posted on January 14, 2002 04:11:20 PM
Ok, I'm debating making the jump from Good Will to pallets of discounted goods from wholesalers. I remember a thread a while back where someone was upset because he used a wholesaler in California and all the items were junky store returns that were virtually unsaleable. Someone responded and mentioned a magazine of some type that rated different wholesalers. Anyone know of that magazine and where I can see one? I also want to find a wholesaler close to the Milwaukee - Chicago area. I can pick up small pallets, or my husbands work has a lift where they can deliver it to, so that's not a problem. I clicked on an advertisement that AW had and looked at there items, but all the man who ran it said was we'll deliver right to your door, give me your phone number and I'll call you and answer all your questions - but I guess I need to know what questions to ask first (where do you get your items, if you sell on ebay why don't you just sell them - do you go through them first and take the good stuff - not that he'd admit to it...etc...etc..)
posted on January 14, 2002 05:07:08 PM
I wouldn't worry So much about magazines that rate wholesales so much if you want to get into buying pallets and truck loads you had better worry about investing in a fork truck and a loading dock and a big pick up truck.
FOr the best line on wholesale pallets discontinue good and odd lots go to your local dollar store usually they are very willing to give you there sources of goods.
also keep in mind that trucking will usually cost the same if you fill the truck or if you just have one pallet on it if your going to pay $2000 or $3000 for delivery make the best of it. http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
Email [email protected]
posted on January 14, 2002 06:01:47 PM
dman3,
why would the local dollars store tell you where they find the items?
we have these stores down here,and i see them going thru a pocket book looking up wholesalers to order specific items,which lead me to belive they must be local.
there is one thread a few months ago about a lady who buys returns and sold a pair of speakers (>> and buyer said there is a hole ??
dont quite remember whether it is speaker or something else,anyway she wants to know if she should refund,and the thread ran for weeks,as she detailed how hard she works to clean and examine and test each item,she was very upset at some of the returns like people returning ink cartridge after using them for 9 months??
the wholesalers all have their sources-be it walmart,home depot ,regional chain stores etc and yes,shipping is a few thousand dollars and what about your time in unloading,cleaning,testing and storing and listing on ebay.
what is happening on ebay,it is not enough that we buy wholesale and sell retial,now we have to find something below wholesale,way below to turn a profit on ebay and you wonder why there are so many squables ??
posted on January 14, 2002 06:16:22 PM
Ebay is a different market all unto itself. Buyers come to Ebay looking for a deal, so what the dollar store sells for $1.00, buyers want it $0.25 on eBay. On top of that are listing, final value and transaction fees. An eBay seller will have to get it for free to even think of making a profit (if they're lucky).
Keep in mind not everything is a fast mover on eBay. So just because you buy it at wholesale (whatever that means), will not guarantee that you can sell it fast enough to recoup your investment.
posted on January 14, 2002 06:31:31 PM
i agree,if you buy pellets,you have to figure some are pure junks which should be trashed right away,some will take longer to sell,some you may have to give away.
if ebay bidders want to pay 1/4 of what it sells in dollar store,then they deserve to be scammed.
posted on January 14, 2002 07:47:20 PM
A good place to start is Yahoo B2B or (business) shopping and services. Go to Yahoo, scroll down to B2B, click. You can also search for manufacturers here.
posted on January 14, 2002 09:34:24 PM
my concern -is it too late?is there anything out there which is not already be sold or listed by half a dozen sellers already??
posted on January 15, 2002 05:03:40 AM
I have thought of that too - I've looked at Sams clubs auctions, and all those items that you can buy at "blowout" prices are already listed on ebay. Most of the places I've investigated let you buy pallets for 20-30% of the wholesale price, so yes that's cheap enough - but if you throw most of it away it's a big pain. I gues I'll keep doing what I'm doing and maybe investigate the local auctions and that type of thing. I haven't branched into that yet.
posted on January 15, 2002 07:14:49 AM
if the pellets merchandise is 20-30% of wholesale and you throw away some and add freight cost,it could exceed wholesale cost of mint inbox items,you may be better of going to the wholesalers and buy new items from them
posted on January 15, 2002 08:36:40 AM
all these wholesalers have contracts with these chains to buy their returns,you can ask costco whom they sell these returns to.
