Wholesale which websites are genuine

gilbertcross

Couple of notes to add -
1. Steer clear of dropshippers.
2. Be wary of anything that calls itself a wholesaler. It's not that it's not real, but more often than not, "wholesalers" by that name are middlemen who mark things up way beyond normal wholesale prices.
3. Figure out what specific types of items you want to sell first. The search gets much easier once you've identified your market.

Bewhoyouwanttobe

Thanks all

I want to sell fancy dress clothes, the idea struck me recently when I was trying to find decent priced one's for a fancy dress weekend. I am not interested in making a fortune, just a little pocket money, but I can only find one place that sells this type of merchandise and it is isn't much cheaper than you can buy in normal shops. I am not interested in sticking to a particular theme at the moment, just want to buy few bits of different things and see what sells best, I have done quite a bit of research, so I know what type of things I am after, but will see how things go.

I have been keeping an eye out at carboots and charity shops, but have only found 1 or 2 bits, I would like to try selling a bit more than this.

Thanks again

syanide

beware of alibaba.com its full of scammers. gold/platimum sellers look good but they only have to pay 500 USD... they can make that back very quickly by scamming buyers. I import goods from china and you have to go there and meet the factory owners to get trust etc.. even then some of the factories I visited were obviously front people still trying to scam..

martindow

If items are supplied boxed the first thing is to buy one retail and Google to find contact details for the manufacturer using any information printed on the box. Another thing to try is to go to trade fairs like the gift fairs at the NEC. Google for these or for trade fairs in the market you are interested in. Have a good look around the halls as different suppliers offer varying prices. I wouldn't dismiss wholesalers out of hand. Clearly buying directly from manufacturers is best but not if their minimum order is a container load for tens of thousands of pounds. Also some manufacturers have exclusive deals with one wholesaler for the UK or Europe and would not supply you directly anyway but will direct you to the source. As has been said keep looking as it can be like a chain and the higher up you can get the better. Good luck.

Bewhoyouwanttobe

Thanks All

I have found a 1/2 decent wholeseller prices are pretty decent. I still know they aren't the cheapest, but I should make £1 or £2 on each item, min order was £50, so not too much of a scary outlay

Thanks for info re packaging I will look next time I purchase something.

martindow

How about going around any fancy dress hire shops in your area and having a look at the labels?

soolin

Out of interest have you looked at completed items in the fancy dress category? In some weeks more than half, sometimes two thirds of items go unsold. With that sort of figure and with the amount of competition I can't see that this is a good market for profit at all.

Every single one of those unsold items means a loss for the seller and more listing fees wasted.

Soo

Bewhoyouwanttobe

Yup I have looked, I have picked out the items that have sold well and one's that I have some knowledge of and them people are whacking them prices up to make a largish profit. I am going to give it a try if it fails it fails, never know unless I try. That is why I didn't want to outlay a massive minimum order - if I am going to lose any money it won't be a huge amount. I have spent a few weeks researching all this and I can only try my best. It's hard to find a niche market on ebay these days and like I said I am not expecting to make millions

Thanks for the advice everyone.

soolin

The problem is I don't think fancy dress is a niche market, a basic search brings up over 20,000 items.

Also, if you know that sellers are making a huge profit you must know how much they are buying their stuff for, if you know that it seems logical you must also be able to approach the same stockist that they do.

A big turnover does not necessarily equal a large profit, on occasions I've sold tons of stuff at near cost just to shift it. A casual look would assume i was making a fortune whereas the reality is sadly different.

Soo

callansdad

user051105 wrote:

I can add that there are some free wholesale information sites and have listed a couple below

http://www.thewholesaler.co.uk/index.html
http://www.britishcompanies.co.uk/toys.htm

Hope it helps,

if is does use the thanks button.

Was having a look through the british companies one, not completely free, if you want to see a list of clothing wholesalers/distributers/importers then the will send you a word doc on CD if you part with the grand sum of £250 +VAT:eek: