wholesaling-retail phones

dada44

hi there,

was thinking of getting a few phones to sell retail, as a side thing, and presumed that i would have to get in touch with a wholesaler.

i was wondering if anyone had any ideas / advice regarding this ?

my first point would have been to contact phone manufacturers such as samsung/nokia, and ask for a suppliers list

columbiana

I'm afraid there is very little profit in this- you would need to be buying in huge amounts to secure a decent discount, and even then most of the networks will subsidise their pay as you go handsets so you will struggle to compete with the big boys.

The only real money to be made is selling airtime contracts, but in order to deal with the networks you would first have to go through a 3rd party until you can prove that your business model is sound, and that that you are not bringing the networks into disrepute by misselling or poor customer service.

The network that I worked for would sell pay as you use handsets for around £20 LESS that they paid for them, as the phones would be locked to the network and they made their money from the airtime credit that customers bought. You would also need to factor in the people who buy things and then return them a couple of days later- so no longer 'new' and cannot be sold as such.

I hope this is helpful, and that it all makes sense- feel free to contact me if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them!

JJ_Egan

Retail then you cover warranty repairs initially .

jje

dada44

i think the manufacturers cover the warranty no ?

dada44

ps, where would one go about to get a list of wholesalers? the phone manufacturers themselves ?

Jon_01

Most wholesalers will need trade reference and I don't know of any that will give credit on the first few orders. So you'll need a fairly big budget to get started.

JJ_Egan

dada44 wrote: »

i think the manufacturers cover the warranty no ?

No you as the seller are responsible under the sale of goods act .
You can claim back from the manufacturer but that may take time .

4 car phones is what John Cauldwell started out with buying them wholesale and selling on . But he was in at the very beginning with very little competition .

jje

dada44

so how do these small independent phone shops get stock? as well as online sellers, such as those in ebay ?