SellWholesale.com

Rising Tides – Wholesale Business

Jason Green — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 19:54:10 +0000

The Rising Tides was a small wholesale business that had been steadily growing over the years, supplying various products to retailers across the country. However, they faced a significant challenge when a sudden wave of competition flooded the market.

New wholesalers emerged, offering similar products at lower prices, posing a threat to The Rising Tides’ customer base. The company needed to adapt and find a way to stay afloat in this increasingly competitive landscape.

The founder of The Rising Tides, Mr. Anderson, knew that their survival relied on finding innovative solutions. He decided to invest in market research to identify new product lines that would allow them to differentiate themselves from the competition.

After extensive research, they discovered a growing trend in eco-friendly and sustainable products. The Rising Tides swiftly pivoted their business strategy, focusing on sourcing and supplying environmentally friendly products. They were among the first to offer a range of sustainable options, from biodegradable packaging materials to organic textiles.

Their strategic move paid off, and The Rising Tides quickly gained a reputation as a pioneer in eco-friendly wholesale products. Retailers were eager to align themselves with this new trend, and The Rising Tides saw an impressive surge in orders.

The company’s success didn’t stop there. They also realized the importance of building strong relationships with their customers. They implemented a personalized approach, providing exceptional customer service and going the extra mile to understand and meet their clients’ needs.

Through their dedication to sustainability and outstanding customer relationships, The Rising Tides not only weathered the storm of increased competition but emerged as a leading wholesale business in the industry.

This story showcases the importance of adaptability and being proactive in the ever-evolving wholesale industry. It’s a reminder that identifying market trends and understanding your customers can be a game-changer for businesses facing challenges.

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Philips Norelco OneBlade Razor

Jason Green — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 18:45:26 +0000

I was recently shopping for a new razor and decided to buy the Philips Norelco OneBlade Hybrid Electric Trimmer / Shaver. I’m not a big fan of shaving and tend to only shave a few times a week. The cuts and irritation are just something I try to avoid. Since picking up the Philips OneBlade Razor, I shave nearly every day with no irritation.

The OneBlade razor is basically a hybrid of a safety razor and electric hair trimmers. The head of the razor oscillates like hair trimmers and you glide it over your skin to shave. The razor is also double-sided, meaning you can shave with normal razor angles, and use the other side for trimming. Depending on the model, it’s powered by a Nickel-Metal Hydride or Lithium ion battery. Just wanting to give it a try, I went with the cheaper Nickel-Metal Hydride version for about $35. This included the razor, charger, and 3 guards for trimming.

After my purchase, I immediately ran to try it out. It’s a rather pleasant experience as far as shaving goes. My stubble was pretty long after about 4 days of not shaving, and the OneBlade had no trouble. There was no irritation and no cuts. I then snapped on a trimmer guard and trimmed my goatee. Again, no trouble getting through the thicker hair. This first time, I used shaving gel and it made the razor not glide as well as I would’ve expected. For me, shaving dry actually works a little better. YMMV. It’s also waterproof, so feel free to rinse it off in the sink, or even use it in the shower.

This razor is not for you if you must have a perfectly smooth-as-a-baby’s-butt shave. It does a clean job, but you can still feel the tiny stubble. If you have fast-growing facial hair, you’ll notice the 5-o’clock shadow around 3:30. If you’re like me and only shaved every 2 to 3 days, you’ll probably want to go back to every day or two. The good thing is, it’s a much more enjoyable experience that I don’t mind doing every day.

With standard 3-4-5-blade razors going for nearly $5 each these days, and only lasting a week or two, the $35 price tag for the OneBlade really isn’t that bad. It says the blade will last 4 months and even has an indicator to let you know if it’s getting worn out earlier. In comparison, 16 weeks of regular razors will cost between $40 and $80. Financially, the OneBlade is the same or a little cheaper than the alternatives.

Overall, I’m very impressed with the OneBlade Razor. I’ll be sure to post an update after I’ve hit the 4-month mark to report on whether the blade survived as long as it claims.

