Can anyone recommend the best route in starting an online wholesale business? For instance, what is the best method for contacting the manufacturer. Is it the distributor? And, does this type of sales transaction require that I pre-purchase product? All I want to do is become the middle man for the manufacturer and end user and offer drop shipping. And, if anyone has any information on the tax implication on wholesales in Illinois, much appreciated.
What would the best negotiating tool be in order to increase the gap between purchase price and cost?

Any other bits of info is greatly appreciated.

Maileen,

No matter what type products you try to wholesale, you'll be competing against companies who have been around since the particular product gained acceptance.

In many cases, there are jobbers who are in between the manufacturers and the wholesalers. You'd have to do business with the jobber, as they have contracts protecting their business. At the same time, they have contracts they sign with the wholesalers who buy from them.

As an outsider, the established wholesalers will make you about as welcome as a fox in a hen house. Don't expect the jobbers to agree to dropship for you, when they already have wholesalers doing more volume in a month, then you could hope to do in a year.

Everyone is protective of their territory, and wholesalers who only make a marginal profit aren't going to give up ground easily.

There may be some situations where you could get into wholesaling/dropshipping, but it will probably involve niche markets, i.e., you'll accept smaller orders than their present supplier. If they buy from a jobber, their minimum order may be the jobber's minimum, so you couldn't expect the jobber to dropship a smaller quantity for you, than they do for their established accounts.

In addition, the established wholesalers may get a volume discount that wouldn't be available to you as a start-up.

I know much of this as I'm in a specialized business that involves the type of transaction you are hoping to do. The difference is that my industry is promotional advertising. The company I am affiliated with places my customer's orders with Bic, Nike, Titleist, Jerzees, Swiss Army, Totes, Case, Fossil, and thousands of other suppliers you wouldn't know. The supplier than decorates their product with my customer's name & logo, and dropships the finished product to my client's designated location.

I earn great commissions, without having to pre-pay for merchandise, stock inventory, or handle sales tax collections and reports to the various states, cities, and counties where I ship the orders. I don't even have to do billing or collections, as it is taken care of by the company I am affiliated with.

Kaeser and Blair is currently handling over $75 Million worth of orders annually, so my orders receive the volume discounts as part of their total.

Good luck in finding wholesale sources, but don't be surprised if you discover very feww sources who will accept your orders and handle the dropshipment for you.

You might want to visit your local Economic Development Office, SCORE, or other business assistance center.

Dennis

Dennis Bevers
BASSCO, Inc.
Full-time, home-based, self-empolyed since 1987.
Dealers needed-US residents only!

How do I become a dealer through the company your with. I have been looking for months for a solid company to do business with. I have been an affiliate before and still am, but I'm not making a penny. Any ifo would be great.
Thanks,

Sky,

You can find all the info on my site at -

www.cuttingedgeadvertising.com/opportunity.htm

Follow through to the botton and click on tghe link to request the free 4-lb. packet.

The opportunity is also free.

Dennis Bevers

Dennis Bevers
BASSCO, Inc.
Full-time, home-based, self-empolyed since 1987.
Dealers needed-US residents only!

Hi Dennis. I am trying to put my buisness plan together but I am so... unsure of who or where do I get my merchandise from. For instance, my buisness will made up of todays fashionable teen clothing. The price of the clothing has to be reasonable because I live in a small town (pop. 15,000) with one Walmart, Cato, retail clothing store somewhat like Foley's but cheaper, one grocery store besides super Walmart and two dollar stores. Since harder times are coming because of gas prices, the closet shopping mall is over an hour away. I want to bring fashion to this small town for parents who cannot afford to go out of town. Yes... I do want to make money but I want something that is going to work. I need info on honest wholesale/distributors and how the process works. For example, when I order from a certain company and I get a name brand item such as Nike, can I resale without any strings attached? How do I know the Nike item is legit? I will be looking for several items such as different style shorts, jeans, shirts, skirts, dresses, shoes, jewelry, skateboarding style clothing, techdecks, etc. Got any ideas? Thank

Patricia Bryan

I would google wholesale teen fashions and other key words that will get you to suppliers.

T

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!

>Maileen,
>
>No matter what type products you try to wholesale, you'll be
>competing against companies who have been around since the
>particular product gained acceptance.

