4 posts shown.
quietbison43 said:Check out Amazon Business. They've got decent stock at good prices, plus warehouses in Chicago County and similar hubs.
@more how much is a shipment like that costing you, and what kind of volume are we talking about? Are you grabbing a whole pallet or something?
I reached out to Eazy via email to introduce myself as a prospective new client.
They didn't even bother to offer a response.
It is difficult to speak highly of their level of professionalism, even if I will concede that the website itself is quite well-designed. It seems painfully obvious that they are aiming for wholesale volume, yet they fail to provide any concrete pricing upfront. How exactly does one intend to scale sales when they can’t even manage the basic courtesy of responding to an email? It is a bit like trying to run a high-end dealership without ever opening the showroom doors.
From what I understand, they’ve actually phased those fees out now. It seems they finally realized how bad it looks to charge people for something that essentially lines their own pockets in the first place...
Instead, they’re setting up web shops and generating custom links... using your own domain, and then featuring you right there in their directory of online retailers. If traffic flows from your site over to theirs, they actually pay you a retail margin...
However, there is a catch: you have to be a registered business entity.
That means you’ll be responsible for handling all the taxes, plus the overhead for an accountant and all those various federal filings.
And, oddly enough, they still require you to provide guarantees and payment insurance to Mussolini (which, if you ask me, feels entirely nonsensical)
Since, at the end of the day, everything funnels back to them anyway—either you can't track the actual turnover, or you're paying for the inventory upfront in the first place.
I will be in a better position to give you a definitive answer once I have officially signed the contracts with them.
However, as a general rule of thumb, any wholesaler you come across can effectively serve as a B2B partner for you.
That said, it is worth noting that some distributors utilize much more sophisticated inventory management systems than others, which naturally leads to far more accurate real-time stock data. For instance, if you look at a major player like Best Buy, they have that level of precision. You see similar setups with large-scale wholesalers like Sysco or Grainger; with companies of that caliber, you can certainly negotiate an integration for a system that works similarly for your needs.
That, my friend, is what we call B2B business modeling.
It isn't just about working with a giant like Best Buy; there are plenty of other major distributors out there you could tap into.
Essentially, you are operating using their existing warehouse database.
The flow is simple: a customer buys from you, they pay you, and then you settle the bill with the wholesaler.
They handle the logistics by shipping the product directly to your buyer while sending the invoice straight to you.
You don't have to maintain a physical warehouse, which means you bypass those heavy overhead costs while still pocketing the margin.
However, if you want to pull this off legitimately, you really ought to establish an LLC.
Once you go the official route, you'll need to account for things like an accountant and general business expenses.
Even just covering the basic federal taxes and filing fees... let's say the minimum monthly cost is roughly around $400
enough to make it worthwhile only if your monthly revenue hits about $3.25. Once you clear that threshold, you start seeing a decent profit.
Now, the big players like Best Buy tend to demand some pretty heavy guarantees—things like promissory notes and signed collateral.
To be perfectly honest, I’ve always found that part a bit distasteful.
I mean, what kind of guarantees are we even talking about here?
If I am paying for the inventory upfront, why on earth would I need to provide promissory notes or extra security?
The process should be seamless: I place the order and pay, you arrange delivery to the customer, you send me the invoice, and we're done.
Otherwise, you end up in a situation where someone tries to freeze your accounts or something, and you're stuck wasting your time proving you don't owe anyone a dime.