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Sell Wholesale Products Online

Jason Green — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:57:46 +0000

Once you find a good source for wholesale products, how do you go about selling them?
You have many choices for how and where to sell your products, but the product you’re selling has a great impact on where you should concentrate your efforts.

Ebay

The easiest and least cost-prohibitive route for selling things online is to use an auction site, like Ebay.? You technically don’t even need to know any html to list your item.? However, adding pictures and a bit of html and styling will help tremendously.? The cost for a listing is very reasonable, even if you have to pay a small percentage of your sale price.
Once you have your listing up, you simply wait for bidders.? As buyers find your product, they’ll (in theory) place a bid of the max amount they would pay for it.? However, the “price” of the product only goes up by a small increment.? For example, if a product is selling for $1 and I bid $20, the price would only go up to $1.50.? If someone else bid $5 after me, my bid would automatically increase to $5.50 because my max bid was higher than theirs.? (prices are estimates. I’ll have an Ebay primer soon with more exact information.)
When the auction ends, the highest bidder wins.
That’s it!? Buy your products at wholesale prices…Sell them for a higher price on Ebay…Reap the profits!? What could be easier?

Website

Starting your own ecommerce website is *almost* as easy as selling on ebay.? The steps for gettings started are:

Choose a domain:? This is the name of the website where visitors will go to buy your product.
Buy Hosting: To put up a website, you need to pay someone to host the files for you.
Build your Website: Design it yourself, or use a 3rd-party system.
Add your Products: Again, design the listing part yourself or add your products through the 3rd party software.
Set up a payment system: Give your customers a quick and easy way to pay you.

That’s about it.? Now for a little mor detail.

1. Choosing a domain:

You’ll want a domain that is easy to remember and relates very obviously to what you’re doing online.? For example, if you sell fire extinguishers, a good domain might be WholesaleFireExtinquishers.com.? Once you decide on a domain, you have to purchase it through a registrar.? A common registrar is GoDaddy.com which sells domains for about $10.

2. Buy Hosting

After you get your domain, you’ll need a hosting account to get your website online.? (This step might be a little out of order since you don’t need hosting until after you’ve built your site.)? The cost for hosting can vary, but you can generally expect to pay $5 to $20 per month depending on your needs.? GoDaddy.com also offers hosting, but I’ve had a better experience through my web host, LunarPages.com.? They’re very reliable, and don’t have some of the restrictions that you have to work around with a GoDaddy account.

3. Build your Website:

This is probably the most difficult of the steps if you’re doing it yourself, or one of the most expensive if you’re paying someone else to build your site.? The cost for a custom ecommerce website starts at about $500 and can easily get into the thousands of dollars.? If you don’t have a huge budget and you’re not a skilled web designer, I recommend using a 3rd party ecommerce solution.? One I’ve used in the past is OSCommerce.? You need to have a little technical skill to get it up and running, but it’s mostly about configuring it to your preferences.? This is the fastest route for getting your site up and running.

4. Add your Products:

For this article, I assume you already have an inventory or source of wholesale products that you’re planning to sell.? If you built your website yourself, this is the part where you code all of your products in.? However, if you used OSCommerce, you simply need to fill in the details about your products and the software takes care of the layout.? As far as maintenance goes, the 3rd party solution will save you a ton of time down the road.

5. Set Up Your Payment System:

If you’re selling products online, you’ll want to accept credit cards.? When customers are at your site, you want to have as few barriers as possible between your potential customer and a sale.? Two cheap and easy ways to get started are PayPal and Google Checkout.? Both are free to sign up, and only take a portion of each transaction.? I believe both are still below 3%.? If you don’t want to deal with contracts and monthly fees, these are your best choices.? If you want to get that percentage down, you could sign up for a merchant account and process the credit cards yourself.? Usually, merchant accounts come with very strict contracts and high monthly fees or minimums.? Unless you’re doing a massive amount of business, PayPal or Google Checkout are the way to go.
Once everything is set up and working properly, all you have to do next is get people to your website.? You’ll want to use a mix of search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, and other advertising tools, but we’ll save that for another time.? For now, just get on Ebay or get your website up and running.? I hope this helps you get started in the resale business.? If you have any questions or comments, please use the comment system to let us know.

