Mobile Phone Wholesalers?

nads

Hi,
Does anyone know any mobile phone wholesalers? I'm thinking of opening an online shop :T but just don't know where to get the phones from!

Should I contact the networks direct?

Thank you.

Woby_Tide

www.hughsymons.com

Anon

nads - you need to think a lot more about it as a business idea if you are having to ask on here what is one of the key issues for your new venture (no disrespect!).

However, in the spirit of helping, Dextra (part of Caudwell empire with Phones 4u etc) also do distribution -http://www.dextra.co.uk/4uindex.html. I see that they do white label solutions (you set up an online shop with some flexibility on design but it is effectively fed by their serve and they handle distribution). Plus side to business model is that you can be up and running quite quickly, down side could be, depending on how you do it, being seen as an affiliate site as they seem to get some stick on here (that said, Phonoboxdirect.com seems to be a white label Dextra site and is still discussed on here, as are Boots, Debenhams, Jessops, WHSMith and Woolworths if I recall correctly, so it is clearly legitimate in the eyes of the big brands).

Given any site that does not have a history seems to raise alarm bells (particularly with cashback), I suspect it may be a difficult market to get into.

Good luck with your new venture

Anon

nads

You calling me thick Anon? You callign my dad a !!!!!!?! lol

I now realise I was searching for the wrong words, instead of mobile phone wholesalers, I should have been searching for "airtime distributors" which seem to be what they are called!

Wow, it's very expensive isn't it! This was simply the first step to see costs and deifnately looking into it more because the mark ups are quite significant! Sometimes £200 plus profit for a standard contract sale!

xycom1

Mark ups and margin are high, but at the same time potential risk is also high - with respect to airtime contract commission clawbacks from the network or your distributor, etc.

I read the information on Hugh Symons website about their airtime dealing contract terms and conditions, and it's quite loaded in their favour in terms of fraud and tariff downchange clawbacks. The latter has been addressed by the networks to some extent in terms of preventing customers from changing tariff in the first x months, but you will need to think how you are going to protect your business from fraud - e.g. fraudulant applications for airtime contracts, provision of fraudulant proofs (having worked in a mobile phone shop previously, I've seen dozens of dodgy proof of address documents, etc.).

Bear in mind as well, if you're thinking of offering PAYG phones - IIRC you buy them from the wholesaler at a cheap rate, sell them on at a profit and when it's registered and the customer has topped up a certain amount, the distributor gets their commission for the connection and you're home safe. What if the customer never registers the SIM? (i.e. buys the phone to put their existing SIM in) Then the distributor will deduct their lost profit (the lost commission) from your account!

There's so many box shifters out there, pushing out phones at unbeatable prices, that to protect yourself against loss, whilst also remaining competitive and driving turnover and profit is quite a challenge!