Electronics Reselling

[that_staples_guy]

I think I have an idea to start reselling electronics, I know the people that supply Staples and I was wondering if I could get an account with them. The main rules I saw were:

-I must order $10,000+ in merchandise yearly.
-I have to pay a $200 application fee.

Do I need a business account to get this started, also do you think a bank would give me a loan, maybe for $2000 to start this off?

Thanks!

[deep]

I doubt you need a business account, although you may need to have a business license and vendors permit to open an account with the supplier. You probably don't need a loan either....a credit card or line of credit should cover you. Terms for paying the supplier are likely better or identical to the terms you would set. Unless you plan on carrying a lot of inventory, you should be able to survive with a $5-10K limit.

[Shaner]

The most important thing to ask yourself is where you would resell the items.

If you plan on selling on RFD, you're going to end up bankrupt. There are too many lowballers and penny pinchers on RFD, you'll never get them to pay retail prices.

Selling on E-bay will result in the same problem. Too many penny pinchers looking for a good deal.

You could set up a website and sell from there, but how would you attract customers? You'll have to pay a lot for advertising and there's already so many online businesses that there will be too much competition to even gain ground in the market.

So, where would you resell the items?

[that_staples_guy]

Thanks for your input, they do have net 30, so that's nice. I was thinking eBay actually, I'm pretty sure I can find something that gives a bit of profit, right?

RFD? no way lol, I sold a new sealed $700 + taxes DVD recorder I got as a gift during christmas time and the buyer received it for $400 flat and he still asked for a cheaper price.

[Shaner]

E-bay will be a tough one, although if you can get the items cheap enough, you might be able to squeak out a very thin profit.
E-bay businesses are very time consuming though, as you'll be dealing with stupid people who you have to chase to make payment, leave feedback, etc. People will also try to rip you off, so make sure to use tracking numbers!

I had an E-bay business a few years back and I made a good chunk of change, but it was so time consuming that I gave it up. I was selling porn though, and there's always room in the porn market for more sellers. It will be harder with electronics.

[that_staples_guy]

Yes, I was hoping to have a high volume of sales in order to offset the thin margin. I think it's like this for electronics for the most part :( You're right Shaner, tracking is a must, as a seller I was hit with refunding since I had no tracking number. lol porn, it's an amazing industry, so many players out there, yet they're all driving around in Hummers. Thanks for all your input.

[ji2o0k]

I had an E-bay business a few years back and I made a good chunk of change, but it was so time consuming that I gave it up. I was selling porn though, and there's always room in the porn market for more sellers. It will be harder with electronics.

man, I think we should gather a few RFDers (mature members in age) and get a full side business going on. Since you mentioned you can make some good money and you know the "ins" and "outs" of the industry (no pun intended), it would be worth considering.

But not something you would tell your friends I guess.

[poppa]

don't do it unless you've got contacts overseas that can get the product cheaper than Ingram Micro, Tech Data, etc.. That's how Canada Computers operates.

If Newegg pulled back from expanding into Canada then you know it's either saturated here or it's just not worth it because of a small market base.

However, I wouldn't mind helping even with pr0n.

[that_staples_guy]

Dang, that's who I was thinking of contacting, Ingram. I won't be selling through a store though, it'll be strictly eBay and nothing else.

[UrbanPoet]

E-bay will be a tough one, although if you can get the items cheap enough, you might be able to squeak out a very thin profit.
E-bay businesses are very time consuming though, as you'll be dealing with stupid people who you have to chase to make payment, leave feedback, etc. People will also try to rip you off, so make sure to use tracking numbers!

I had an E-bay business a few years back and I made a good chunk of change, but it was so time consuming that I gave it up. I was selling porn though, and there's always room in the porn market for more sellers. It will be harder with electronics.

It was your own porn wasnt it you crazy lil man wh0re.

I did an Ebay business too back in the day... i was able to find a NICHE market in Canada that no1 could touch and i made a HUGEEEE freakin profit b/c i was the only one doing it on Ebay. However.. 2-3 other competitors came in and ran me to the ground... I didnt wanna be stuck making 5-10% profit when i was makign 50% net profit easy.
Then i imported a bunch of LED keychains back when they were really popular, now EVERYONE knows those suppliers in china.

