Posts Tagged vendor
Is A Refurbished Phone Good As A New One?
Posted by johnb in Ebay, Wholesale, Wholesale Sources on November 7th, 2009
A lot of people are baffled at the sheer number of cell phone models out there, and don’t know which one they want. There are two factors that typically make the person’s decision for them - whether or not they want to spend a lot on a new cell phone, or get a working cell phone for cheap. Many people just decide depending on whether or not they have money they want to spend on it, as most of us need a cell phone anyway. As a result, there’s a new school of thought out there, since many people now wonder, “Is a refurbished phone as good as a new one?” Nowadays, you can find refurbished cell phones in nearly as many numbers as new phones, since the business is booming, and more and more people want cheaper cell phones that work just as well; how can you benefit from this, as someone with an online retail business? You can source out wholesale refurbished cell phones in order to offer them on your website, selling them at a markup so you can profit from this industry. It helps both of you - you get the profits from selling a cell phone to someone, and they’ll save money on getting a cell phone that’s refurbished, as opposed to a new retail one.
Getting wholesale refurbished cell phones typically involves getting pre owned phones, or new phones that still do everything a customer asks of it, with the same features and functionality that a retail phone can offer them. No matter how you sell it, you’ll be able to find customers.
Finding a good, reputable supplier that can consistently give you good wholesale refurbished cell phones will be integral to the success of your business, and may even necessitate creating a whole new online story just for your phone line. You might also be able to sell on eBay, Craigslist, and other online flea market sites so you can have a customer base already set up.
There are many reasons why a lot of customers want just want to get a refurbished cell phone: maybe their old phone has broken down and they want one just like it, or people just don’t want to spend that much money for a cell phone that they couldn’t afford otherwise. No matter why they do it, you can profit from their need for refurbished cell phones; as such, you should really consider going into this particular market.
You don’t even have to give your customers a warranty or service packages for these wholesale refurbished cell phones, given the nature of the business. If you do want to offer them, though, it will really help you make more money.
The key to creating a good wholesale refurbished cell phone business is sourcing out quality products and buying them cheap, in order to sell them to your customers for profit. If you can improve your customer service over the site in any way, they’ll be more likely to buy from you and your business. You’ll be making a living with your online business in no time.
Wholesale: Are Refurbished Phones Just as Good as New Ones?
Posted by johnb in Home Based Business, Wholesale, eBusiness on November 2nd, 2009
In today’s economic conditions a lot more people are searching for different means to save cash on their purchases, which is why more people search online for deals. However, were you aware of the fact that you can generate an income or save yourself more money by sourcing refurbished phones for your own personal use and resale? A lot of people probably think purchasing a refurbished cell phone is nuts, and they might ask you whether buying one is a good idea or not. The real answer here is that, most likely, they don’t understand the full capacity of a refurbished phone or know that you can buy one at wholesale rates. This brings us to the question, are new phones just as nice as the refurbished ones? The funny thing is in this world, people seem satisfied with purchasing used computers, cars, washing machines and other devices; however, so many just have this problem with refurbished cell phones! Typically, these people are the ones who don’t know the first thing about what a refurbished cell phone is like.
As a rule, a refurbished cell phone might not have been previously owned at all; they can look brand new, work just as well as a new phone and cost a lot less than the normal retail value implies. A lot of the refurbished cell phones are current models with the same efficiency that the same model has, and they cost three times as much when sold new on the shelves.
In actuality, the majority of today’s refurbished cell phones are just phones that have had the ‘DOA’ integrated into them and were delivered to the manufacturer to be fixed. Then, the manufacturer fixes and tests out the cell phone prior to having it repackaged and sold to a wholesale vendor. This is a cell phone that has never been previously owned! It has only been retested, and it will made available at just a small fraction of its original value.
Truthfully, a lot of the insurance agencies will dynamically provide refurbished cell phones to those who have filed a claim against their phone insurance company; more often than not, this is the simplest (most inexpensive) way to replace a lost or damaged cell phone.