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What About Rack Jobbing?

Jason Green — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:04:03 +0000

Robert at WholesaleU.com has a great post about a form of reselling that I didn’t think was this widespread.? It’s called rack jobbing, and it might be something for you to look into.? And, I couldn’t stop myself from reading it as jack robbing.? Why would I want to be a jack robber???? There! Now you’ll do it too!? Enjoy!?
Basically, rack jobbing is a relationship between a you and a retailer where you display your goods in their retail location.? The retailer only pays for products sold, and you each benefit with a little profit from each sale.
The only point I disagree with is that he says, “There is no reason for a store owner or manager to turn you down when you offer to place merchandise free of charge. There is no risk involved for him, therefore it is not hard to get you initial accounts setup.”? The next sentence warns that you’ll have to tell the retailer they’re responsible for stolen items.? It’s not the most terrible thing in the world, but it is more merchandise they have to keep from being stolen.? Depending on where you’re placing your products, they might not be used to watching out for thieves.? (ie. hair salon or other service business)? Most businesses should accept your proposition of being a rack jobber, but be prepared to put them at ease over this point.? Also, I want to mention that this policy is very important for you to stick to.? If you don’t hold the retailer responsible for stolen items, they could fudge the sales numbers and report them as stolen, thus shifting profit from your pocket to theirs.

In addition to Robert’s ideas for getting started, here are a few of my own:

Sunglasses at hair or nail salons
Car accessories at an auto body (tire gauges, air fresheners, etc…)

It was a very interesting article that I hope inspires a few readers to give it a try.? If you do, let us know how it goes.

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Wholesale LCD TV Prices Falling

Jason Green — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:32:33 +0000

A warning to anyone preparing to get into the wholesale TV business. The New York Times has an article stating that wholesale TV prices are getting ready for a big drop. Companies have excess inventory and need to make room for new models.
What does this mean for you?
Basically, be very careful if you’re getting ready to buy a lot of LCD TVs. You might get a great price that will turn out to be very high by the time you’re ready to resell them.
They’re also reporting a lower-than-expected demand for LCD TVs. That means, if you have a bunch of TVs that you just bought at too-high-a-price, you’ll probably have trouble moving them. 1. You’ll have to price them higher than your competition because you didn’t wait for the price drop. And 2. Nobody’s buying them anyway. (Not “nobody” but you get the picture. High prices and low demand generally doesn’t work out in the wholesaler’s favor.)

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What is Wholesale?

Jason Green — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:40:51 +0000

If you’re reading this blog, you may already have a good understanding of what the word “wholesale” means. However, it seems that more and more people are losing sight of what wholesale really is.
According to the United Nations Statistics Division: “Wholesale is the resale (sale without transformation) of new and used goods to retailers, business-to-business trade, such as to industrial, commercial, institutional or professional users, or resale to other wholesalers, or involves acting as an agent or broker in buying goods for, or selling goods to, such persons or companies.”
Basically, “wholesale” simply means someone buys a product, and without doing anything to the product, sells it to someone else.
Many consumers want to buy products at wholesale prices, but don’t want to bother buying a palette of the product they want. When I was running SellSunglasses.com, I had a minimum order of 5 dozen pairs. Regardless of this policy, I would frequently get requests for one dozen or even one pair! Now that I have this wholesale blog, I can explain why the policy existed.

There just wasn’t that much profit in selling one pair or even one dozen pairs of sunglasses. I offered free shipping, so most of my profit was eaten up by that. Add in the time to handle the transaction, and it just wasn’t a winning proposition for me.
It’s the wholesale community’s responsibility to not compete with the retail community. If I sell a real customer 10 dozen pairs of sunglasses, which they hope to sell for $20/pair, how would it look if I started stealing his customers by selling them 12 pairs for $20?