Remember the Profit % on electronics is Very small

[that_staples_guy]

Yeah, I'm cool with the low profit on electronics, I hope to gradually increase volume increasing profit overall. Anyone know how to get a business licence?

[deep]

Everything you need to know about biz registration. (http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/business/topics/bn/menu-e.html)

And Ontario Vendor's Permits (http://www.trd.fin.gov.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/cma_3_7061_1.html)

[that_staples_guy]

Wow, thanks a bunch deep!

[jaigandhi5]

sell clothes instead...higher profit margin...but then again, you'd be supporting child labour

[that_staples_guy]

sell clothes instead...higher profit margin...but then again, you'd be supporting child labour

Sell clothes eBay? Who would be the supplier?

[that_staples_guy]

Any idea on how to get a line of credit? Or should I apply for a credit card, I need the money to fund all the expenses associated to get this started (registration fees, application fees).

[beerbaron105]

ebay and selling electronics no longer go hand and hand, you will lose your shirt, its impossible for a small owner to compete with companies that buy thousands of dollars of cheap third world made product and selling it for absolutely rock bottom prices, the only way they stay in business is because they sell thousands of these units every week, but they constantly have to undercut each other

like said before, find a niche, do reserach, otherwise avoid selling on ebay, and avoid selling electronics in general, who would a person rather go to, your one owner shop or a massive electronic outlet with awesoem prices and amazing warranties

im not trying to come across as an *******, im just hoping you will see the big picture before diving into something

[Qube]

You MUST find a niche... like Dynamism or Geekstuff4u, otherwise you can't justify the costs.

[that_staples_guy]

Hey has anyone here tried Alibaba.com?

[IceMan77]

Any idea on how to get a line of credit? Or should I apply for a credit card, I need the money to fund all the expenses associated to get this started (registration fees, application fees).

I'll tell you one thing, trying to get a business loan or credit will be harder then squeezing water from a rock. Every creditor and bank will require you to personally guarantee the loan along with a rock solid business plan and all the other nonsense documentation. Save yourself the trouble and just apply for all your loans and credits personally. It'll be much easier to approve. You can claim all of it back later, just make sure you keep the paperwork clean.

[emoci]

Hey has anyone here tried Alibaba.com?

Yep, also try tradekey.com, and globalsources.com, and liquidation.com
(last one actually has US suppliers, and they arrange shipping from you, it's like a wholesale Ebay)

There is a good deal of chinese manufacturers out there, got some responses but pricing for most electronics(it was mp3 players I inquired on mostly) wasn't good enough.

Consider also that most will ship through Pacific to Vancouver Port(http://www.portvancouver.com/trade_shipping/trucking/rail.html), and you gotta arrange to get your stuff down here by either truck, or rail (CN, CPR). You'll need a broker and GST is payable on anything that comes in, in Ontario you gotta pay the PST as well (it actually has another acronym when you pay it for imports but the same percentage), but you get to asses this yourself.

To import stuff regularly all you need is a BN (there is no fee for this application) number (also if you apply for your Ontario BIN number in the same application, you pay only $60 rather than $80 fee--BIN or rather the papers have a 5 year expiry date).

You don't need to worry about collection GST unless your profits go over 30000, but you must collect PST right away, no matter what profits.

Last you are gonna have to worry about a Vendor License.

Personally I really didn't think I had the cash to put all these together, actually the worst part was getting the stuff from Vancouver to Toronto.
I know someone that has found a supplier in California and has stuff shipped to Montreal by ship and goes picks it up himself on a back and forth trip.

[emoci]

...

[daytonarfd]

Hey all, while on topic...has anyone heard of t&t payment? Im trying to order from China and this is the only payment method they accept? Just wondering if it's secure in case they're scammers b/c im spending about $1300cdn.
Also, will I get charged a heavy amount of $$$ during transport from China to Toronto?

thx guys

[emoci]

Hey all, while on topic...has anyone heard of t&t payment? Im trying to order from China and this is the only payment method they accept? Just wondering if it's secure in case they're scammers b/c im spending about $1300cdn.
Also, will I get charged a heavy amount of $$$ during transport from China to Toronto?

thx guys

check this in regards to TT
http://resources.alibaba.com/article/44/Popular_payment_methods_in_international_trading.h tm
Also this: http://resources.alibaba.com/topic/475/TT_Payment.htm

It's a risk you'll have to take though.