If you were to approach a wholesale vendor and source a refurbished cell phone, you might wind up shelling out as little as 30% of the phone’s original retail value. Naturally, you could anticipate selling these phones for a minimum of 60% of the retail value, thus denoting that you could generate a considerable profit from vending these phones. Don’t forget that a lot of people are interested in owning the latest cell phone model but don’t have the money for the full price that is charged, so they see refurbished cell phones as an affordable alternative for acquiring the phone they would like. Not surprisingly, as soon as a person has bought a refurbished cell phone and realizes how great it is, they will probably inform their friends and family of this.
Sure enough, one more significant justification for you to purchase wholesale refurbished phones for resale is that it aids in the reduction of environmental pollution that these electronics products cause. wholesale refurbished cell phones are a fast-growing industry since technology hasn’t really changed terribly much in the past few years!
How To Sell Big-Ticket Items to the B2B Market
Posted by Wholesale News in Home Based Business on August 21st, 2009
With all of the day-to-day retail exposure, it can be easy to forget that big businesses also have a lot of money to spend.
In fact, there is a huge niche within the wholesale market that deals exclusively with the value-added resale of high-priced non-industrial equipment to large corporations. Insiders will often refer to this niche as “The Channel”.
Of course if you’ve ever tried your hand at selling big-ticket items to the B2B crowd, you know that competition can be pretty tough.
When an RFP (Request for Proposal) goes out, first priority usually goes to the brand with pre-existing relationships. After that, everyone else is forced to compete on price.
Trust me. You don’t want to play that game.
Which side will you be on?
Because B2B sales are generally larger and harder to come by, many new companies will simply go for the big one-time sale as opposed to focusing on the relationship building. This can be a deadly mistake.
Many marketing experts will argue that it can cost 5 times more to sell to a first-time customer, than it would to make a repeat sale. This is especially true when it comes to B2B selling.
In the business world, impulse purchases are not as common as they would be if you were dealing directly with consumers. Instead, you have to navigate around gatekeepers, decision-making committees, and a sophisticated infrastructure that was designed just to keep you out.
But once you’ve made that first sale, the same barriers that blocked you from this customer will become your protection against competitors. So my suggestion would be to forget the bigger sale for now, and instead focus on the relationship-building. If you can handle the pain of delayed gratification, your rewards will be much greater down the road.
Case in point:
Your company sells expensive email servers.
Company X doesn’t want to buy one right now, but you know that they’ll need to replace theirs at a random date sometime within the next 3 years. You just don’t know when.
While your competitors are spending lots of money, time and energy advertising their email servers to Company X’s deaf ears, you need a different approach to rise above the noise.
Rather than copying everyone else, try getting your foot in the door with a very small initial purchase. But this purchase should also have a recurring revenue model that allows for a repetitive transaction that occurs on a regular basis.
The more purchases the client makes, the stronger your vendor-client relationship will become. Repeated contact builds trust and loyalty over time.
Finally, when the time comes to make a big-ticket purchase, Company X will face the choice of either going with an established supplier (you), or taking a risk with an unknown vendor (the other guys).
This is the power of using a loss leader.
How can you apply this to your industry? What kind of a low-price/high-value loss leader can you offer to get your foot in the door with B2B account? How can you turn this product or service into a repetitive purchasing model?
We’d love to hear your ideas. Please leave your comments in the form below.
About The Author:
Storagepipe Solutions has been providing e-mail archive software and online server backups since 2001. They also offer a wide range of turnkey online backup system reseller programs that allow technology wholesalers, VARs, and other companies to get their foot in the door & drive customer loyalty.
Meat and Grain: Is a Wholesale Food Business For You?
Posted by Scott in Bulk Drop Shipping, Wholesale, Wholesale Sources on July 15th, 2009
Although often overlooked, wholesale foods is one of the most profitable businesses. Foodstuffs can be a fantastic business for almost any kind of business owner.
When purchasing from a wholesale supplier, you will purchase in bulk. You will be buying not one, but many of each individual items. As a vendor, it is up to you to either break up the case lots and sell them individually or to sell entire cases.
You will be able to acquire foods at a much cheaper price than your local grocery store, allowing you to undercut the supermarket and attract customers.