When I started in wholesale, I would tell a potential supplier that I couldn’t buy “a lot” of their product now, but once business picked up, I’d be able to buy “a lot” more. The reason “a lot” is in quotations is that it’s entirely relative to whomever is saying it. To me at that time, 100 dozen was “a lot”. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a lot (yeah, enough with the quotes already), to the suppliers. In order for me to get wholesale prices, I was going to have to prove that I was buying on a “wholesale” level. I got a small discount, which was enough to get me started. As my orders grew, my price went down. I was moving from retail prices to more “wholesale prices”.
I suppose this blog post can be taken as a warning of what to expect when you’re getting started. You can’t just call a wholesaler out of the blue and expect to get their rock-bottom prices, unless you’re willing to plop down a stack of cash for a boatload of merchandise. You’ll need to prove that you can move a substantial amount of product before they’ll consider you a genuine customer. Substantial is another one of those relative words. You’ll need to figure out what that means to you as well as to your supplier.
Here are your takeaways:

Wholesale is simply the buying and selling of goods.
When buying a small quantity of products, don’t expect “wholesale prices”.
If you want wholesale prices, be prepared to spend “a lot” to achieve the desired discount.

Good luck, and now if you have a customer ask what your wholesale price is for one item, you can roll your eyes and smile.

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Highest Wholesale Prices in 27 Years

Jason Green — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:38:41 +0000

According to CNN Money, “The Labor Department reports that its Producer Price Index increased by 1.2% in July and by 9.8% in the past year [2008].” The annual Producer Price Index for finished goods rose almost 10 percent in the 12 months that ended in July.
How are the concerns about inflation and recession affecting your decisions to make money online?? Are you more motivated to build a second income, or does the fear have you tightening your pocketbook too much to invest in such endeavors?
In my opinion, we need to continue pushing ahead. The economy will rise and fall, but at a very micro level, we each control our own finances. Sure, a bad economy might make it difficult to get financing or reduce the amount of discretionary income you have to “gamble” with. If you’re looking for excuses, there are plenty. However, if you want to succeed, YOU need to take the steps yourself. Now is not the time to cut back on advertising. If you have an advertising system that’s providing decent returns, Google AdWords for example, you need to stay at your current level or INCREASE your ad spend. If you’re getting a positive ROI on your advertising, more money out means more money back to you.
Now don’t be afraid. The economy, especially the media’s depiction of the economy, can be scary, but if you want to be successful, you need to remember one thing. The economy works on averages. The truly successful people in this world aren’t hurting like the average people are.

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Review of WholesaleCentral.com

Jason Green — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:56:03 +0000

WholesaleCentral.com is basically a directory of wholesale suppliers and products. You are also able to use their “Wholesale Power Search” feature to search the site for specific wholesale products. For a fee, you can list your items in their directory, currently $299 for 6 months. Overall, this is a good place to start if you’re trying to find your place in the wholesale market. Also, if you’ve ever searched for the term “wholesale” you’ve probably seen their site before.
When I started selling wholesale merchandise, WholesaleCentral was a great resource for me. The directory is clearly laid out, and the Wholesale Power Search actually returns mostly relevant results. It was good for researching potential products to sell. You can easily zip through and compare several wholesale sources before deciding who has the best price and terms.
Once you have a supplier, be it from WholesaleCentral or another source, you probably want to start selling those items to make some money. Once you’re ready to go, you can sign up to sell your items on their site. If you have an acceptable profit margin, and can actually make a few sales per month, the $299 fee really isn’t that bad. Over 6 months, it’s only $50/mo. If you’re not making $50 per month in sales, you need to rethink your offering, or ramp up your marketing and advertising.

This isn’t a paid ad of any kind. It’s an honest review of WholesaleCentral.com. When I used their services in the past, I truly got results. The additional sales I received because of my listing with them paid for the fee many times over. I encourage you to do your own due diligence, but SellWholesale.com officially endorses WholesaleCentral.com.