If you really want to bring stuff in your worry is not China to Toronto, remeber you will pay them for both the merchandise and shipping it to canada(but this will usually get the stuff as far as being loaded in the Port in Vancouver). Then you'll need a way to get it through customs and bring down to Toronto. Calculate a reasonable amount of spending on Shipping, taxes, and within Canada transportation.

[that_staples_guy]

Yeah I've had it, after reviewing wholesale list upon wholesale list I can't find a single thing that's profitable. Then you have to filter through all the bloody scammers to find the actual legit sellers. Mr friend and I will give ingram micro a shot (fee charged only if account is opened) as a last thing. I think I'll give this a rest and focus on school and make money from an eventual job.

[TrevorK]

Yeah I've had it, after reviewing wholesale list upon wholesale list I can't find a single thing that's profitable. Then you have to filter through all the bloody scammers to find the actual legit sellers. Mr friend and I will give ingram micro a shot (fee charged only if account is opened) as a last thing. I think I'll give this a rest and focus on school and make money from an eventual job.

I have access to an Ingram account, and after all is said and done you're looking at a 2-5% profit over what a computer store charges.

It's good if your in the business for service, but it's bad if you're just selling parts.

EDIT: Have you seen Ingram's prices? If not, give me a couple items that you're looking for and I'll post 'em.

[that_staples_guy]

Thank you very much TrevorK!

If you can, please take a look for the following:

Apple iPod Video 30gb, black/white
Motorola RAZR, SLVR
Treo 650
Logitech MX5000 Keyboard Set

Thanks Again!

[x95zsk]

Not to burst your bubble. I was doing this type of stuff for like 1.5 years. not worth it in my opinion. NO margin and people nickle dime you. You are cheaper to buy it from canada computers than the distributers.

My bro was working for Merisel (now bankrupt) - a computer distributer. They LOVE mom and pop shops because they have HUGE margins. If you want to get good pricing from ingram micro, supercom etc, you need annual purchasing over $1m/year. FS does a lot of purchasing from Ingram micro, super com (i know the buyer over there). Same with BB. Canada computer also does HUGE buying power from ingram micro.

those are my 2 cents.

Thank you very much TrevorK!

If you can, please take a look for the following:

Apple iPod Video 30gb, black/white
Motorola RAZR, SLVR
Treo 650
Logitech MX5000 Keyboard Set

Thanks Again!

[that_staples_guy]

lol my bubble was burst long time ago, I still wanna give ingram a shot since I have nothing to lose by applying, I'm pretty sure they may have some product that people could make $ on.

[TrevorK]

Thank you very much TrevorK!

If you can, please take a look for the following:

Apple iPod Video 30gb, black/white
Motorola RAZR, SLVR
Treo 650
Logitech MX5000 Keyboard Set

Thanks Again!

I just tried - and someone tried the password on my account too many times. I'll get back to ya in a couple days when I get it unlocked.

[that_staples_guy]

Yeah they lock it if it was tried too many times. Thanks TrevorK.

[bubble.tea]

man, I think we should gather a few RFDers (mature members in age) and get a full side business going on. Since you mentioned you can make some good money and you know the "ins" and "outs" of the industry (no pun intended), it would be worth considering.

But not something you would tell your friends I guess.
:D

[that_staples_guy]

lol anyway, an update, I've found a wholesaler (were still talking like $5 profit here per unit) and I'll be registering my business as a partnership between a friend and I this week. I just hope that we can pump out some good volume to get a good amount of cash.

It's weird though, (btw. these are cell phones). Many phones on eBay seem to have some major price fluctuations on the exact same items.

Example:

Nokia 6XXX Both unlocked sealed gsm units.

One auction was $450 = about $50 profit for me
Another auction ended at $316, meaning an $84 loss for me.

It's not only this phone either, plenty of the Nokias and New Moto's have some weird price ranges. Can anyone explain why this is happening?

[illyas]

It's probably because there are so many of the auctions for the same phone and since people start it with $0.01 a few of the auctions might be missed and get sold cheap.

[that_staples_guy]

^ Yeah, I guess that'll be the only way to explain it, even auctions for the same thing, from the same company have really weird price differences.

