastic read :D

great read...keep it up!

I just shed a tear. *tear drop*
Great stuff keep it coming.. u made me think of some good things.. got my mind up and running great inspiration

Thank you for sharing your experience. Love it!!

gibsonton

You still around bud?

Your post are incredibly encouraging - and pleasant to read.. Thank you for your posts.. There is hope after all =)

gibsonton - Activity: 0%...nuff said.

Was hoping to "wish him" back to the thread.. Good point RSOT.. Im still learning to be observant, on the forum and off. lol

This is Gibsonton still going strong ...Full time buying and selling on Ebay ..last year was a record year as since 2006 i have had more sales each year ..sorry dont come on here as much as last year i finally broke 10,000 items sold for the year,,,this year will probably be down alot as havent found as many buyouts the last 6 months ....also i have only gotten 2 veros in the last 4 years -so there is not alot i can share on that subject .

lol he's alive

Hi , i have a ton of emails asking for advice that i have not answered , the best thing to do is just start searching and look for sellers having success type in things like 'jeans vintage' than but a starting price of $100 so you can try and research the more valuable items
When i started 6 years ago i didnt know the difference between a $1 dvd and a $100 out of print dvd ,,a $3 pair of old Levis and a $300 pair of Vintage red thread Levis ,,old sports apparel and Vintage sports apparel ..
If you have ever watched the Tv Show Pawn Stars , i have sold many items to one of the guys on there and I have supplied Vinatge clothing for movies and Music Videos .
Another thing is try and find something you have a interest in and remember you are trying to supplement your income to begin with not get rich in a short time and sales are up and down. i now use Craigslist list alot and The Goodwill and local swap shops as well . ....Good Luck !!

I hit every goodwill, thrift store, pawn shop I can and always, always find something.

I found a kids like new Harley leather jacket for 3.99 at a local goodwill this week.

Research tells me it will sell around 75.00-85.00 or more.

Last week I found a Monkees and a Happy Days lunch box for a couple dollars.

It is out there, you just have to spend time looking.

* Not selling vero I have to bang my head against the wall as I found a person locally who is selling Michael Jordon in the box shoes for 30.00. I believe that is cheaper then DH gate and with no shipping would be a great deal. I probably should take one of my stealths and list it as used but always worry about the vero crap. I know they are good sellers and know this is one heck of a deal.

Many here have learned and expanded and what is so great is those who have hung around here for a long period of time and continue to share info, help others etc. Kudos to all of you ( and to Gibby ) for sharing your info and thoughts.

Excellent work Sandy_D - you have any of those lunch boxes left to sell me?

haha... I have done the lunch box thing from goodwill. Sold at nice price!

Sell me some...stat ha

What... Dont they have lunch boxes in Canada?

Or do you all just carry sacks?



:bounce:

:bounce:

just kidding--


Rsot, do you have thrift stores around you?

Excellent post marks 10/10

Interesting & insightful post from the OP & contributors.
:juggle:

love this post. should sticky it. i keep wanting to do the thrift store rounds but never seem to have the time

Speaking of thrift stores.

Did my rounds today and found some great stuff.

One large thrift store had a rack of Nascar racing jackets, all new donations and all 9.99. Officially licensed jackets I researched and sell for anywhere from 45.00 to 100.00 depending on who is on it and what sponsor.

Also found two 1980s NFL starter jackets.

A London Fog brand new mens trench coat for 14.99

3 Marc Ekco hoodies new with tags for 3.99 each.

And a box of silver flatware. Close to four pounds of it.
Last I checked silver was 37.00 or so and ounce. Trusty magnet came in handy here. :thumb:

3 1970's Cincinnati Reds pennants in a matted large frame. With autographs of Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Pete Rose, Cesar Geromino and George Foster.

Nice thrift store day to say the least.

For those who cannot find products, they are out there if you are willing to look.

i always wonder why people donate this stuff instead of trying to flip it first. some of the stuff i see on craigslist too is just ridiculous. ebay is so easy and has a much larger audience than craigslist in a city of 75k. (my location). oh well, more money for me

I know many people who cannot deal with ebay or CL. They would rather donate it and write it off on their taxes or feel good then deal with the ebay customers who want something for nothing.

Goodwill gets millions of dollars in items donated each and every day across America.

Salvation Army gets a ton also.

Around me we have tons of smaller local thrift shops that get most of their items from church donations.

I hit them all. :D


Then the other issue is some people are just lazy and do not want to put out the effort to take pictures, write ups, sizes etc. That is why I see so many ebay I will list it for you shops around me.

Nice find Sandy_D - yeah there are thrift stores but I have not taken time to find them or hit them up.

there are also liquidation store where you can buy a full crate of random stuff for very cheap.

Oh yeah? in Canada?