HOW TO BUY WHOLESALEBefore we get into specific sources I need to dispense some general rules about dealing with wholesalers. The first is that you need to MAKE A SMALL EFFORT to be able to deal with them. Let me explain why as I’m sure your brain is telling you that surely they should make it as easy as possible to be able to deal with them – NO THAT IS WRONG!
For example - at
top of chain you will have company that makes a film. They want as many people in world to then buy that film. Their job is to advertise and create as much interest as possible. Having created demand there is no point if consumer can’t get hold of product so to supply product we have countless retailers who will sell film. We are talking high-street stores, supermarkets, corner-shops, Internet stores, mail-order and YOU.
The wholesaler is middleman. Its job is to take stock in bulk from film company and distribute it to many thousands of retail outlets, making a profit in process. The film company does not want to get involved in dealing with thousands of accounts – it just wants to concentrate on what it knows best – making movies.
So what’s problem? Well a wholesaler is meant to be a distributor to retailer – NOT a retailer themselves. Given fact they are buying cheaply from film company, a retailer would be outraged if wholesaler sold direct to public. If this happened retailers would most likely not bother to sell film companies products. This wouldn’t be good for film company -imagine companies like Wal-Mart or Tesco not stocking latest blockbuster releases.
So – wholesalers must keep up pretence of not dealing with public and only dealing with genuine traders i.e. retailers. This is why they erect a few barriers to put off end user – however good news is that we can EASILY slip in through backdoor by knowing what to do and by obeying a few golden rules.
Do not think for a second you are doing something wrong (you are not) and do not be nervous – wholesalers really want to sell as many items as they can, they really do want to deal with you, they just need you to ‘play game’ correctly.
Because wholesalers are not dealing with end-user you will find that they often appear inefficient and dinosaur-like. Remembering that they are not a retailer and so they often have lousy web sites (if they even have one). They also will advertise RRP (recommended retail price). This is price they recommend retailer to be selling product for.
To get wholesale prices you will generally (but not always) be required to join first (for free – avoid anyone charging a fee) before they give you ‘real’ prices.
Let’s also bear in mind that as well as not wanting to upset their masters (the film company) and their customers (the retailers) a wholesaler will also NOT want to deal with millions of customers who buy occasionally, maybe only once.
So they would prefer to deal with traders who are going to spend bucket loads. How do they know this will happen – well they can’t possibly know if you are going to become a superstar or not and this is where we come in. Even if you want to buy for your own personal use – it’s ok - as long as you don’t tell them this.