[x95zsk]

they are using avg pricing. If you want more information how these stuff works, let me know...i have done stuff on ebay and now have stopped. Just IM me.

lol anyway, an update, I've found a wholesaler (were still talking like $5 profit here per unit) and I'll be registering my business as a partnership between a friend and I this week. I just hope that we can pump out some good volume to get a good amount of cash.

It's weird though, (btw. these are cell phones). Many phones on eBay seem to have some major price fluctuations on the exact same items.

Example:

Nokia 6XXX Both unlocked sealed gsm units.

One auction was $450 = about $50 profit for me
Another auction ended at $316, meaning an $84 loss for me.

It's not only this phone either, plenty of the Nokias and New Moto's have some weird price ranges. Can anyone explain why this is happening?

[RonyPal]

Bottom line is this
Canada post does not serve as a inexpensive way to ship, therefore on ebay you will always be beat by us suppliers
You cannot compete with us sellers
i ran a business sucesfully bu that was through clever marketing, gl though

[steen]

It's weird though, (btw. these are cell phones). Many phones on eBay seem to have some major price fluctuations on the exact same items.
A lot of sellers also make lots of money on 'handling'. So for those bidders who do not read the whole auction, they think they're getting a better deal.

[Geese_Howard]

the 3 most important things for any business

location, location, location

internet is good as an add on, but main source of sales might be hard.

[that_staples_guy]

Wow, I'm looking at some prices here on RFD and I'll tell ya, some people are making a good amount of profit.

I'm not looking into setting up a store, although that is an idea that I'm considering for the future.

[that_staples_guy]

Update

I'll be going this Wednesday to get my business # as well as my Vendor Permit and GST/HST registration. I probably won't be selling on eBay as most of you suggested, to many fakes and refurbs selling as new to compete with. I think I'll be starting a website and start selling online, but I'm not 100% sure yet.

I'd like to thank x95zsk for helping me out with a whole whack of noob questions, great guy.

[poppa]

Update

I'll be going this Wednesday to get my business # as well as my Vendor Permit and GST/HST registration. I probably won't be selling on eBay as most of you suggested, to many fakes and refurbs selling as new to compete with. I think I'll be starting a website and start selling online, but I'm not 100% sure yet.

I'd like to thank x95zsk for helping me out with a whole whack of noob questions, great guy.

I think it's gonna be tough to sell online when you've got FS/BB to compete with. Ask yourself why would people want to buy from you? What is your target market? If I'm in the GTA, I've got quite a selection in computer parts and electronics retailers within driving distance, why should I buy from you?

[that_staples_guy]

Well, I forgot to mention what I'll be selling. I'll be selling cell phones and I took a look at a dealer in Toronto. They seem to be doing well, and they look to be well established.

Thing is, with the prices I have, I'm able to offer the phones $20 cheaper than they do, and that's including taxes and shipping, which is extra for them.

[TrevorK]

Thank you very much TrevorK!

If you can, please take a look for the following:

Apple iPod Video 30gb, black/white[/b]
MA146LL/A - $351

Motorola RAZR, SLVR
Treo 650

Don't carry

Logitech MX5000 Keyboard Set
967558-0403 $131
967558-0215 $135


Sorry for taking so long - better late than never I hope.

[that_staples_guy]

Thanks TrevorK for the prices, man, eBay is looking pretty bad in terms of profit, too many fakes and refurbs selling as new to compete with. I'll try applying for Ingram once all the info is mailed to me.



Does anyone find the RFD "sponsered poster" program helpful in attracting sales?

[Canucklehead]

Try to negotiate longer payment terms from your supplier - otherwise you will have to finance the purchase and then wait until you sell the stuff before you can pay off the loan. This will eat into your razor-thin margins.

Don't forget the misc. costs like packaging, labels etc. This takes a few bucks of margin off in each shipment as well.

With regards to the question about attracting sales by being an RFD sponsor - how many people have clicked on a deal by a sponsor? Maybe should do a poll on that one!

Focus on getting the word out - how will you do it and how much will it take?

[RonyPal]

Thanks TrevorK for the prices, man, eBay is looking pretty bad in terms of profit, too many fakes and refurbs selling as new to compete with. I'll try applying for Ingram once all the info is mailed to me.



