Forum

Wholesalers
 

Hey all,

I know this is not really related to eBay or PayPal, but I was wondering, where do you guys find your wholesalers? I seems really darn difficult to find a wholesaler that you can easily trust, and mainstream ones aren't really ideal.

So what do you suggest? I plan on doing a mix of dropshipping and "normal retail", but I'm not sure where to start. Any tips?

Thanks in advance. :thumb:

Re: Wholesalers
 

I would start in an industry you are passionate about and search and seek from that point.

Re: Wholesalers
 

If you are looking for GENERAL goods, then AliExpress.com or DHgate.com are good places to start looking for UNBRANDED goods. Brands on those sites tend to be counterfeit, something you do not want to get involved with.

There is a magazine called COVER and a couple of others for people who sell at flea markets and such, many wholesalers advertise in them.

You could search for the terms "closeout" and "pallet". Many liquidators receive massive amounts of merchandise as store returns or shelf-pulls from retailers and sell them by the pallet, or the half-pallet. I would be wary of returned electronics, as much of what is included could be worthless. Clothing, on the other hand is usually a better bet.

You could try wholesalecentral.com and/or closeoutcentral.com - they have listings of wholesalers.

Keep in mind that most legitimate wholesalers will want a copy of your business license or a reseller tax-id number issued by your state. They will also have minimum orders, which could be as low as $100 or as high as $500.

BEWARE OF DROPSHIPPING! There are a lot of sharks in this field. They promise people easy riches with no investment needed, which appeals to a lot of people. But then you end up having problems with out of stock items, bait and switch, damaged merchandise, or even complete non-delivery of the goods.

I would avoid drop-ship aggregators like the plague! Sites like DOBA.COM are complete garbage! I looked at them once, as they advertised they were approved by eBay. But all they do is list stuff from other companies and charge you a fee for the privilege. And the pricing is completely wacky - they talk a lot about the realities of the "wholesale marketplaces" and have a million reasons why you should not try to compete on price. But when I looked up a movie (back in the days when I sold DVD's) the name was "1408" a horror film. DOBA had it listed at $15. It was all over eBay for $3 or $4, and an Amazon seller had it for $1.00. It is HARD to find drop-shippers who will give you pricing that will actually allow you to COMPETE.

And NOBODY, BUT NOBODY is going to give you their list of wholesalers! Not their REAL ONES anyway! Why would I want to set you up so you could list against me and drive down the price of what I sell? I wouldn't and neither will anyone else. It takes a lot of research and work to find a good niche and a good wholesaler to fill that niche. I often find something that looks promising, but it does not pan out, because I either cannot find a competitive wholesaler, or there could be other issues - a bag of cement may be a bargain for 25 cents, but nobody is going to want to pay for shipping it. So, it might take me more than 10 hours of work to find ONE good niche.

NEVER, EVER, EVER pin your hopes on wholesale list brokers. I don't care if it is a list you find on eBay for 99 cents, or a website that charges for membership. Because most of the time they have lists of wholesalers that you can easily find on your own. Rarely will you buy a list or a membership that ends up giving you good wholesale sources of goods. Usually you just end up disappointed and a little bit poorer. However, if you don't mind spending the money, then buy a list or two - that way you can see for yourself what is available through these lists. But don't say I didn't warn you!

BE REALISTIC! Everyone has heard about those mythological wholesale sources of $100 iPhones, but I can promise you, THEY DO NOT EXIST! Don't expect to find sources that will allow you to compete with Walmart. They can SELL big screen TV's cheaper than you can buy them wholesale, because they order 25,000 at a time directly from the manufacturer. Unless you have a trainload of money, you won't be able to beat them.

To summarize:

Find a niche.
Try to find a wholesaler for that niche.
Cry when you can't, rejoice when you can, and expect to be successful in perhaps 1 out of 6 attempts.
Watch out for scams, don't pay money to join a drop-ship program or wholesale website!
Don't get discouraged.

Good luck!

Re: Wholesalers
 

Read thro' this part of the forum too.
Wholesale Discussions - eBay Suspension & Paypal Limited Forums


If you get an offer of a list from anyone on here, REPORT them. They want money for them and the lists are non-existent.

Look at what interests you and proceed from there. Also consider looking thro this thread.

http://www.aspkin.com/forums/subscri...ard-sales.html

Good Luck

:welcome;

Re: Wholesalers
 

It is extremely difficult to find legit products and make money on them. If this was easy everyone would do it stay at home count money and never work. It is very very difficult. The learning curve is very large. I have spent 10 years trying to make this work.

That is why so many sellers go for phakes because it is quick easy money. The don't want to take the risk or the time to develop the relationship and source out the legit sellers.

I tell it like it is. Finding a legit trustworthy source is hard. I am not talking about the unbranded goods many sellers on here get overseas. I am talking about the real deal. It is extremely hard and difficult. It is much more than goggling wholesale contacts on the internet. It requires phone calls, talking to people, asking questions and selling yourself.

Re: Wholesalers
 

Very good and informative! Do you recommend starting with US wholesalers first for your niches or going straight oversees? I've found some legit wholesales in US with $100-$500 minimums but most of their item prices won't make it profitable on eB especially when you include shipping to me and then shipping to buyers. I've found some of those items from another wholesales that do drop shipping and when doing the math, same profits between buying and stocking and drop shipping, so that's why some people prefer it, but I don't like it for the issues you mentioned and will rather stock my items.

Are these items some of those that "don't make it" and you move on to finding others, or you focus on going straight to the manufacturer in China and deal with the importing part of it? And if going this route it limits my niche items to low weight items or the shipping cost all around will eat up the profits.