I have found some below wholesale sources that are offering products that I am interested in, within a price range I can spend......BUT
I am a little wary of these dealers, first of all, I have never purchased like this before, there is terminology I don't understand (gaylord, pallet, salvage) just a sample.
It appears that they choose the items and I don't know what I am getting until I receive it, or in some cases after I make the purchase, they will send me a manifest.
Also they sell as is, and have indicated a percentage of the items will be defective and not work! Sometimes as much as 40%...that seems high to me.
To those who buy wholesale, I don't want your sources, I just want to know if the above situations are typical, should I be concerned? Is there a secret to buying wholesale once you find sources? Is there a learning curve, or a book or general info on tips to buying wholesale? Is this wholesale buying business filled with scam artists or is it pretty much on the up and up.
Thanks,
Joyce
[ edited by jlady on Jan 12, 2001 10:53 AM ]
posted on January 12, 2001 11:13:11 AM
Hmmm...It's hard to know if what you say is "normal" since i don't know what you're buying. I used to work in the buying department of a large department store and I also worked for an ecommerce company that did a lot of purchasing wholesale.
If you are buying new, full price items from a manufacturer, for a store, let's say you buy kids' socks for distribution at Sears stores across the country, you get to specify 200000 pinks size M and 300000 blues Size L and they should be close to what you ordered. You will always get some defective items but generally you can charge those back or send them back for credit.
If you are buying from a middleman or a discounter there may not be a selection process. You may just have to take kids' socks in assorted sizes and colors. And if there are a lot of defects, the discounters' supply is finite and so they can't take the stuff back. So a middleman or discounter has to cover his butt by telling you there may well be a lot of defective ones. He didn't manufacture them so often he can't take them back since he bought them as a lot. He might be able to sell them to another discounter as salvage or defective or seconds. This is where a lot of swap meet vendors get their stuff (as salvage or defectives). They buy them in big lots for pennies on the dollar.
40% sounds awfully high to me but in whatever area you are buying in it might be the norm. That would be higher than I would expect in the areas I used to work in (clothing, gift items, intimates, Xmas and holiday ornaments---actually the defect rate in the Xmas and holiday was very high on imported merch, it probably came close to 25%).
Pallets are big wooden holders maybe 6 feet square (approx?) They are used as a noun and also as a measurement. A pallet is an amount of stuff. 1 pallet, 2 pallets, etc. You generally need a receiving dock to get pallets delivered. You could pick up in some instances, but bring a big truck. Some wholesalers just will not deal in less than a pallet of stuff.
posted on January 12, 2001 11:48:28 AM
As with any industry, there are good and bad liquidators. Someone has to get rid of all the good quality overstock merchandise. Someone also has to get rid of all the garbage, defective, and worthless crap also. You just need to figure out which one you are dealing with.
As-is merchandise can be very profitable if you are qualified to repair it. If not, forget it. For example: I own a computer store that sells new and reconditioned computers. I have bought numerous truckloads of computers over the years and stripped them down for parts, tested the parts, and made an excellent profit on them. However, anyone that did not have our facilities and staff would have lost thousands of dollars, as none of the computers were salable upon receipt.
A "Gaylord" is a three layer corugated box that is typically 48" by 48" by 48" and can be reused many times. They are the same size as a pallet and used for shipping small items that would be difficult to stack on a pallet. (such as footballs) They are also used as a unit of measure by some liquidators. (ie: One Gaylord of small misc. hardware store items such as hinges, locks, nuts, etc.)