Does anyone find the RFD "sponsered poster" program helpful in attracting sales?

no i do not believe so, i believe it costs 150 a month? with yoru pfoit margins i would doubt it, and i don tthink it attracts that many more buyers, it would be good if sponsored posteres could bump more than twice a day

[that_staples_guy]

no i do not believe so, i believe it costs 150 a month? with yoru pfoit margins i would doubt it, and i don tthink it attracts that many more buyers, it would be good if sponsored posteres could bump more than twice a day

Yes, the cost is $150 a month, and I've realized that I'd rather not sell to the general RFD community anyway, no offence but some people just want to lowball too much as if what I'm selling is stolen or something.

[brisk]

CC is selling MA146LL/A for $317.99, regular price is $324.35...

MA146LL/A - $351


Don't carry

967558-0403 $131
967558-0215 $135


Sorry for taking so long - better late than never I hope.

[dasaylay]

I'm also finding that selling electronics is getting harder and harder, but that also depends on volume. I have a hookup to limited selection of items, and right now the hot item my cousin can get is an Acer 1916S LCD monitor for $150. I've done minor research and the average price seems to be $280~320CAD before taxes and shipping. My selling price initially proposed was $250CAD, or about a 66.6% margin, but after finding out the declining prices of Acer LCDs it might shy away people, not to mention I haven't figured out liabilities such as warranties. I discussed with my dad and he said he'll lay down $1500 capital to buy 10 monitors and see how they sell, and so far I've got 3 potential buyers in a matter of 2 days, but I don't expect it to go flourish greatly.

I know my customer base is VERY VERY tiny as I use word of mouth advertising. To make it short, I'm only a 16 year old trying to earn some cash for University, and I'm not looking into making this a regular sustainable income as it's just impossible with as you said all the refurb items being sold as new on ebay or any form of ebiz. My suggestion is stay away from ebay that's for sure. I live in Mississauga, so I can make an attempt to contact Ingram in person and see if a small deal can be struck (very unlikely that I will get any sort of break). It's probably best to get licenses and all the forms completed so the government doesn't come after you, but that was obvious. A friend of mine owns an online merchant store and he's only 17, and he sells Diablo II items online and generates about $3500US/mth. Not bad eh? But like everyone else said a niche market is key and everything seems to be supersaturated as it is.

I suppose an alternate option is to skip Ingram acting as a middleman and contacting manufacturing plants in Asia or wherever the products are made. It will be a costly startup as registering as a merchant probably wouldn't qualify and you might have to register yourself as a company to import mass quantities of liquidable inventory. What I sell is probably illegal as I don't report any income to the government through sales, but why should I? I make under the minimum taxable gross income and also I charge no taxes so I don't have to remit jack :D All I'm saying is that eBiz already seems flooded, so unless you come out with insanely low prices and good shipping (unlike TD or NCIX) you might not be able to take down the big guys like FS or BB. Just my 2 cents

[hp]

the hot item my cousin can get is an Acer 1916S LCD monitor for $150.

... SNIP


Wow, to be quite honest, this is an amazing price. You can easily sell these monitor for $230 ($200 + tax) and make your self a nice profit.

In general, you are looking at 5% to 10% margin (at most) when it comes to selling computer parts.

hp

[that_staples_guy]

Yeah, but I wonder, monitors at even that price you'd be making little on eBay, I've realized that selling locally would be the best way to maximize profit.

[daytonarfd]

A friend of mine bought one of those wholesale lists. He's dealing with a couple of people right now, he said he gets really good prices on electronics.

He bought it off these guys: http://wholesaledropkit.com

[that_staples_guy]

The problem with wholesale lists is that there is no clear way to verify whether the supplier is legitimate or not. When you have a system such as Alibaba you can easily pick out who's good and who isn't. I've lost about $170 USD so far in finding lists. This one is only $10, and your friend seems to like it so I'm going to give it a shot. Thank you.