And, thankfully, many of the items you will be dealing with have long shelf lives. Therefore, you wont have to worry much about expiration dates and your customers can stock up to their heart’s content.
As your wholesaler is directly linked with the manufacturer, you will be able to buy bulk amounts for exceptionally low prices. By selling to your customers at unbeatable prices, you will be able to make a substantial profit while maintaining many repeat customers.
What is drop shipping and can I use it? Part Two
Posted by Dan Blacharski in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping on June 30th, 2009
One of the primary benefits of drop shipping that many newcomers fail to recognize, is that you can increase your product line with different drop shippers who offer different products, and often with different countries of origin. In this way, drop shipping can be a real boon. But it depends really on knowing your drop shipper, and going the extra mile in cultivating drop shipping relationships, whether they are local or international in origin.
And therein lies the negative in drop shipping for the online retailer. You have to make the effort to cultivate those drop shipping relationships–there’s really a lot more to it than just signing up online and picking products from a catalog. If you simply dropship with someone based solely on the convenience factor, you might find yourself without product or even worse, you might find yourself without a drop shipper at all. This happens as a result of one of two things. First, if you are without product for a long period due to production delays (which will happen regardless of source, by the way), it means your drop shipping source didn’t tell you he was running low, or you didn’t make the effort to inquire as to his projected inventory or production that would affect your product lines. If you cultivate those relationships, drop shippers will tell you in advance when things are getting dicey, and they might even tell you without your inquiry. Always keep up to date on your product. Always.
Second, and even more importantly, drop shippers who have cultivated relationships with you might tell you if they are going out of business. Think of the drop shipper as your friend: a friend will tell you before he goes out of business when things are out of control, whereas the general public will not get notice until the business is already liquidated and gone. When you cultivate these overseas or local relationships, you can save a lot of headache for your business, and you can keep your product and cash flow running smoothly because you know what is coming down the road that others might not get wind of until it is too late to do anything.
Seeing the hurricane and watching the weather reports can save a world of pain long before the hurricane ever comes ashore. Take it from someone who has seen the hurricane and prepared, and from someone who didn’t plan for the coming storm and paid the price many times over.
How Tradeshow Attendance Can Fuel Your Business
Posted by Alex in Home Based Business, eBusiness on June 30th, 2009
If you’re in the business of wholesaling or an integral part of the e-commerce industry, then you’ve likely shown your face at a few tradeshows far and wide. Despite the type of product that you’re manufacturing or selling, there is almost definitely a tradeshow devoted to showcasing and highlighting your spin on an otherwise “common” product. From furniture to area rugs to tools, cookware, lighting and everything in between, many manufacturers and wholesalers set up shop in a dedicated showroom several times each year to demonstrate the value and versatility of their particular product offering.
Because product communities gather to market their updated lines and new additions a mere handful of times each year (generally quarterly), it can be a pivotal time for wholesalers and retailers alike to be caught up to speed in regard to product categories that are likely to experience significant growth trends. By attending tradeshows, you allow yourself to pick and choose from the best of the best in order to seek out a selection of products that will likely propel your overall business sales.
In addition to viewing fresh product first-hand, tradeshow attendance allows you to network with other industry professionals. Here is where you can not only catch a glimpse of product designs and ideas, but where you can also converse with experts and gain insight into styles and patterns that can positively influence your current or future product offering. These perks alone will enable you to effectively determine what is and what isn’t working for your target audience, and then allow you to capitalize on ways to capture potentially lost sales. Perhaps a particular manufacturer has designed a product that could work with a few modifications – use this opportunity as a chance to revitalize your product offering so that you can garner the interest and attention of a particular sector of your audience.
Tradeshow,business,wholesaling,e-commerce,product,product offering,
Further, tradeshow attendance can be instrumental when it comes to branding. Getting your name out there in markets that are generally already quite saturated can help your cause significantly. Introduce yourself to prominent market players and try to solidify partnerships that boast the potential to drastically assist your brand or your goals. Showing legitimate interest in your business and in your competitors can help you to stand apart from the rest. Respect your competitors and allow their successes to aid yours. Don’t be short-sighted, look at how past mistakes have affected both your business and the industry as a whole, and work to remedy these issues.
