Future wholesaler with some questions

Ok so I have been driving semi for 3 years. This fall I got laid off and I've been looking for a job since with little luck. I am a divorced father with two children so over the road isn't an option. So I did some research and found some reviews. Money is tight but Salehoo seemed legit. I'm convinced it was a good perchase, but as you can imagine I have no capital being unemployed. I've read a lot of information and posts. I investigated the dropship and its really not a good option or what I'm looking for. I plan on saving a little money and going into business with Jimmy. I have learned from him that not only eBay but Yahoo, ebid, ubid, online classifieds, local classifieds and flea markets. All brilliant stuff. I'm excited to get started! I expect a rough road but I'm compiling as much info as possible. I've contacted auction houses in the area and such. I'm having trouble finding info on flea markets. Any suggestions? Also, can I sell this stuff to stores by chance? Like some local retailers? What's the average price of a warehouse to store around ten pallets? Is dock leasing more expensive? Is it necessary or smart to find a dock to lease if iI'm moving ten pallets a month?I'm enjoying learning all I can and finding my sea legs before I take the leap.

Thanks for any help/advice,
Jason

Depends which part of the country your from.You can also look in the yellow pages and find a local storage company.You probally have drove past them.They are usually long metal buildings which have a garage type door.They are usually Fenced in.Cost depends on which size you get.They probally wont have a loading dock.
Contact your local chamber of commerce,they will help you out on this.Myself i would order half a semi load and lie and have them drive straight to my house.NO LIFT GATE The driver would go crazy! **** this ***they would say.I would say look ill have this unloaded in no time.As i would unload 100 pound boxes and up of solid iron garden trellis's and shepherd poles and other boxes as fast as i could the driver would usually start helping.Even though they dont need to.One driver stated you unloaded by hand faster than they loaded by fork lift.I stated thats because im not union.

Hi Jason,
First, Where are you located? (I don't mean location), but are you in a large city, east coast, weat coast, midwest, south?
The reason that I am asking is all of these factors have an impact on the costs related to starting and continuing to do business, ie., shipping, storage, etc.
Second, are you planning to deal with returns, overstocks, etc. because each kind of product has it's unique benefits and drawbacks. For example, if you are dealing with returns only - there may be some intensive 'clean-up, fix-up' time, not to mention that - 1 person - 10 pallets a month - single parent....
Please DO NOT lose heart, I am not trying to discourage.
I am also a single parent, usually buying truckloads. Each pallet is different... If you are only selling on eBay - it means checking each item, fixing, cleaning it, taking GOOD pictures, doing research (very important - better to lose a listing fee than go in the hole), creating a professional listing, etc.
Third, do you have the SPACE to store and sort, clean, fix the amount of stock that you purchase? If you have everything stacked in a corner, with no room to take it out and test/clean it is harder to get things going - although, I have found if I put it on my bed, I will take care of it before I can go to sleep (joking - sort of).

Please do not take anything I have said as a reason not to do this - I only want to prepare you for the harder side. If you are willing to make the effort, learn, and never give up - You will succeed.
Sandy

If you get a truck load of returns make sure you rent a big dumpster to throw what junk out.
Try to buy only shelf pulls.

My advice, don't over capitalize at start up. If you have space to store one or two pallets where you are, then start with one or two pallets.

Overheads can hurt you real bad in the liquidation game, real bad! Not every load is going to be a bu money maker and if you hang it all on the line on start up, and your truckload goes pear shaped, you may not have a chance to recover.

As for junk, just be careful what you consider junk before you start throwing stuff away, because even if it is broken, missing pieces or whatever, that item, or parts there of may still hold value to someone, and you may well be throwing cash in that dumpster!

Have a word to jimmy, I'm sure he will tell you about what should be thrown, and what shouldn't.

I live in the midwest, Wisconsin. I'm close to a city of about 70k with a lot of small towns surrounding me.

I didn't plan on jumping right into ten pallets. But I did plan on doing returns. a pallet or 2 at a time.

That liein about the dock is funny. I used to do that kind of unloading work. So, I feel your driver's pain. LoL.

In all, I plan on starting slow and building up to several pallets and a small storage unit. i only rent atm and have no space here for anything. But I have space in my parents basement I can borrow. :) I don't plan on throwing much away. I learned that one already. :) I'll learn how to sell the lemons, the ade AND the peels! :)

Thanks a lot for all your advice!

Jason

Sounds like you are getting all the ducks setup up in the correct line to me, so good luck with it Jason : )

Like fudjj says 'don't over capitalize at start up. If you have space to store one or two pallets where you are, then start with one or two pallets.'

You sound like you are going the rigth way ! keep it up ! and good luck !

Ivan R.

I'll learn how to sell the lemons, the ade AND the peels! :)

I Love it!!!!

I am in the midwest too - hello neighbor.
Sandy

I just did some research on store fronts. Ebay is cheapest start up with large fees. Yahoo is next in line followed by Amazon. Amazon seems to offer more with your own store plus an amazon store. Anyone use all three or any of the 3 that can weigh in as to which is most successful or preferable? I realise that more then one is a great idea, but as a start up eBay looks the most attractive from my shoes... :)

Thanks,
Jason

On another note. Am I being realistic to think that after a month or two of selling CR that I could possibly have the capital to purchase clothing pallets to open up afore mentioned store/s? I'm gonna want stock b4 I open them up of course. :)

Jason

If you have the stock to fill a shop, and still have enough capital to run constant auctions to drive traffic to your shop, I personally think ebay's base option is great value.

Just remember, you need to be driving traffic to it, just stocking the shop and hoping won't cut it. Keep some items aside for marketing purposes and auction them cheap to create interest in the rest of your stock.

Combine that with a weekend market, maybe even a liquidation type yard sale, and never over look any free classified marketing you can make use of.

The more avenues you open, the bigger your chances of closing sales!

Personally, I do not use a storefront from anyone else as I build and host my own sites. The reason I do it that way is I have a lot more control over ever aspect of the site.

There was a large learning curve at first, but there is so much free info out there that once you get started it is not that hard.

As for whether or not you are being realistic about have capital after a couple of months of selling CR, it really is hard to project. It really will depend on the actual product that you end up with - some loads/pallets are great and others are break even types. But as you plan to even sell the 'peels' you will probably do well.
Sandy

Sandy is spot on, the best option is to always have your own site, however that comes with the priviso that you can generate enough traffic to create sales.

Of course trying to generate traffic is what most website owners struggle to do, and little or no traffic means slow or no sales.

For a beginner, I think ebay works well because a cheap shop front at around 15.00 a month gives you the opportunity to have your products in a high traffic zone, and it gives you use of the auction format as an important marketing tool.

Of course it also gives you the opportunity to store stock inexpensively, and you have no issues about internet marketing and so on.

Easy and cost effective option for my money : )

Very good advice from both of you. definetly giving me blocks to build on. You 2 woud make Visa proud, 'priceless'. :) Thanks a million....eventually. :)

Jason