[daytonarfd]

Very true. Let me know how it goes. My friend said the thing with wholesale lists is that you really have to spend some time researching all of the companies and send out a lot of emails inquiring about wholesale costs. It takes time.
I bought one of those kits a while back, I found a wholesaler in China for pocket bikes. They usually sell here for around 4-500. My prices were only 90 U.S each bike, huge profit to be made. I just wish I had time to order them and resell them. The problem with electronics and computers is the markup value. It's so low that it's not even worth it in my opinion b/c there's not much profit after you factor in shipping/handling, paypal fees, your time packaging and bringing it to the post office, etc.. unless you sell a huge quantity on a daily basis.

[emoci]

well you can get some great deals form chinese suppliers, but it costs to have stuff shipped by sea to vancouver (this is the only method some of them will offer), then somehow you need to have it clear customs and get on either CN or CPP railway to get it to toronto. So one must consider all the shipping, duties, and transportation before calculating profit.

PS. I dowloaded this wholesale list a while ago, for any interested here goes:
http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=33066&share_id=59000&hash=e133a8a028dd7e7458ca02dbc2d29302

[daytonarfd]

well you can get some great deals form chinese suppliers, but it costs to have stuff shipped by sea to vancouver (this is the only method some of them will offer), then somehow you need to have it clear customs and get on either CN or CPP railway to get it to toronto. So one must consider all the shipping, duties, and transportation before calculating profit.

PS. I dowloaded this wholesale list a while ago, for any interested here goes:
http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=33066&share_id=59000&hash=e133a8a028dd7e7458ca02dbc2d29302

Very true, good point. That's why when ordering, make sure you purchase a large amount of inventory so it's worth it from your standpoint. Shipping for the bikes I was going to order came out to around 250cdn for 10 bikes which is not too bad.
I would also look in to good U.S wholesalers, hard to find but it may be worth it from us here in Canada.

[that_staples_guy]

Oh crap, emoci why didn't ya post that earlier?! lol I purchased the $10 directory but the one emoci put up for free is the same thing, condensed in smaller files. Oh well, anyway, my website should be up soon folks, I'll keep everyone posted.

[nabeel]

BTW For anybody looking to start an online store and you have any volume of shipments (at least 50/month) drop me a PM and I can link you with somebody who can get you Purolator/FedEx for rates comparable to CanadaPost.

[cy]

Thanks TrevorK for the prices, man, eBay is looking pretty bad in terms of profit, too many fakes and refurbs selling as new to compete with. I'll try applying for Ingram once all the info is mailed to me.



Does anyone find the RFD "sponsered poster" program helpful in attracting sales?

Yes it does. If you noticed, i was a sponsored poster for a while. It certainly does attract sales, but i guess one of the people hit the main point (no offense): Too many cheap people in HF. THey are not willing to spend $4 on a ipod case and wanting to low ball me to $2?

You will end up be wasting your time. Especially for electronics, prices drop QUICK.

FYI, I was a cell phone dealer 3 years ago. THe market was absolutely amazing. $80min - $150+max margin easily on each phone. Look at the market now? It's mainly due to too many people trying to import their own phone and call themself "dealer". THey think the strategy is to hit the rock bottom prices, then they will attract customers. It is true to a certain extend but as the time goes, support and warranty is alot more important to most of the customers. People are willing to spend $20 extra at a well established company, ie. Pacific Mall prices are coming down nicely now.

I would suggest you start with a small batch of phones/products, test out the market and find your customers because you order a big lot of them:
1) Prices change DAILY/WEEKLY. Can be from $10 to $80+
2) Inventory carrying cost
3) If you don't sell them in time and one of the dealers drops prices, your razor thin margin will turn into massive lost.

I am slowly backing out from the electronics field, mainly buying and selling for myself. I have picked assessories and misc stuff to carry mainly because low carring cost and higher return than electronics. (Jumbledeals.com)

I have more information or advice if you required. My suggestion is, unless you have a LARGE SUM of spare money or a detail business plan, otherwise you will end up losing money just trying to order a good load of electronics and hoping to resell them. Of course if the cost is dirt cheap, it wouldn't hurt to gain some short term money ;)

Sorry not trying to turn you off, but i rather warn you than seeing you investing $10k, then losing $3k in the end.

-Chris

[that_staples_guy]

Thanks Chris, what you're saying there is very true, I remember when I purchased my Treo 600 brand new a few years ago at about $400 I wondered if the seller would give me a discount, he replied back saying that he was only making a $15 dollar profit on it. I did't believe it until now!