>Dennis


I agree whole heartedly; I wanted to start a small handbag business online. Since I'm a stay at home mom I made websites to promote. I did get many inquires. The site is The Handbag Hut. I started free to see how it would go and then plan to upgrade. www.webstarts.com/handbaghut. I then linked to an online store. The store has deleted all my products. So I went in and tried to rename the items for copywright ie...(Designer Inspired)

I have a disclosure on my site in reference to any names or brand name products. Now the site is promoting google links because I get quick a bit of traffic to the site. I have been online for quite some time. Heres the site: www.handbaghut1.ecrater.com. Please also note that there are other sites with the Name Brand presented however; I guess mine looks so close to the real thing; they wont let me sell.

I also have images on myspace of the products, What should I do and How can I start on a shoe-string budget. Already have customers inquiring and wanting to purchase.

Let me know if you want to see more of products but you can see them on the queeze page. Please Help! and Thanks for taking the time to read.

Please see www.worldwidebrands.com

>Can anyone recommend the best route in starting an online
>wholesale business? For instance, what is the best method for
>contacting the manufacturer. Is it the distributor? And, does
>this type of sales transaction require that I pre-purchase
>product? All I want to do is become the middle man for the
>manufacturer and end user and offer drop shipping. And, if
>anyone has any information on the tax implication on
>wholesales in Illinois, much appreciated.
>What would the best negotiating tool be in order to increase
>the gap between purchase price and cost?
>
>Any other bits of info is greatly appreciated.

Our dropshippers have all contacted us by email or telephone (occasionally in person) and told us that they want to carry our products on their website. They set up an account with us and simply log in and place their drop ship orders. They pay for their orders as they are placed, but we deduct their percentage from the order before billing them. We do the packaging and shipping directly to the customer.

Fwiw, the best negotiating tool to increase the gap between purchase price and cost is ALWAYS going to be volume. The more you sell, the lower your cost.

I do not give my shop drip accounts the same price as my retailers or distributors.

Tina

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!

http://www.dropship-business.com/Marketing/DD_Index.asp

Hello, this is the only site you need really. I use this one and one other that I've been with for 12 years. Check out my site. Not to buy - just to look at the items. I understand your need as I went through the same thing. So, here's the deal. You want product right? Wholesale right? This link can do many things - for a tiny investment from $49.95 - $199.95 (depending on your needs) Poof - there's your wholesale biz, your website, 200,000 products to either buy for yourself or resell, and make profit. You can also become an affiliate for free - did I mention FREE... and make money helping people like you.

Also, if you go to my online Home & Garden shopping bazaar, www.crazedshopper.com, and like those 3000+ products, I can help you buy there as well - for like, I think a $25 sign up fee (something like that). Profits are great, upward of 50% - 75%, products are superior quality, and a perfect biz to work on your time. You will need to get traffic to your site... I use Jason with www.webtraffictonight.com. Great guy. On top of things. Tell em Judith sent you. Good luck, and if you need any other assistance, please email me - happy to help - we've got to stick together in these times I tell you. Any you know what? I refuse to pay retail for anything anymore. Check out the afiliate comp plan from the site link above - superior.
BTW: Jason with webtraffictonight.com does all 4 of my websites' traffic.

Be well - hope this helps.
Judith with www.crazedshopper.com

Thank you, I look forward to getting to know you.

I don't want to negate Judith's work, with this post. So, Judith, please don't take my comments that way. Your site looks great, very well put together, and hopefully you're getting the traffic you want. (If so, I'll take you up on a referral to your friend Jason -- I'd also like to discuss the traffic you do get in another thread... if that's ok - otherwise, I'll email you off-list).

That said...

We examined Dropshipbusiness.com as a supplier (not as a dropshipper) and had huge concerns that they only advertise in the US. Our largest business (being Canadian) is already in Canada, so there is already brand recognition for us with Canadians. I will note, though, they seem to be offered now in Canada and the UK, but it still states quite clearly on their site that they only advertise in the US. So, if you are looking for International broadcasting, a supplier would want to look at that.

The other big concern we had was that the affiliates were more interested in signing up other affiliates than they were in selling the products. Judith, you seem to have more of an interest in making a success of your shop than in signing up members, but we were concerned that the affiliates signed up to this program's leanings weren't the same as yours.

