There's many articles of people wanting to resell high demand items like tvs, mp3 players, etc. and them going to authorised distributors of the brands to somehow think they could get prices at wholesale price for a lot of 25.

Is the reason why they don't entertain small players is because they already have a small number of BIG retailers that cover a lot of people? Meaning 2 outlets in a state that have the whole state residents coming in.

So they don't need anymore players in the market just in case the prices of the products will just go down?

Or is it the other reason - Small players can't fit the high MOQ of distributors?

I seriously don't get all this. They want more distributor coverage but they don't wanna accept people.

This is why there has always been a hierarchy of suppliers, Big wholesalers order direct, then sell to smaller distributors buy from them etc etc

The problem being with this Hierarchy is that the price people at the bottom pay is vastly increased compared to the big companies who can buy direct.

The smaller seller though has the upper hand in the personal service, specialty knowledge etc.

imagine if they were to cut smaller people like us all the way!

they can easily pop in personalisation in a warehouse? haha

As a wholesaler myself (not electrical items), we impose a MOQ deliberately to trim out the lowest rung of buyers. We set it so that what we call the 'eBay brigade' are unable to buy from us. It's not that we don't want to accept people, it's that years of experience has taught us that the smallest buyers are also the most time consuming to deal with. They want to buy 10 or 15 items, and they want to talk about it, discuss it, and dissect it as if they were a fortune 500 company making a bid for Royal Mail.

Larger buyers rarely do this. We used to spend more time coddling a buyer buying 15 items than we ever did when someone was buying 500 items. So we took a business decision to eliminate our most unprofitable customers.

And before anyone says it, the tired old argument that small buyers will become big buyers over time is simply untrue. This does not happen, or at least it doesn't happen in the way so many small buyers think it does. We do deal with start up businesses, but only the ones who show real commitment, and place real, respectable sized orders.

Guys, if the money was to be made dealing with the small guys, we would deal with them. But it just ain't worth the effort.

Originally Posted by KBB

As a wholesaler myself (not electrical items), we impose a MOQ deliberately to trim out the lowest rung of buyers. We set it so that what we call the 'eBay brigade' are unable to buy from us. It's not that we don't want to accept people, it's that years of experience has taught us that the smallest buyers are also the most time consuming to deal with. They want to buy 10 or 15 items, and they want to talk about it, discuss it, and dissect it as if they were a fortune 500 company making a bid for Royal Mail.

Larger buyers rarely do this. We used to spend more time coddling a buyer buying 15 items than we ever did when someone was buying 500 items. So we took a business decision to eliminate our most unprofitable customers.

And before anyone says it, the tired old argument that small buyers will become big buyers over time is simply untrue. This does not happen, or at least it doesn't happen in the way so many small buyers think it does. We do deal with start up businesses, but only the ones who show real commitment, and place real, respectable sized orders.

Guys, if the money was to be made dealing with the small guys, we would deal with them. But it just ain't worth the effort.

I think there are a minority of wholesalers out there that are still willing to cater to small guys I guess, if not, the ebay sellers wont be selling loads of the same item for a bargain price...

Originally Posted by KBB

As a wholesaler myself (not electrical items), we impose a MOQ deliberately to trim out the lowest rung of buyers. We set it so that what we call the 'eBay brigade' are unable to buy from us. It's not that we don't want to accept people, it's that years of experience has taught us that the smallest buyers are also the most time consuming to deal with. They want to buy 10 or 15 items, and they want to talk about it, discuss it, and dissect it as if they were a fortune 500 company making a bid for Royal Mail.

Larger buyers rarely do this. We used to spend more time coddling a buyer buying 15 items than we ever did when someone was buying 500 items. So we took a business decision to eliminate our most unprofitable customers.

And before anyone says it, the tired old argument that small buyers will become big buyers over time is simply untrue. This does not happen, or at least it doesn't happen in the way so many small buyers think it does. We do deal with start up businesses, but only the ones who show real commitment, and place real, respectable sized orders.

Guys, if the money was to be made dealing with the small guys, we would deal with them. But it just ain't worth the effort.

I have never read something as 100% accurate on this forum before, couldnt agree more :niceone:

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Wholesale Mobile Phones Mobile Distribution Solutions Ltd, UK based supplier - Importing/Exporting Apple Iphones, Nokia, Samsung, HTC & Sony Ericsson handsets.

Seconded

Originally Posted by KBB

As a wholesaler myself (not electrical items), we impose a MOQ deliberately to trim out the lowest rung of buyers. We set it so that what we call the 'eBay brigade' are unable to buy from us. It's not that we don't want to accept people, it's that years of experience has taught us that the smallest buyers are also the most time consuming to deal with. They want to buy 10 or 15 items, and they want to talk about it, discuss it, and dissect it as if they were a fortune 500 company making a bid for Royal Mail.

Larger buyers rarely do this. We used to spend more time coddling a buyer buying 15 items than we ever did when someone was buying 500 items. So we took a business decision to eliminate our most unprofitable customers.

And before anyone says it, the tired old argument that small buyers will become big buyers over time is simply untrue. This does not happen, or at least it doesn't happen in the way so many small buyers think it does. We do deal with start up businesses, but only the ones who show real commitment, and place real, respectable sized orders.

Guys, if the money was to be made dealing with the small guys, we would deal with them. But it just ain't worth the effort.

All true, a lot of people forget to build a decent relationship with a supplier, it works both ways. One of my suppliers gives me a slight extra discount over most other buyers due to ordering decent quantities and paying on time.

hi
i dont wont to upset anyone & think kbb's post is a good one but,i must say that a few yrs ago i had a furniture shop & to start with we would go to wholesalers etc spend 500 quid every couple of weeks,thats all we had & we got to know these guys & yes we picked are goods & went over them etc because we had to,you have to make sure there what you want & need & that they will sell.i know it must be time consuming for you wholesale guys & i disagree with the small buyers never get any bigger thats rubbish,within 18 months of so called small trading with the wholesaler i started with we were buying 1-3k from them every wk,then you have to order over the phone & have it delivered but i still liked to collect when i could to go & have a coffee & a bit of banter because you get friendly & start to trust each other,trust on both parts doesnt happen over night you need to build trust with your wholesaler & also build trust with your buyers
i dont want to offend anyone but i think a little time & effort will pay off,remember there are a lot of wholesalers out there,selling the same things.

Adding to this I have dealt with many wholesalers over the years.
From by experience when you purchase in bulk as a new customer wholesalers will tend to give you a good discount to sway you into the 'trust relationship' and repeat orders.
Once this is established wholesalers may not always keep to this discount.
Always check...............