Wow you're website is pretty nice! You sell Centrino decals and everything, I might buy some to slap on to some of the laptops at work that have AMD's in them :twisted:

[cy]

Thanks Chris, what you're saying there is very true, I remember when I purchased my Treo 600 brand new a few years ago at about $400 I wondered if the seller would give me a discount, he replied back saying that he was only making a $15 dollar profit on it. I did't believe it until now!

Wow you're website is pretty nice! You sell Centrino decals and everything, I might buy some to slap on to some of the laptops at work that have AMD's in them :twisted:

I guess thanks in advance :D

Treo 600 came out as $900 cost at that time and selling @ $1100 - $1200 when it first came out. That's how high the margin was.

Let me know if you have more questions for me.

Cheers,
Chris

[that_staples_guy]

You know where the money is? Those "hyped" electronics. Take for example the D&G Razr V3i, there's potential to make a couple hundred dollars profit on it. Whereas, on average in my situation I'd only make $20 profit on a phone.

[toalan]

Reselling is a tough business because there is almost no opportunity to add value. Majority of the value is already added in the manufacturing process, what is left is for you to get the product to the customer.

I used to own a little computer store for a few months, everything is cut-throat man. 2-3% margin if you are lucky, heck the government makes much more than you on each sale.

Cell phones used to be a huge margin business, but now it is very competitive.

In electronics reselling everyone makes more money than the guy selling it; shippers, government through taxation, the guy sweeping the floor.

[that_staples_guy]

Very very true toalan. Everyone involved in the process is making far more than whoever is reselling the product. toalan hit it right on there.

[toalan]

I have the gift of destorying peoples dreams, they call me dreamcrusher, and yes I crush alot.

[ak-47]

staples_guy is already having a great *free* marketing strategy from posting on this thread as everyone who read it will look into his website, spread it to friends etc and buy phones off him for cheap :lol: then make more $ from putting up an add or two ;)

[that_staples_guy]

:arrowu: Well I haven't advertised my site yet, it's still being made. I guess I'll post it up once it's done. I really didn't think of the forums as a means of advertising.

[Drew_W]

Let me enlighten you on some aspects of business:

Know what you sell, sell what you know.

If you're looking for products simply to give you profit and that's all you're in it for, you're going to fail.

The market you're trying to compete in is so saturated you're better off banging your head against a wall.

And wholesale lists...give me a break. Do you think you're going to make ANY money whatsoever if any Joe Blow can buy said wholesale list? Noone is just going to GIVE you a list of suppliers on a silver platter.

FIND A NICHE. You'll realize larger profits with fewer required sales.

Now on Ingram Micro. Some of their pricing is quite good and you can turn good profits. However, all the good stuff requires manufacturer authorization, which means that you're going to have to convince a sales manager from that manufacturer that you're worthy of selling their brand...this means your business has to be up to par. IPOD, Lenovo laptops, all some of the restricted stuff.

[that_staples_guy]

Excellent input Drew_W,

The thing is, I tried to sell what I knew best. Electronics and mainly cellular phones, I can offer great prices in comparison to other online retailers but there are things such as moq's from my supplier which I simply can't handle without more capital.

So, as it stands right now I've joined with a friend of mine to sell car parts even though I don't know a thing about them and I have my friend handle all the questions. I saw that I had to juggle $900 in my hand to make $30 on a cell phone sale, and I had to handle $600 to make a $50 profit on a car seat.

I'm going to use the money that I gain from the car parts selling to invest into my electronics business. I need a good amount of capital for it.

[Drew_W]

Excellent input Drew_W,

The thing is, I tried to sell what I knew best. Electronics and mainly cellular phones, I can offer great prices in comparison to other online retailers but there are things such as moq's from my supplier which I simply can't handle without more capital.

So, as it stands right now I've joined with a friend of mine to sell car parts even though I don't know a thing about them and I have my friend handle all the questions. I saw that I had to juggle $900 in my hand to make $30 on a cell phone sale, and I had to handle $600 to make a $50 profit on a car seat.

I'm going to use the money that I gain from the car parts selling to invest into my electronics business. I need a good amount of capital for it.

Even in car parts, by your example above, you're turning a less than 10% profit. This means you'll have to both turn over more sales, and have much more cashflow to be able to purchase this stuff to make a decent profit.