For those who were interested in drop-shipping our products, putting them up on a website alongside inexpensive dollar store items did nothing to add credibility or quality to our products. Although the icons on the front of dropship-business.com included brand names such as Sony, Nintendo, Black & Decker, etc. the products we saw on the affiliates websites didn't bear witness to that. Instead what we saw, and there is nothing wrong with this, it just didn't work with our products, was a dollar store product list.

I don't want to take away anything from the value of dropship-business.com. Fwiw, what we saw was easy, well put together and inexpensive... But as a supplier, we have to consider the "shelves" on which our product is displayed, and dropship-business.com didn't fit the bill for us.

In fact, most of the dropshipper companies, like this one, stocked their shelves with similar dollar store items.

In order to get the "shelves" we were looking for, we were pretty sure that we would need to get into Commission Junction and they wanted only suppliers who are already selling in excess of $26,000 per month. Now, if I had that kind of sales... I wouldn't need affiliates!

T

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!

Tina B,

Now, I know a shrewd businesswoman like you Tina, who, (according to your website,) "...prepares everything with great attention to detail", is able to see an "opportunity for business" in the "business opportunity" I mentioned!

FOR EXAMPLE...if you were to look again and pay "great attention to detail" to this item:

http://www.dropshiponauction.com/Store/display_item_detail.asp?system=1&prodid=7&categid=366&subcategid=39&itemid=403224&wprodid=16

and notice the following...

1.) The item is Bvlgari Omnia, is "in stock" and is among the finest "5 star" quality of its kind from a very respected Italian designer and manufacturer. (see http://shop.bulgari.com/)

2.) The retail is $67.00 USD and sells at www.fragrancenet.com for $33.19 USD, (free shipping AFTER $60.00 USD) see ad at http://www.fragrancenet.com/f/net/wf_items.html?cat=02736&cur_letter=B&gs_gen=W

3.) OPPORTUNITY: Your price would be $18.83 (US or CANADA) and provides MUCH room for any shipping costs, ALL DAY LONG!!! Keep in mind www.fragrancenet.com has "credibility" and has over "3 Million Orders Shipped".

4.) You profit at LEAST $14.36 to $34.36 on this one 5 Star Item? There are many others...YOU JUST HAVE TO SHOP...THAT'S WHY "The Crazed Shopper" is a badge of distinction!

This is only one instance of many...

So, any success requires a little work, and to provide a service to your clientelle, not stiffle selections to what only YOU would buy for YOURSELF.

Now Tina, when I joined this group, one of the goals I had in mind was not to pick apart everyone elses programs, products, websites, business, etc. I believe there are many, many people here in the US and in Canada who may find this service valuable. Beyond your
opinion, there are amazing name brand products that YOU WILL NEVER FIND IN A DOLLAR STORE, i.e., ipods, cell phones by Sony, Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry, etc. You will find fine leather coats, boots, auto accessories, playstations I and 11, X-Boxes, so on and so on.

My goal is to help anyone who wishes to make some extra money, in these hard times, make money! Moms who need to stay at home, dads who wish to work closer to home, people who want to learn the Wholesale biz, or need to make a few extra dollars or simply save money, do just that. Now, I will never bash you or your business or credibility, and I request you practice self-control while viewing other peoples opinions, and their businesses. If you want to sell peppers - more power to you. Not my gig. But good, have fun. Just be nice.

I would appreciate a public apology, as you really have no idea about this company. It is credible, and offers much to many.
Good luck in you endeavors, as we all are working so hard just to survive, and really need to stick together, help each other. Take another look at the site(s). I'm sure you may even find something that you or your family might like. And if you don't like the "Affiliate" thing, ok, no worries, it's not for you. And who cares about what every other person uses it for? Why do you care? We all have to make money to live, right? Remember the US dollar? It is very weak right now.. So, please - try not to dis other business owners credibility. AND CERTAINLY NOT MINE. MY INTENTIONS ARE HONORABLE FOR OTHERS.

Thank you, have a nice day.

Judith Carr

Thank you, I look forward to getting to know you.

Oh, here we go.

I didn't respond to the opportunity of this group as a reseller, I gave my opinion as a company offering their products to affiliate programs offered to people who are building their shops online.

Whereas I will admit that having Bvlgari perfume in stock for someone offering products certainly may suggest quality products, it doesn't in and of itself give me the confidence that the affiliates will show my products in their required light. That says nothing of the dropship, it speaks to how I think my products will be treated.

