How to Buy from Wholesale Suppliers and Sell Online? 

Last Updated: February 5th, 2020

Buying products from wholesale suppliers to sell online on websites like Amazon or eBay can be a lucrative business and something you can do in your spare time.  With more than 220 million online shoppers in the United States alone and online commerce booming, it is reasonable to try your luck by selling merchandise online.

Online commerce is expected to hit over $684 billion by 2020, with people opting to purchase more and more products online rather than in physical stores.

So, how does buying merchandise through wholesale suppliers enable you to grab a share of that market and make a profit? For an extensive and detailed step-by-step guide on how to succeed in the business, you can read our Ultimate Guide to Selling on Amazon.

However, if you are looking for some quick instructions, continue reading this article, where we give you some tips that will help you start off on the right foot and give yourself the best chance of success.

Buying Pallets of Merchandise

The best way to make a profit in this business is to buy wholesale pallets of merchandise. Buying in bulk will secure you a lower price per each unit and increase your profit margin on resale.

However, buying anything just because it is cheap could lead you to all sorts of issues. Online platforms such as eBay and Amazon have enabled everyone with internet access to buy or sell anything, leading to oversupply almost on every market. To create any kind of a chance for yourself, you should not only buy pallets of merchandise but also look for a niche market lacking supply to tap into and make your start easier.

However, even when you manage to find a niche market and follow the right steps, sometimes your business might be slow to take off and will take two or three attempts to find the right market. Whether you select to fill only one niche market or build a portfolio based on a number of niche markets you find is a personal preference.

Finding the right market and the right products for your online sales business can make or break your business venture. Selecting a product to sell based on your personal preferences or emotional attachment can be a mistake as well as simply following a trend.

The current trend shows that electronic gadgets and books top the most sought-after type of merchandise. This also means that everyone is looking to secure a piece of that market, leading to an oversupply. Your only way to be successful at any of the electronic market segments like smartphones is to purchase high-quality merchandise at low prices securing reasonable profit margins and the ability to stay competitive in the market.

Finding the Right Wholesale Suppliers

Once you have made a list of your products and niche markets to fill, it is time to complete the next step in line: securing cheap products of high-quality.

Working with wholesale suppliers is one option. However, wholesale prices are getting closer and closer to retail prices, and therefore it is becoming harder and harder to make a profit when sourcing merchandise this way.

If you have already been working with wholesale suppliers for a while, you could look to renegotiate contract terms. Suppliers appreciate long-term customers and this could lead to many perks such as flexible payment terms, lower prices, better shipping options.

In case you are only at the beginning of your online resale career, another source for cheap wholesale merchandise is liquidation companies, which might bring you even more advantages.

First, through exclusive contracts with top retailers and manufacturers, liquidators avoid wholesale suppliers and keep the merchandise costs even below wholesale.

Most merchandise liquidators work with are customer returns, overstock, and refurbished products. If you are concerned about the quality of these products, you’ll be glad to learn that top liquidators have strict rules when it comes to the quality of merchandise listed for sale. This is due to the fact that a top liquidator like Direct Liquidation has partnership deals with top retailers like Target, Walmart and Amazon, to name just a few. This guarantees that the merchandise you will buy at Direct Liquidation’s online marketplace complies with the high standard of quality set up in those deals.

To safeguard yourself from risk, you should check all the information you can find on the company you plan on working with. Diving in headfirst without doing any research could lead to purchasing damaged, broken merchandise or even scrap you would never be able to sell.

One way to avoid issues with dodgy liquidators is to request a manifest, a list of the products within a pallet showing the quantity, type, and quality of each product. If a supplier is withholding information or declining to provide you with the manifest, it is better you stay away from that source.

How to Sell Liquidation Items

This part of the job requires patience and intelligence. You should never expect to recover your investment through a single huge sale. Buying products in bulk will secure enough stock for you to sell for a longer period of time. You will not necessarily make a profit on every product you sell, but the final calculations should be done once you have sold all the products in a wholesale pallet you procured.

Listing your products online with the lowest possible prices might backfire for a number of reasons. Without advertising your product, you can’t expect the customers to flock to your page. In addition, setting your prices too low could raise suspicion among potential customers that the products you are selling are either copies, or there is simply something wrong with the listing. To avoid these issues, do some market research to compare the prices of your competition and set your prices accordingly.

Also, set up a marketing campaign to advertise your store and products and make sure you provide the right service to your customers. A happy customer is a returning customer, and they are very likely to bring some of their friends along.

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Henley Johnson

Henley currently works as a sales representative for Direct Liquidation, assisting businesses with product sourcing of liquidated merchandise from the largest retailers in the world. Whether you are looking for a pallet or a truckload Henley is here to help you grow your business.

View Henley’s Bio on YouTube.