You seem to be deadset on going balls out into electronics resale, but I warn you, you're setting yourself up for major losses or razor slim margins with which the investment of time and capital simply won't be worth it. A long term investment will get you the same return with no time investment required. If you're making a GROSS profit of $30 on a $900 phone (and that's not even taking into account any selling expenses, the value of your time, etc), that's just over 3% - a bond or GIC will give you more return than that just for sitting on your ass and twiddling your thumbs.

As Chris said above, the market is extremely volatile, and if you don't have large enough margins to absorb market fluctuations, you're going to lose bigtime.

[cy]

Again, like someone said above, if you are going in a price war, you will lose. You have no reputition, you do not have the capital bigger companies have (I assume) - $500k+ to afford the stocks and depriciation, you do not have the resource for support, why should people buy from you? If Futureshop sees you selling for cheaper, they would go right up to ingram and demand a drop in cost, given if their cost is not already lower.

It might sound harsh, but if car parts are making money for you, stay there. Electronics market is very hard to survive now unless you just want to make some gas money out of $20k investment.

Just my advice.

[dvdrsi]

The Automotive field is a great field to get in to b/c the mark-up on products are huge. I was in the computer/electronics reselling field and had 3-4 local distrbutors, registered business, vendors permit, etc. The mark-up on the products are so low, it's not worth your time and money. Most of my distribution costs we're higher than CC!
Don't bother unless you want to bust your balls for a couple hundred dollars in profit a week, if you even get that.

[dvdrsi]

P.S : Some of the wholesale lists people sell are not too bad. I got a few good contacts off one of them.

[that_staples_guy]

That sounds good. Markup is quite good indeed. My friend is getting his Skyline vinyled (sp?) with sponsers who'll either give him cash or cost price products. That should help out a bit.

[Sybersport]

A long term investment will get you the same return with no time investment required. If you're making a GROSS profit of $30 on a $900 phone (and that's not even taking into account any selling expenses, the value of your time, etc), that's just over 3% - a bond or GIC will give you more return than that just for sitting on your ass and twiddling your thumbs.

This isn't totally accurate - a business, as an investment, has a compounding effect because you can reinvest your profits into the business continually, and see a greater-than yearly return.

And in the retail world, customers pay when the item ships - and most suppliers are net 30 - so the customer is financing the purchase anyways.

[Sybersport]

The Automotive field is a great field to get in to b/c the mark-up on products are huge.

OEM / Factory replacement / White box parts - there are good profit margins.

High performance parts - definately not.

Not to toot my own horn, but b/f doing what I'm doing now, I owned www.sybersport.com - I was deep into the business, and I made $$$ on selling large volumes, and I had to supplement this income running a retail store and tuning cars on our chassis dyno.

[Drew_W]

This isn't totally accurate - a business, as an investment, has a compounding effect because you can reinvest your profits into the business continually, and see a greater-than yearly return.

And in the retail world, customers pay when the item ships - and most suppliers are net 30 - so the customer is financing the purchase anyways.

If you're just starting out, it's incredibly difficult to get TERMS accounts, especially if you have limited cash flow.

[Sybersport]

If you're just starting out, it's incredibly difficult to get TERMS accounts, especially if you have limited cash flow.

I can't argue that point, b/c I don't have experience in other idustries - but I can say in the automotive world, I have never run into a manufacturer/distributor/wholesaler who wasn't willing to offer me net 30 when I first started out. They did (at first) put a cap on the volume you can order each month, however.

What I did do with suppliers who would not offer me favorible terms was negotiate drop-shipping accounts, so at least my international customers were able to receive their products in a short period of time - and in those cases, the orders were basically financed by the customer - I only had to provide a 3 day bridge loan for the order.

[cy]

Drop shipping is VERY convinient if you have a trusted supplier. I used to do that with cell phones, that saved alot of time from Asia to Client instead of Asia to Canada to Client, unless the client is local.

[that_staples_guy]

I started doing the drop shipping initially before I put a halt on going forward with my business. The thing with drop shipping is that it costs more per product making your profit real thin when trying to be competitive in pricing. When reviewing the price list I see that real profit can be made when ordering phones 10 at a time, for that, I need some major capital which I don't have.