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“How to Run a Wholesale Business at a Profit” – Book Review

Jason Green — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 02:03:27 +0000

I recently found “How to Run a Wholesale Business at a Profit : Plans and Methods for Cutting Down Expenses and Increasing Sales–Helpful, Comparative Cost-Of-Doing-Business Figures Based on a National Investigation Made by the Bureau of Business Standards” on Google Books. You may find the information a little dated, being that the book was published 90 years ago (1918). (2018 Edit…now 100 years old!) However, there are still plenty of principles that can be put to use today.
First, here are the technical details of the book:
By: A.W. Shaw Company
Published: 1918 by the A.W. Shaw Company
222 Pages
Contents:
Part 1: Selling Methods That Have Beaten Rising Costs

Chapter 1: How Fast Are Wholesalers’ Costs Rising?
Chapter 2: The First Step in Overcoming Rising Costs
Chapter 3: Is There a One Best Way to Pay Salesmen?
Chapter 4: Fixing Profitable Sales Quotas That Stimulate
Chapter 5: Getting the Sales Force Ready to Go “Over The Top”
Chapter 6: How to Advertise to Win
Chapter 7: Direct Advertising That Hits Its Mark

Part 2: Keeping Overhead Expenses Down

Chapter 8: Plugging Little Leaks May Save Big Losses
Chapter 9: Cutting Down on Wasted Labor
Chapter 10: Ways to Speed Up the Shipping Room
Chapter 11: Saving Money in Handling Stock
Chapter 12: How Better Buildings Lower Costs
Chapter 13: What Should Heat, Light, Power, Insurance, and Taxes Cost?

Part 3: Can Profits be Maintained Despite Higher Costs

Chapter 14: Can Bad Debts Be Made “Good”?
Chapter 15: What About Local Deliveries?
Chapter 16: Equipment That Helps Pay Dividends
Chapter 17: Making Your Dollars Work Faster

Part 4: Actual Cost Figures That Will Help You Win Out
And of course, the Index.
This book is great for a historical look on the wholesale industry. At its core, the book is full of principles that will help you run and optimize any business. If you’re new to wholesale, or business in general, or if you’re tired of reading hype-filled “start your own business now!!!” books, this is a refreshing look at how our ancestors did business nearly one hundred years ago. If you want to do the math, any dollar figures in the book can be multiplied by about 16 to represent 2008 dollars.
For those that missed it at the top, here’s another link to Google Books where I discovered this unique look at wholesale businesses of the past.
http://books.google.com/books?id=LN8cAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

– Jason Green
SellWholesale.com

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Ideas on What’s to Come?

Jason Green — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:48:51 +0000

Since finally deciding to start this blog, I’ve been brainstorming my ideas with my favorite mind-mapping service, MindMeister. If you haven’t tried mind mapping, and you’re looking for a better way to take notes, brainstorm, or just organize your thoughts, I strongly encourage you give it a try.
Anyway, that brainstorming has resulted in the list of topics below that I plan on discussing. One thing the brainstorming resulted in was that I don’t want to limit this blog entirely to “wholesale” opportunities. The focus will most definitely be on making money online by buying and selling wholesale products, but I will also throw in the occasional random opportunity or service if I think it’s useful. I have a strong tech background, so I’m afraid I’ll be compelled to comment on the tech world on occasion. (See above)
So here it is…the list of topics and proposed future of this blog:
(I strongly encourage you to comment if there’s a topic you’d like to see covered.)

Buying products at wholesale – What to buy and where to get them.
Selling products at wholesale – What to sell and how to sell them.
Starting a wholesale business – How to get set up to sell your merchandise.
Website Reviews – Auction sites, Wholesale Sources, Wholesale Directories, etc…
Scams – What you need to watch out for when buying and selling online.
Business Opportunities – Reviews of the few legitimate business opportunities online.
Fielding your questions – If there’s anything you want to know, please contact me.

I hope that covers what you’re looking for in a blog like this. Once again, now that I’ve mentioned “business opportunities” I want to repeat my disclaimer… I will not promote anything on this site unless I truly believe you can find value in it. Of course I’d appreciate any affiliate commissions and whatnot, but I’m not going to undermine the integrity of this blog simply to get a few more affiliates. (If I scam everyone into a few useless affiliate programs, I’d quickly have no readers. It’d be a bit of a downward spiral.)
Ok. That’s enough for the intros. Expect a new post soon with some information you can actually use.

Thank you,
Jason Green
SellWholesale.com

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