>So, any success requires a little work, and to provide a
>service to your clientelle, not stiffle selections to what
>only YOU would buy for YOURSELF.

Absolutely, but we weren't talking about what I would buy, but rather where I would sell what I am selling. I wouldn't sell my products at a flea market, and I wouldn't offer it a regular grocery store either. That doesn't mean that people won't buy the products offered in those places, it simply means that I don't want someone putting my products on those shelves... I know that they won't sell.

>Now Tina, when I joined this group, one of the goals I had in
>mind was not to pick apart everyone elses programs, products,
>websites, business, etc. I believe there are many, many people
>here in the US and in Canada who may find this service
>valuable.

That's interesting. I had two reasons for joining this group. The first one was to take advantage of the expertise that others could offer me based on how they had already done business, and the other was to share what I had already learned based on my experience. If that means picking apart someone's programs, products, websites, business, etc. Then that is what it means. For me the point of networking is to help each other examine opportunities and challenges so that we think of all of the things that we need to think of BEFORE we jump in headfirst, eyes closed, mouth open. So, although you would hesitate to do so, I feel it is our obligation to each other.

> Beyond your
>opinion, there are amazing name brand products that YOU WILL
>NEVER FIND IN A DOLLAR STORE, i.e., ipods, cell phones by
>Sony, Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry, etc. You will find fine
>leather coats, boots, auto accessories, playstations I and 11,
>X-Boxes, so on and so on.

I'm sure there are. As I said, when I examined this group to be our affiliate program, that's not what we saw. What we saw was dollar store trinkets.

>My goal is to help anyone who wishes to make some extra money,
>in these hard times, make money! Moms who need to stay at
>home, dads who wish to work closer to home, people who want to
>learn the Wholesale biz, or need to make a few extra dollars
>or simply save money, do just that. Now, I will never bash you
>or your business or credibility, and I request you practice
>self-control while viewing other peoples opinions, and their
>businesses. If you want to sell peppers - more power to you.
>Not my gig. But good, have fun. Just be nice.

Now obviously, I got your back up by believing that you would take offense to my post. Perhaps you should have taken it in the spirit it was intended.

Maileen gave me the impression that she(he?) was interested in figuring out how to get past the "affiliate programe" or in more common vernacular, "the middle man" and drop ship for specific companies. She(he?) did not say which particular companies. If you'd responded to her email by saying that Commission Junction was where she should join, I would have commented on how I feel about CJ based on what we explored. There is nothing personal in this and there was certainly no intention to be mean.


>I would appreciate a public apology, as you really have no
>idea about this company. It is credible, and offers much to
>many.

You might appreciate a public apology, but you won't get one. None is deserved. I simply stated what I learned about this drop-ship organization and I stand by my opinion. Yes, it is credible, and yes it offers much to many, but as I said, it was not for US. That is MY personal opinion. And my opinion is of no more or less value than yours.

>Good luck in you endeavors, as we all are working so hard just
>to survive, and really need to stick together, help each
>other. Take another look at the site(s). I'm sure you may
>even find something that you or your family might like. And if
>you don't like the "Affiliate" thing, ok, no
>worries, it's not for you. And who cares about what every
>other person uses it for? Why do you care? We all have to make
>money to live, right? Remember the US dollar? It is very weak
>right now.. So, please - try not to dis other business owners
>credibility. AND CERTAINLY NOT MINE. MY INTENTIONS ARE
>HONORABLE FOR OTHERS.

A couple of things that I should note here.

We are sharing ideas and thoughts and knowledge here. For some reason, I get the impression that you have a different agenda or that you are personally at stake for your feelings about this company. My purpose for posting is simply to provide Maileen with my impression of Dropship. A sensible person would look at my impression, look at yours and then decide whether or not it suited them. I have no personal stake in whether or not Maileen sees this company as of value to her or no.

Whether or not I personally would buy anything from anyone in Dropship's affiliate group is moot. The point I make is that I have examined this company and decided it wasn't a fit for us, for specifically the reasons I outlined. My perceptions may seem skewed to you, but they are just that, my perceptions. I would hope that anyone examining Dropship would do so based on her(his?) goals, not mine, and decide whether or not it suits them and their business, not me or mine. The examining and the decision making is entirely up to them and I believe that being given all of the information available on any topic, rather than just the nicey nice stuff, gives all of us a better ability to make an informed decision.

Have a great day.

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!