or if you are into buying returns from the wholesalers,you will know the players.
i have bot some nice returns/remanufactured items from DAMARK INTL,are they still in business?
they get choice goods - i have their ge phone plus recording,magnavox tv,packard bell pc (gone),camera,fax paper,fax machine,pillows,sony boombox,exercise machine and other small items.
the tv set is beautiful!!!!!
i guess the choice morsels go to their best customer like damark,newcomers buying small lot get the crumbs.
posted on January 20, 2002 02:57:27 PM
OK,
I have seen a lot of negative remarks regarding buying store return pallets, etc, and a lot of which is true, but I have to say, our company has been involved in selling on eBay nothing but store returns, (see seller Brandywines), from store like Circuit City, Best Buy, Costco, and we have been very successful at it for almost 2 years now. You have to do the research to find the right broker you can trust, (I'll admit, we are one of them), and try a small load to test the waters. You can figure 30% of the merchandise on a pallet is considered throw away, but we never throw anything away, there is an easy way to move all of it!
I can't advertise our website or deals here, but you are more than welcome to email me at [email protected] for more info and where to find the vendors you can trust.
posted on January 20, 2002 03:07:15 PM
I don't like the idea of competing with my own supplier in the same market place. They've already figured out how much it will go for on eBay, and priced/cherry picked their goods accordingly.
posted on January 20, 2002 04:30:18 PM
You can buy different types of pallets. The two main types are customer returns which are probaly the most common and least expensive. depending on your purchase power you should expect to pay from 16% to 26% of the wholesale price for these types of pallets.
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You can also get pallets of shelf pulls and discontinued items. These are going to have less waste but a higher cost probaly 25 to 32% of wholesale.
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Shipping does vary if you only get one pallet or a truck load it is normally cheaper to have a full pallet shipped by truck than in individual boxes by UPS.
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There are a lot of places in your area to purchase the pallets.
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As to places that go through them first this is referred to as cherry picking and a lot of places do it but they all say they do not. The best do not because they want return business. My rule is I do not buy from any that I cannot make at least one trip to for inspection purposes.
<br />
I could write a book here but thought this might help answer some questions you posed.
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Oh there are monthly publications these places advertise in but I would prefer not to tell the whole list about them. If you want to email me just mail to this name at aol
[ edited by surfsworth on Jan 20, 2002 04:33 PM ]
posted on January 20, 2002 04:54:33 PM
Now if I purchase an item at $1.99 and the package sayw $16.00 How much can you sell that for. I might add that the item is new, in box and a name brand and not a second. It is from an outlet store. Would you use a BIN or list and see what happens.
posted on January 20, 2002 05:04:07 PM
Hi Libra63. Bummer on that Packer game. I would look at closed items and see what they sold for. If there's none similar that I would probably start it at $5.00 and let it go.
posted on January 20, 2002 05:47:58 PMihula Maybe you can do a deal at one of the outlet malls in Kenosha. Either on Hwy 50 and I94 or the designer mall. I sold some items from there and made a good profit but unfortunatelly the designer passed away and the item was sold out. They still have the item designed by someone else but it doesn't sell for what I had to pay for it. Lots of stores down there. Have you been to either one. I did buy some Debbie Mumm items at a very low price like 75% off retail, but that was for myself. So the items are out there.
posted on January 20, 2002 05:51:40 PM
Thanks Libra63. But how do you even go about doing it? Do you approach the managers and tell them you want (or are willing to buy) their store returns/overstocks from them? I have been to that mall - not for awhile, but it's not that far from me.
posted on January 20, 2002 06:49:11 PM
Since this thread mentioned me in a number of posts, I thought I should respond (which of course, meant entering my CC info - AW, you better not touch my CC!)
