EBAY - Where Do You Find Wholesale Sources For Selling

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

There are many companies selling numerous like items on Ebay in quantities that obviously indicate they have a wholesale source. These items are for instance Frontline Topspot, Advantage Flea meds, Sheep clippers.

How do you find the wholesale source for these items?? There is money to be made.

[kesoaps]

I think some have connections to the companies who ship from overseas. Sometimes you need to buy in bulk...thousands of a product at a time. Sometimes you steal the product from where you work (sad but true; dh worked with someone who's wife managed a Disney store, you wouldn't believe all the stuff they guy listed on ebay!)

I know that getting a business license got me a flood of mail from wholesale places...not all of them that cheap, but contacts none the less. Find some trade magazines and start contacting the manufacturer of products you like. Tell them you have a resale business and would like to purchase or learn more about what they carry. That should at least get your foot in the door.

[comfortablynumb]

there are only a few real ways to sell in bulk on ebay and make money. and they all take money.

buy at REAL wholesale by the skid [we mean 10s of 1000's of bucks]
buy at auction by the skid discontinued, returns or dammaged goods, sort & repack.
buy from a reseller who buys at true wholesale with a small markup sold to you.

only established reputable businesses can buy at "true wholesale", everyone else, including the dropshippers are "resellers".

you can buy stuff on clearance and resell.
you can sell "scavanged items"

my sister was making a good side income buying stuff from IKEA and reselling it on ebay... to people who do not have an IKEA store nearby and cant buy the "in store" stuff NOT in the ikea catalog.... this is a good game if you have some bucks and an ikea store handy.... yes, Ikea stuff on ebay is very liquid. the profit is not great but enough to make it worth the effort, if you guess whats going to sell.
if it doesnt sell, return it to the store and get your money back.
I know sounds easy but its a lot of work and runing around, but workable.

if you do some shopping local, MOST of the time you will find tyou can buy it at a better or the same price local MINUS the shipping...

the big super sellers who run 1000 auctions a aday, they are buying in $10 or $20k wholesale lots, and they are making their money back.

for example I bought a 4 pack of NiMH batteries on ebay. 12 bucks delivered, the best deal in store I could get was 19.99
Yes they were off brand on ebay.... hong kong "resellers" can and do sell in bulk at almost true wholesale price...
but the screw is you NEED MONEY and alot of it to invest.

people get lost in that bulk buy/resell mindset as the only way to make money.

think in these terms; IF you can sell ANYTHING on ebay for an 8 to 10% profit margin your doing as well as most power sellers, but youll do it on a smaller scale.

unique items have a MUCH higher profit margin, so selling your 8% PM items AND as many unique 50% or 70% PM items, at the end of the yr, when you total it all up you wil find your making a good profit margin OVERALL.

Personally, I'd rather work at wal mart and collect my check and relax after 5 pm. thats a far higher profit magin than ebay for a small time seller.

I sell stuff i can salvage for next to nothing, and I have HIGH profit margin but a very LOW income level.... I dont do it "enough" to make big bucks.
IF I put 8 hrs a day into scrounging valuable items to resell I could do better! I dont have TIME.
and mass selling on ebay take TIME... lots of it.

IF your out and you see a store going out of business and you can pick up a skid of "item X" at below wholesale, because they have to get rid of it, you can move it on ebay....
MAYBE.
you need to do a days research and see if that item thingy is being sold by 1000 other people and they are not moviong it either.. then its a bad deal to pay for the gas to haul it home if they give it to you free.
because you wont sell it.

wholesale resell isnt easy, moreso if you dont have the artsy skill of "the sell".
I cant put together an add to save my life, so I have to stick to stuff that sells itself...
my sister can sell ice to an eskimo just by her adds and PR skills.

so you can have all the luck in the world and if you cant sell it right, you wont sell it.

you wont find true wholesalers online... they are not there.
you do find resllers... who are the only ones who will sell you 10 or 20 pc at a clip for below retail.
how below retail? how above wholesale?
all you need to worry about is if you can squeeze that 8 to 10% min profit margin out of it, because anything below 8% and your not even paying the expenses paid to sell it again.

half of ebay selling is RESEARCH.

so unless you have $$$ to spend, your out of luck.
if your broke and are looking for an at home job to make you rich... forget it.

it takes money to make money, thats a well proven rule.

you can pay the bills and feed your face, but its alot of work and LUCK.