I was wondering if you have to sell these wholesale products online?
I would be interested in selling products at home parties. I don't want to do mlm companies because the percentance is not high enough for me. Most are 25%, I would like to earn at least 50%.
If you know of any products that offer this, please let me know.

Thank you,
Trina

>I was wondering if you have to sell these wholesale products
>online?
>I would be interested in selling products at home parties. I
>don't want to do mlm companies because the percentance is not
>high enough for me. Most are 25%, I would like to earn at
>least 50%.
>If you know of any products that offer this, please let me
>know.
>
>Thank you,
>Trina

Hi Trina,

Most companies would not necessarily put their nose into whether you are having home parties to sell their product or actually having a bricks and mortar store or if you were selling on line. For products you want to carry, simply ask the companies if they want to participate, you'd probably have to have an account with the company and then you could purchase somewhere less than retail price (depending, I would guess) on quantities you can move; but most would gladly help you set yourself up with your samples for a modicum of the retail price.

I think that part of the difficulty with "affiliate" groups is that you have to have a website hosted through them in order to offer their products. I suggest asking this question specifically of the affiliate group; if there are any out there for whom you can offer the products and not necessarily have a website, they'd be the best ones to ask.

Good luck with it, it sounds like a neat idea.

I'm curious... why would you want to do home parties but not align yourself with one of the established "home party" companies?

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!

I have done some of the "home party" companies. They mostly want you to get more people into the program to earn your income. I want to earn my income from selling products. Most retail stores have a 40% or more mark up on the products, and thats what I want, without a store. The companies that I delt with offered 25% of sales, but after ordering catalogs, hostess gifts, samples, your were not making that much, it was not worth it for me.
I really liked doing avon because they offered 50%. But after the forth campaine they drop you down to 20% unless you sell over $1,200 a month. and there are so many avon ladys in my area, it was hard to get customers.
I did another company and was doing very well, six to eight parties a month, but after buying everything, I wasn't making much income.
So I quess I am looking for something different.

Trina

>.....You will need to get traffic to your
>site... I use Jason with www.webtraffictonight.com. Great guy.
>On top of things. Tell em Judith sent you. Good luck, and if
>you need any other assistance, please email me - happy to help
>- we've got to stick together in these times I tell you. Any
>you know what? I refuse to pay retail for anything anymore.
>Check out the afiliate comp plan from the site link above -
>superior.
>BTW: Jason with webtraffictonight.com does all 4 of my
>websites' traffic.
>
>Be well - hope this helps.
>Judith with www.crazedshopper.com
>


How do you track the traffic that Webtraffic tonight is sending you? I use two independent companies, and their traffic reports are almost always exactly the same. When I purchased a campaign from Webtraffictonight, and look at their daily reports, they claim to be sending me thousands of new visitors, that neither of my reporting services can find.

I think the bulk visitor market is a scam.

When I emailed Jason @ webtraffictonight, he didn't reply, but he quickly replied to my Paypal dispute.

Now, we're all pretty smart here about this stuff right? How does this answer from Jason sound to you folks:

Below is the customers information they purchased a 30 day
campaign we guarantee they will receive all 15,000 visitors
in the 30days it has only been 3 days so far. Jason




Looks like Jason is trying to convince Paypal that he has more time to come up with real visitors, even though his daily reporting already claims over 2,000 so far have been to my site.

>How do you track the traffic that Webtraffic tonight is
>sending you? I use two independent companies, and their
>traffic reports are almost always exactly the same. When I
>purchased a campaign from Webtraffictonight, and look at their
>daily reports, they claim to be sending me thousands of new
>visitors, that neither of my reporting services can find.
>
>I think the bulk visitor market is a scam.
>
>When I emailed Jason @ webtraffictonight, he didn't reply, but
>he quickly replied to my Paypal dispute.
>
>Now, we're all pretty smart here about this stuff right? How
>does this answer from Jason sound to you folks:
>
> Below is the customers information they purchased a 30 day
> campaign we guarantee they will receive all 15,000 visitors
>
> in the 30days it has only been 3 days so far. Jason
>
>
>
>
>Looks like Jason is trying to convince Paypal that he has more
>time to come up with real visitors, even though his daily
>reporting already claims over 2,000 so far have been to my
>site.

Not the sort of response I would expect from someone I am paying for a service. Is it just me, or do you have alarm bells going off?


Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!