The Wholesale Forums

[Simmondsp]

Originally Posted by anotheruser

OK, so which of these, if not all, would you feel you would like to start off with? Do you have local wholesalers you can deal with for these goods? Any other ideas for suppliers? Which sales outlet(s) are you intending to use - eBay, own web site, someone else's web site, shop or trading estate unit, if shop, high street or side street? You know the sort of questions to ask yourself.

Where are you based, Simmondsp? I'm in a start up situation myself. There is a 50+% overlap between what I am setting up and the interests you have expressed. There is probably some scope for helping each other out to mutual advantage.

If we can keep this thread going long enough, you can make another 7 posts and will be able to PM me

Seriously, though, this community will be able to help and guide you. Just tell where you want to start. If dropshipping, quantities are obvious. If not, tell us how many and of what. Equally important, where do you intend to sell and, if it's not obvious (e.g. own web site or shop), what is your target market, e.g. well heeled and discerning, well heeled and stupid, poor and impoverished lowest price only, tight fisted and knowledgeable lowest price only, and so forth.

Well I would like to start out in TV’s then go on to laptops and eventually PC’s. There are no local wholesalers that I have found so far near me I am planning on using my own website and also an ebay shop. I will advertise my site on other peoples as I will do the same to them on my site.

I am based in Teesside in the North East of England. That would be great idea helping each other for mutual advantage.

This forum is definitely the best one I have seen. I am only looking to drop ship at the minute. Don’t have enough capital to buy bulk as yet. Im planning on the right fisted knowledgeable lowest price approach. Do you think this is best?

[anotheruser]

Well I would like to start out in TV’s

That's cool. Would you also supply the cables, aerials, connectors, all the peripheral sort of stuff that go with TVs, too?

planning on the right fisted knowledgeable lowest price approach. Do you think this is best?

Errm,. As it happens, No. Where will you source lowest price stocks when you can only offer to buy one at a time? As you have your own web site, there's no need to. Why not only use eBay to drive traffic to your site by selling the peripherals there, and only those which you can source cheaply enough? I'd go for the knowledgeable "hey, look it's cheaper than Argos and much cheaper than that posh high street store" approach, so there's still plenty of room for margin. No way I would try and compete on eBay at this stage, with the quality stuff.

Worth a chat, I think. It could help us both to get started. I'm near Leeds, West Yorkshire, so not too far away either. If you'd like to talk, email me at mikegoodman1 at googlemail dot com to give me a phone number and tell me when it's convenient to talk. Where in Teesside are you? I know the area reasonably well.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Simmondsp

The concept is good if like you say you can dropship them cheaper than uk suppliers already. All im thinking is for the amount of profit i will be making on them once i have advertised the site would it be worthwhile? if it is im more than happy to look further into this with you. What i will do is a bit of research on these types of tee shirts. see what peoples opinions are in the UK and see whether they are positive or negative views.

That's what I'm wondering myself. If there is a market it would be pretty much "money for nothing" (Sorry, if you're a Dire Straits fan I can't help with the "chicks for free" part.) A little market research would be nice. I know they sell very well in the US. And they hold up forever. I'll wear them ofr 4 years or so before retiring them. That's wearing weekly or bi-weekly depending on my mood and the laundry cycle.

I had one guy by a dragon design tee from me in the mall to use as an example for a tattoo. He'd come by every week and pull up his shirt to keep me updated on the progress......

[Simmondsp]

Originally Posted by pete

That's what I'm wondering myself. If there is a market it would be pretty much "money for nothing" (Sorry, if you're a Dire Straits fan I can't help with the "chicks for free" part.) A little market research would be nice. I know they sell very well in the US. And they hold up forever. I'll wear them ofr 4 years or so before retiring them. That's wearing weekly or bi-weekly depending on my mood and the laundry cycle.

I had one guy by a dragon design tee from me in the mall to use as an example for a tattoo. He'd come by every week and pull up his shirt to keep me updated on the progress......

haha on the dire straights bit although not a fan myself. Ill let you know if i have any luck with thoes tee shirts. i no there is a clothes shop near where i live where uni students take all their clothes and the owner will tell them whether he thinks they will sell or not. Ill see if i can get in touch with him for advice. see what he says....

[madeinsiam]

The problem with dropshipping is the cost of shipping and the time it takes. I have pondered the idea of dropshipping goods. Postage takes two to four weeks or EMS is a minimum of £13 and takes 3-4 days. there is enough profit in the second route only if you sell more expensive objects I don't believe consumers will wait 2-4 weeks when they are buying from a local supplier. on the other hand I am looking for agents to sell services which is a form of dropshipping, as dropshipping is basically just taking a cut. Selling websites or any internet services is more practical as there is no overhead in delivery.

[anotheruser]

Buy your seller's membership you advertise the fact on here, madeinsiam. You will get yourself banned from the forum if you start talking about it before you do. This is the second time you've mentioned the intention. I'd be very wary of doing so again, if I were you.

[Pete]

In many cases dropshipping saves on shipping. I sell a line of gift products (figurines, oil burners, fountains, etc.) in the US, nearly every piece of which is made in China. The importer / dropship company is in the Los Angeles area and ships the product within 2 business days. UPS ground shipping can take up to 10 days, so for shipments to the east coast of the US can take from 12 to 14 days.

The avearge shipping cost is about 25% of my cost, about 10% of my selling price. If I were to buy the goods for stock and then ship them out AGAIN, this would definitely cost more to the end buyer, or eat up my profit.

I've bought nearly $ 100,000 from this supplier over the years, so people don't mind waiting 2 weeks for their goods.

Of course, the product itself can make a difference. My grandson recently ordered a new model airsoft gun and was told from the start it would be 3 weeks. He was perfectly happy with that. Of course, it was "has it come yet?" every day, but he waited.

[Comspec]

Price-fixation will get you nowhere - people have to look beyond price. You will not be able to come from a standing start and compete with the 'big boys' purely on price.

You need to look for other USP's and drive the buyer to your site using these.

Anyone who is purely price-driven should not be looking at dropshipping, you should be looking at taking some serious amount of cash and buying directly from Asia, etc. That is the only way you are going to compete on price alone.

Mark