But many people do it! without wholesalers! without resellers!

if you have time and no other choice... go fer it.

[buspete]

If you are looking for brand name items, google the brand name as most manufacturers have a website these days. When you find it, ask them who distributes for them or if you can buy caselots directly from them.

Lower priced stuff can often be got by importing the stuff directly from the companies. Some really cool "old fashioned" agricultural tools for off-grid use are still being made for the 3rd world communities where "off grid" is just a fact of life. There are many import-export websites that can help you find what you are looking for, generally you just have to register with the website. A word of warning about importing though: there are rules and LOTS of paperwork involved. Depending on how much/what you import, you will very likely need a customs bond and a customs broker. PM me for more details if this is what you are interested in.

[pickapeppa]

Someone I know buys low on ebay and sells high. I think it serves as a gambling addiction for him, as well as a source of extra cash. But, it is amazing some of the deals he comes across.

The key is to know the market for your product inside and out. He sells fantasy fiction novels and various other related merchandise. He picks up steals on some items because of misspellings, inaccurate listings, or the seller just didn't know what they had and put a super cheap buy it now price tag. He scans the buy it nows first thing in the mornings when most people are still snoozing or just getting their coffee started, and picks up things that were posted late the night before.

He also buys in 'lots' on ebay, where he will have to accept many less desirable items (but sellable) to get a few golden items with a high profit margin. With the fee increases from paypal and ebay lately, the store has been closed. It isn't as worthwhile to sell items under $5 anymore, and doesn't really become worthwhile unless your items are at least $20.

His little niche market is becoming less and less profitable as more and more sellers get into it. It's driving the prices down considerably. He has signed collectors editions that used to sell for over $200 now going for around $50.

And yes, I always wondered how many people who work at toy stores stole merchandise and put it on the block at ebay. The price of toys was up 30% over last years prices this Christmas season. It was quite a jump. Probably too many employees with sticky fingers.

[Ken Scharabok]

I have a TN sales tax number in order to report those taxes on eBay sales within TN. That number then allows me to shop at some wholesalers. For example, one place in Nashville sells both wholesale and retail. I can buy at the wholesale price and not pay state sales taxes on the items as they are for use/resale. This same place has a once a week auction primarily for flea market dealers. My understanding is people bring in truckload lots which they then resell for a portion of the sales.

Once a week I get an e-mail which lists 50 or so lot wholesalers. Often by the truckload. I can't find one of them in my in-box now, but will add reference to this thread next time one comes in.

I am also familiar with a company in Crossville, TN (Warehouse One) which sells such item as returned cookware sets, Sears tool returns (repaired) and Harbor Freight-type returned merchandise. All you need to purchase is a TN tax number if you are a TN resident. I don't think out-of-staters even need that.

I have also bought lot sales on eBay and then resold by the piece. Have ususally done well on them. For example, I recently bought what were identified as five blacksmithing hammers. I thought one was a horseshoer's creaser and, not only did it turn out to be one, but a very sought after brand name. I think the entire lot cost me something like $30 delivered and that one item resold for over $100.

Were I do best in this regard is the value added concept, such as purchasing items which either need some repair or can be made into other items of greater value.

Sometimes it is just where to look. For example, article in newspaper a bit back on one drycleaning chain in Nashville selling unclaimed items for the cost of the bill. Article noted there were a significant number of designer labels among them. For someone who knew what they were doing, I rather suspect there was money to be made in buying and reselling them on eBay.

Last year I purchased a pallet of hinges from a party in MO. They had purchased them from a business which made them for a 'you assemble' furniture place. As I heard the story that company went out of business and took this sub-supplier with it. Some of the hinges aren't particularly resellable in their current form, such as some which have either a 3/4" 90 or 45 degree offset. Some I sell that way, but I sell more by taking out the offset and selling them as flat/flush hinges. The real deal on the pallet was 3/8" offset brass H-hinges. Six full (large) boxes of them. A pair of these are listed in a restoration catalog at $8.00. I sell them for 24/$12.00. I'll eventually make my money back on the pallet on just those hinges alone. (My projection is it will take me 3-5 years to resell the hinges. However, they aren't costing me much to list in my store, have virtually no eBay competition for them and they aren't take up much room in my barn.)

