How to buy WHOLESALE

Buying wholesale can be done! And you do not always have to buy in huge quantities. I buy fabric wholesale for my sewing business. It took awhile for me to learn the ropes as to how to truly buy wholesale and I'm passing my well learned tips on to you!

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. ASK YOUR COMPETITION!!! Go ahead and ask your competition where they get their stuff. Some will actually tell you! But be clever. For instance... I needed wholesale India tapestries to use as fabric for my tunics. I contacted a lady who sold tapestries on eBay and asked if she could give me the name of her wholesaler. I promised that I would never sell the tapestries as bedspreads and wall hangings (that's what she was selling them as) but would reconstruct them into tunics and sell them only as tunics. In return for her wholesaler info, I would direct my customers to her if they wanted to buy tapestries to use as bedspreads. She gladly gave me the name of the wholesaler and I've been buying from them for years!

2. CONTACT COMPANIES!!! Contact companies directly and dig deep. Let's say you want to sell kid's craft items. You could start by visiting the Crayola web site and use their contact link. Tell them you would like to buy crayons wholesale. They will most likely send you to certain supplies who will sell to you depending on the quantity you need. It can be a lot of work but you need to do this for every item you want to sell.

3. READ THE FINE PRINT!!! Many companies will list names of other companies in the fine print. Those are the companies you want to contact. For instance, one site I came upon that promised they were selling wholesale office supplies was really getting their supplies from Staples. So skip the middle guy and go directly to Staples and ask them how you can buy wholesale too! Read the fine print in catalogues too. You can find direct contact info to suppliers in many magazines!

4. KNOW WHEN TO STOP! Even when you buy wholesale there is always a way to dig deeper and save even more money. But you may need to stop short of buying directly from the manufacturer unless you are willing to spend thousands of dollars. Let's use my India tapestries as an example. My wholesaler is in the US. She sells in bulk and I have to buy a couple cases of tapestries at once. I could skip her and go directly to the person in India that she buys from but I'd have to buy a truckload of fabric. I can't afford a truckload so I shop from the US wholesaler for that product. If I want to buy less than two cases then I can opt to buy from one of the companies that my wholesaler sells to. My price would be higher per item but I could buy just a few tapestries if I wanted to.

5. BE CAREFUL!!! Stay away from companies that claim they sell wholesale. They are not the wholesalers! True wholesalers rarely advertise their goods. If you know the name of the manufacturer or the brand name go to them first. Even if you can't buy from them wholesale they will send you in the right direction.

Resources

• Get to know Darlene and watch her lose weight!
• Darlene's ebay auctions!