Another Wholesale Marketer post

My hope is that someone else in my situation (someone looking for a distributor or wholesaler to sell items here and there, or full time, on ebay) will come across this site and save themselves the trouble of fooling with a site like Wholesale Marketer.

First of all, let me just say that I went against a principle that I've always heard and heed less frequently than I should; that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Anywho, on with the show

1) Any reputable wholesaler or distributor will require a sales tax ID number or resale certificate to prove that you represent a real business, before they will sell you products.

They are required by law to do so (for taxes), and can exempt you from sales tax by doing this (because the idea is that you'll pass that tax on to consumers in retail). Look up distributors for your favorite products, you'll see that in order to order products you must fax, or email a resale certificate or sales tax id number.

My idealistic mind led me to believe that maybe there were wholesalers who would sell to the general public at a discount. After all, they'd still make a small amount of money through a large amount of transactions, and they wouldn't have to actively market the products... it sounds logical to me. To date though, I've not seen any evidence of such a company.

2) If a company can make more money by selling large quantities to other businesses, why would they be selling to you?

If a company actually has a large stock of products that are in demand, they could sell more products at a time by shipping in larger quantities to real businesses. Selling more products at a time would obviously allow them to increase their total sales (revenue). So, a company like wholesale marketer would be stupid to sell to individuals if their products were in demand, when they could sell to all small businesses who demand much greater quantities of products.

3) These companies know that if you had a resale certificate or sales tax, you'd be elsewhere getting actual discounts. So, they know you've got no alternative, and you're likely to pay.

You have to consider that the people atwholesale marketer know that people who subscribe to their site won't have resale certificates or sales tax id's. After all, if you did have a tax id or cert., you'd be buying things at REAL wholesale prices from major distributors. So, they play you. They say they've got all this great merchandise at a low price, but you must pay to see those prices (always a bad sign). Note: Don't even consider paying for a list of wholesalers.

4) Now that you've paid, you can see that they've got two types of products, good products at prices you won't pay, and cruddy products at prices that you MAY be able to exploit for profit.

After looking at most of the products, you will realize that there are two types of products available: crap that was probably bought at closeout prices because noone else could sell it, and overpriced brand name products (priced above what you could buy them for at your local wal-mart). You go in hoping to sell cameras or xbox games for a profit of maybe $5 apiece, but they've jacked up the prices so high that only a fool would try to sell them at above the "wholesale" cost. You have two options, lose $5 and close the account, or try to sell sterling silver platters, wooden chess boards, and other garbage that is barely below market value.

I suggest you do the first. Take a loss on the $5 and move forward with paperwork to form a business, which will get you a sales tax id or resale certificate. Here's a good starting point for looking for information on your state's laws regarding businesses: FirstGov's local and state business guideline gateway. You can now contact national distributors and "real" wholesalers for actual discounted merchandise to get your business off the ground.