Tradeshow attendance is critical to the overall success of a given market. These venues help to spark new ideas, new partnerships, and new market players. Wholesalers are generally looking for credible retailers to help them with their sales while retailers are seeking the same benefit. It’s this type of mutualistic relationship that enables product markets to effectively and efficiently continue to grow and develop over time.
Selecting a Wholesale Product Category
Posted by Alex in Home Based Business, Wholesale, Wholesale Sources, eBusiness on June 30th, 2009
While the business of wholesaling can result in tremendous profits, there are a number of factors to consider prior to simply beginning your company. From surveying and understanding your potential market to weighing cost factors and margins to finding a product niche that suits you and your competitive needs, there are a plethora of elements to analyze as you get started.
With so many product markets seemingly becoming increasingly over-saturated, it can be challenging to find a niche that has the bandwidth to accompany yet another fresh, new idea. However, this shouldn’t deter up and coming wholesalers from overcoming potential obstacles. Do your research and get a firm grasp on your competitive landscape. Closely monitor what competitors are doing, including concepts that have worked as well as those that have not. See if you can modify any of the less successful ideas and transform them into top-selling products. Investigate ways that will enable your line of products to stand apart from the rest. Understand what your target audience is looking for and how you may be able to modify existing products so that they more effectively appeal to your consumer base.
Does a particular product category boast more potential in terms of margin, revenues, and profits? If you’re fortunate enough to have the option to choose among several various product categories, then profit margin is what you should use as your determining factor. Because it can be difficult to differentiate your product offering from those of competitors, you’ll want to ensure that you’re earning money with the items that you’re able to sell – particularly with those items that virtually sell themselves. Further, ensure that your total costs are significantly less than the amount of which you can realistically sell a high volume of product.
While you may not be able to create a totally unique product, it’s important that your offering boasts distinct features unique to your mission. Find products that can be and distributors that are willing to dropship so that you can reduce your overhead costs. Moreover, ensure that there is substantial demand for your products and services. If there isn’t a distinct market need for what you’re hoping to sell, then cut your losses immediately, and develop an alternative business plan. Adding a new facet to a standard, convenient product can add to its resale value.
Despite your specific financial goals, it’s important to understand your market before you move forward with developing your business plan and just jumping into a product category. Make sure that you can identify potential pitfalls and drawbacks and immediately strategize ways to prevent these issues from affecting your future successes. Perhaps most importantly, refrain from spreading your resources too thin. While you may see potential in selling a vast variety of products, it’s best to start with one targeted niche and to work on expanding from there.
Nail down those shipping terms ahead of time
Posted by Dan Blacharski in Home Based Business, Wholesale, Wholesale Sources, eBusiness on June 26th, 2009
Importing from a wholesaler overseas is often a superior strategy for getting goods very cheaply. Let’s face it, many of the products you are going to sell come from Asia–and the closer to the source you get, the better your wholesale price. You may get a product from a stateside distributor at what seems like a good price, but where is that distributor getting it from? Either from another distributor in Asia, or direct from the manufacturing facility. Now I’ve always advocated just going there yourself to examine and select the products in person, and then arranging shipping directly, but that is admittedly a major task, and it probably takes some foreign language skills, and believe me, languages like Thai, Mandarin, Cantonese, or Japanese are notoriously difficult to learn.
Either way, it pays to understand the shipping terms. It may well be that although you would get a better wholesale price from the Asian source, your overall cost–including shipping–may still be cheaper if you have a distributor close to you. Here’s the first thing to know: Suppose you buy a shipment of items from a source in Asia, and the terms specify “FOB Hong Kong.” That means the source is responsible for getting the goods to the port in Hong Kong, but from that point, you’re responsible for the rest of the costs.
The second thing to know is that shipping costs aren’t just what you pay the shipper. There may also be a customs tariff due upon arrival, as well as a customs bond, cargo insurance, and a clearance fee. there may also be an additional “last mile” fee involved. Where is the nearest port to your home or office? Sea freight comes into the nearest port. Your shipping fee may cover the cost of shipping from Hong Kong to San Francisco, but your office is in Nevada–so there’s an extra fee for shipping it over the last leg, unless you want to make the trip to the port and pick it up yourself.