Some of you may remember the microwave cookware Kenneth in NC manufactured at one time. I recently bought out his remaining inventory and have them listed on eBay. I will also take some to a flea market from time to time. Here I admit I haven't found the right eBay marketing approach yet. Problem may be I'll selling them so cheap folks don't associate quality with them. Those I can get to try them pretty well rave about them.

When buying for resale I try to use the time three rule. Unless I am pretty sure I can at least resell for three times my acquisition cost, within a reasonable time, I normally pass the deal by. For example, say I saw a box lot of six widgets I think I can resell at $15 each and S&H is $10. 6 x $15 = $90. Based on my time three rule I would normally only bid $20 for the lot as it will cost me $30 with delivery. I'm outbid about 60-80% of the time, but I do get some very good deals.

Some exceptions are fast moving items. I have sold a couple of books which I had trouble keeping in stock and now cannot order them as they are out-of-print.

[Janon]

You have to have the knowledge to recognize opportunity. Where you get the items from makes no difference.

My opinion : there are now too many sellers on Ebay to consider "wholesale resell" - too much competition and too much work. You'll basically be working to provide someone else with profit.

For someone that wants to make $2-$3k/year by selling every now and then on Ebay - its very doable. If you want to earn a living on Ebay, it requires lots of work... and you still may end up with less than minumum wage when the dust settles.

cheers,

[Ken Scharabok]

Agree with above. You have to find an area which isn't saturated.

At one time I wanted to add blacksmithing reference books to my store. Made of list of good potential titles and then checked on both eBay and half.com for sales. Chose only those which no one else was listing. Book markups aren't very high and I violated my times three rule. They eventually sold, but not with enough turn-over to continue stocking them. As noted, I was making money for the publishers and/or wholesaler, but not me.

One of my best selling items right now one on which I am THE only eBay seller. Somewhat easy to compete when you have no competition, pretty well including at local retail.

This is a potential item for listing in one of the topic catalogs, but I have no intention to make my part-time business into a full-time one.

I was one of the first onto the eBay market for Chinese-import batteries. Sold a bunch before competition drove down prices. Same for recently expired hearing aid batteries and retractable dog leashes. One of those deals to where you get in and get out before the price structure collapses.

[comfortablynumb]

in short you sre better off to sell a wide variety of "one of a kind" items that you can get cheap or free or nearly so.
sell what you come across, whatever it is. Diversify.
and sdont try to make a mint off something free, forget what its "worth" if yo take TIME to find a willing seller...
if it cost you nothing, and you sell it for 5 bucks you make 100% profit.

flea markets are a gold mine if you know what kinda stuff you can resell.

she askes me all the time "why are you always reading those ebay listings? your not buying anything!"
no but I am learning what kinda stuff there is and isnt for sale and how much of whats up for sale.
lazer pointers and coffee cups... way to many for sale. not worth my time.

I look for the stuff thats either not available or the stuff that only has a few auctions and those auctions are all being bid on.

some types of car serivce manuals are a good example. try to find a dealer service manual for toyota trucks..... some yrs are near impossible to find on ebay and when they come up youll pay 70+ bucks for one.

I have a service manual for a ford aspire... not much demand for that one.
the festiva however there IS...
junk parts for some cars.... even little stuff goes for big bucks. you have to figure out what cars...

[Ken Scharabok]

Long story, but I purchased a used Hesston Haybine from a neighbor and managed to damage it beyond economical repair by using it as a field leveler. Sold it to someone for parts. However, I kept the service manual. It is not copyrighted, nor is it available from the dealer any longer. I make about ten copies at a time on my PC copier and then sell them on eBay, only listing one at a time. When it sells I list another.

In my store so it runs me $.03 for thirty days. I sell 6-8 a year. Not great return, but it is mostly profit.

My point on unclaimed clothing at dry cleaners is a good example of buying for resale. You need to know what to look for as far as designer labels and what they are selling for on eBay (by size) to determine if even the cleaning bill is worth the cost to you. Some may be worth a bidding auction while many may only be store material. Here I could foresee someone doing the browsing talking to someone at home on a PC who is on eBay at the time. Hon, see if there are any X brand, size 10 dresses listed.