Regarding my supplier - I used to purchase from a supplier out of California. The pallets I purchased were Circuit City pallets, but they also offered Sears pallets (I am speaking of electronics only - I don't deal with clothing)
Here is my experience with wholesale goods:
1. Do not purchase from a company clear across the US from you, UNLESS you absolutely have to! Trucking rates are based upon distance, so the further away, the higher the cost. A 53' trailer can hold up to 48 pallets, double stacked. Expect to pay extra fees if you are having it delivered to a residential address, rather than a warehouse. Truckers generally do not get paid to wait around all day for you to unload a trailer by hand, so don't expect them to do so. If you do not ship a full trailer of pallets, it will not cost as much as if you shipped a full trailer, but it will cost more in relation to a full trailer (ie. $600 for 6 pallets, but $3000 for a whole trailer)
2. Do not purchase any pallets without an ORIGINAL manifest from the supplier! This is to assure they are not cherry picking your load, and giving you all the junk. This means you have to purchase more at one time, but it also means you won't get screwed.
3. Test all your merchandise. Many times the merchandise you receive is not even defective - it is downright fraudulent. Many people will purchase an item, and use the receipt and packaging to return an identical (or similar) defective item they already owned. The return tags the stores put on the merchandise is usually wrong, so don't rely on it.
4. Don't throw anything away, no matter how damaged. Someone MAY want to purchase it, or at the very least, you can donate it to Goodwill for a writeoff.
5. Expect negative feedback and fraud claims. Many people assume the merchandise is brand new, even if it says it is non-functional. Clearly list your return policy, and mark your merchandise in some way, so customers can't do a swap on you (you'd be surprised how many will try). I use a special UV stamp that can only be seen under a blacklight.
6. Start your auctions as low as you can go. You will end up with more sales. Trust me.
The idea behind selling wholesale merchandise (ie. store returns) is to do it as quickly as possible, with as little labor as possible. For example, one of the largest sellers of this type of merchandise, Return Buy, recently laid off half their employees, and cut their auctions by a third. They had $15,000,000 in investor funding! Their problem, too many employees doing the job. What should have taken 2 people was taking them 4. Keep it streamlined, and you will do a lot better.
Don't expect to walk into any of the major chain stores and convince them to sell you their returns. Most chains sell their returns, overstock, and shelf pulls at auction - and they sell it by the multiple truckload. For those who DO purchase directly, they are under contract, and are guaranteeing they will purchase EVERYTHING the store gives them, no matter what it is, how bad of condition it is in, or how much it costs.
I also recommend going legit (ie. becoming a full fledged business), because if you want to cut costs by setting up a contract with a shipper like UPS or FedEx, you need to be a real business, not someone selling out their house. Not to mention the fact that the IRS will get real mean if they ever find you......
BTW, for those who are interested, eBay eventually ruled in my favor in the fraud report that the bidder had filed with the speakers with the "magically appearing hole".
Good luck.
P.S. I am a he, not a she.
***EDITED TO ADD AN AFTERTHOUGHT AND TO GET RID OF THOSE ANNOYING <BR />'s***
[ edited by revvassago on Jan 20, 2002 06:53 PM ]
[ edited by revvassago on Jan 20, 2002 06:56 PM ]
posted on January 20, 2002 07:07:53 PMihula Do you live in or near Kenosha?
How I found out about the Versace store is that after one of the major holidays there were sidewalk days. I happened to go and there I found his designer ties at a great discount. I purchased a couple the first time and made a 50% markup. I then went back after I sold them and talked with the manager. I did buy more at the next sale but I didn't buy them all which was very stupid. They have side walk days 3x a year after the major holidays. Memorial Day. 4th of July, & Labor Day They do not sell pallets. Everything they sell has to be one on one. Where they send their rejects I do not know. I know I have bought 1928 jewelry and sold it. I bought it off the wall. Not a lot. There is a Mikasa, Oshkosh bigosh childrens clothing, Liz Clairbourne, so if you don't work just walk around there. The other outlet has a Pfalsgraf, large childrens store. The Versace store is the only manager I talked with so I don't know anything about the other stores. Wouldn't hurt to check and it is close.
posted on January 20, 2002 07:21:33 PM
I live in Milwaukee, so it's not too far. I'll check it out during one of their sales. Bring the laptop along so I can research before I buy.
Thanks!!
and buyer said there is a hole ??