When you calculate it all out, you may still be better off paying a slightly higher price to your stateside distributor, as opposed to going direct, especially if you are buying in smaller quantities. On a per-square-foot basis, shipping over a couple boxes from Taiwan or Bangkok is a lot more expensive than shipping an entire container load. Your distributor is getting an economy of scale on shipping, more than likely bringing items over in large containers, and as a result they don’t have to add on as much to the price when they sell it to you. Shipping cost per item may be several times more for you, if you’re just buying small amounts.
Tips for dealing with customs: Be specific
Posted by Dan Blacharski in Home Based Business, Wholesale, Wholesale Sources, eBusiness on June 25th, 2009
When you bring in goods from overseas, there are some complexities involved, and the US customs department will make your job just a little bit harder–or maybe, a lot harder, depending on how you approach it.
If you’re working with an overseas supplier, they will take care of most of the paperwork; all you’ll have to do is pay the customs bill. But if you’re overseas yourself acquiring goods, and you want to ship them back to yourself in the States, you’ll have quite a lot of paperwork to do. Your shipping company can give you a good idea of what you need, and can probably provide you with the paperwork.
You will complete a bill of goods, which shows exactly what is in the box–and here’s where a lot of importers spend unnecessary money on customs duties. On this list, you need to itemize everything. But what you need to realize is that tariffs are enormously complex, and you need to be very precise. For example, the tariff you will pay to receive a box full of cotton shirts will be different from the tariff on a box full of silk shirts. The same holds true for any item, and you always must specify as much detail as possible. Have a box of chopsticks? If you simply list it as “chopsticks,” customs may delay your shipment, because they don’t know what they’re made out of. Say “wooden chopsticks,” “ceramic chopsticks,” or “plastic chopsticks,” to be more specific. You’ll also have to specify the country of origin, failing to do so can also cause delays. And so, the tip of the day is this: Be painfully specific, even when it’s obvious. Customs officials never make assumptions, and if you don’t explicitly say what they need to know, they’ll send your paperwork back to you.
Make Money Drop Shipping Using Ebay
Posted by Bob in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping, Ebay on June 25th, 2009
Drop shipping is one of the best ways to make money on Ebay. Using drop shipping, you can list an item for sale that you don’t already have. Once you’ve sold the item and collected payment, you simply take a portion of that payment and send it to your wholesale dropship supplier. Whatever is left over is yours to keep, and you don’t need to hassle with things like shipping costs or packing.
Still, there are some important things to consider when you’re using dropship wholesale suppliers on Ebay. Keep these three things in mind at all times:
Understand the quality of the product. It’s important that you choose a wholesale supplier who won’t just randomly switch inventory or manufacturers without letting you know. This allows you to be sure that the product you’re selling to your customer is the product that they will actually get. If your product varies from the Ebay listing, you run the risk of negative feedback which will harm your Ebay business over the long haul.
Understand customer expectations. For whatever reason, people that buy products on Ebay and online tend to have much higher expectations that people that buy products in other sorts of direct marketing arrangements. Buyers expect you to offer a photograph of the product, as well as a specific list of features. When they receive the item, they expect it to look exactly like it does in the Ebay auction. If it doesn’t look the same, they probably won’t be satisfied. Here again, you run the risk of getting negative feedback on your Ebay seller account.
Finally, don’t forget that auctions are auctions. The fact of the matter is that, when you auction an item on Ebay, you’re expected to agree to sell the item regardless of the closing price. This means that, if you’re not careful, you can wind up selling an item on Ebay that actually sells below your own costs.
There are a couple of ways to avoid this happening, of course. First of all, you can choose to only list fixed price or “Buy It Now” auctions. This means that your auctions are more like catalog listings, with a set price no matter who buys it. Another option is to set a higher minimum bid, so that the item doesn’t sell for less than what you’ll pay for it.
Ultimately, making sure your feedback stays high and that you follow all Ebay policies is key to your business’ success.
Recent Comments