Hello from Arizona!

Hello All,

I finally signed up after weeks of research and debating with myself.

This is the first Wholesale/Resale/Liquidator list site that I have purchased and so far I can't stop reading the forums and the bonus guides. The information here is what will pay off the membership fee I believe.

I'm going to open my first e-store and i'm going to use Amazon.com as a launching pad. My inspiration: I needed to clean out my closet, so i listed items on Amazon (not ebay) and they are selling quite well at my listed price (which is fair.) Unfortunately my junk is limited and it's running out, so I decided that I could/should start taking the e-commerce direction instead of being a traveling IT consultant. *cough* laid off traveling IT consultant.*cough*

From reading the forums, which has helped a lot considering i'm coming into this with limited visibility, I've decided there is a lot more work ahead for me. I'm going to list the things that I think will make me successful, and if anyone has anything to add or suggest based on their experience(s), that would be great. Here is what i've picked up so far:

1. Business Plan. - just to keep me on track and keep things realistic.

2. Acquire product.
--I'm going to start out with liquidators rather than drop shippers and wholesalers. I've chosen ppwg.com ($80 incl shipping est.) to get my feet wet. I've also been eyeing liquidation.com for general merchandise (more on this later.) I plan on selling any excess/leftovers items at flea markets ($20 for a monthly space), craigslist (free) and the local classifieds (nominal)
--I've found my niche product ******* ***** <-niche item withheld :) I just need to find my liquidator or Manufacturer.
---- I've found my hook/angle for my marketing piece ie: 31 flavors, home of the whopper, etc.
--I'm starting with ppwg as my own personal challenge to see if i can deal with good and bad products (less than new, used, damaged) and to see how i react to those conditions on a small scale. It's my 'Balls to the wall' approach to see if i'm as good at sales as I fool myself into believing I am.

3. Form an LLC in AZ. I'm going to use a reputable attorney ($600) includes EIN, trademark, tax forms and lifetime consultation. Minimize my liability and separate my personal assets. Get reseller license in city/state.

4. Register my domain name (name picked out 9.99 per year + 8.99 for privacy)

5. 30 day trial of Amazon web package {$60+ 7% monthly} (it will save me on SSL, Merchant account, etc to start out with) If this takes off, then i'll use my own web hosting and merchant account to save on the fees. If anyone differs and experience with one or the other, please let me know.

6. Obtain free shipping supplies from USPS.com (small mailers, media mail boxes, etc) I do need to find a good supply for boxes and packaging material though... any ideas? Register for a USPS, UPS, and FEDEX account for shipping (not sure if there are fees associated with these three for merchants aside from the actual cost of shipping.)

7. Search out competitors prices, adjust prices, maintain inventory, tracking, customers,list items, ship items, test items, fix items --- basically spend 40+ hours here in this area and hope for a 10-20% margin when the dust settles factoring any returns, fees, etc.


My questions are: I'm residential and I'd like to receive a pallet at a time (from any source), I'd rather have the pallets delivered to a place with a dock. I'm only planning to unwrap and bring the items home to ship from there. I'm not going to need a warehouse for 1 pallet delivery and i'm not going to be profitable renting a warehouse. LTL freight is costly enough to leave me with ust 100 dollars profit or a -500 loss depending on how things go. I've calculated this based on fed-ex and ups calculators including lift gate service and me breaking down the pallet on the street. Is there a place that will simply let me receive a pallet on their docks, as long as i come and offload the product myself? Renting a warehouse for 1-2 (maybe 3) pallets a month is not smart business.

Am I being realistic?

I really don't have any other sources other than to appeal of experienced folks for suggestions and a few written resources on entrepreneurs.com, forbes, money inc, google. The old adage'Successful people surround themselves with other successful people' Unfortunately for me, not many people are self motivated and successful around me, they are sheep working the 8-6 for their bosses and i'm the guy with all of the ideas and 'Wishful thinking.'

I'm hoping as I learn, going through my hits and misses this year, you will see me as a success next year on these boards.

Cheers.

Wow & welcome to Salehoo. I am in Arizona too. The Valley of the Sunstroke to be exact! You seem to have everyhting well planned out.

As far as getting pallets delivered, I get them delivered to my home all the time. I have plenty of room in my garage & all the trucking companies need to know is that you need a liftgate. They'll do all the unloading for you.

PM me & maybe we can come up with some ideas so we both can be profitable! Or maybe even split an order??

Lisa

Excellent Plan. I owned an IT consuling company for 15 years and have pretty much decided to move on to do this full time as well. I have done a ton of research and pretty much concur with your plan. Have you checked with Jimmy here at Salehoo about his Liquidator Pallet plan. Quite intriguing. My biggest struggle is finding an affordable e-commerce website that I can build that isnt tied to some rip off dropshipper. Any ideas? Perhaps we can learn this business together and share on what we learn. Either way, best of luck. Owning your own business is the only way to go. When I started mine 15 years ago, people thought I was nutz.. Its not easy, but a little hard work and networking will return rewards beyond your wildest dreams..

Dave Austin

I'm still waiting on my shipment. I just got one automated response but no shipment info, but on the site it says it might be in pre-order status. Do you know if I can get into contact with Mr. Huber.

I'm still waiting on my shipment. I just got one automated response but no shipment info, but on the site it says it might be in pre-order status. Do you know if I can get into contact with Mr. Huber.

You can ask in Jimmy's thread below:
***deleted by moderator***

Hello Warm Arizona,

Looks like you have a pretty good plan to me. The only caution I would advise is with liquidation.com itself. They are in business to sell auction merchandise for as high as they can just like what we are trying to do. When you find something to bid on make sure their auction pictures REPRESENT THE ACTUAL ITEMS YOU ARE BIDDING ON as they will sometimes use fabulous 'file photos' to misrepresent the actual auction. I learned the hard way and was burned by liquidation.com by misleading pictures on trendy jeans, shirts, etc. only there were no jeans and very few trendy shirts. You only have 3 days to notify them that you want to return an auction as I found out and they won't bend the policy to the fourth day. Bidding competition for quality auctions is high and they almost always sell for top dollar which cuts into our bottom line. Pick a price point and stick to it.

Freeeezing Cold in Montana

Good luck using ppwdg. I am still waiting for an order from a month ago. He doesn't respond to emails or private messages. I finally made a post in the shame them forum. Try using Via Trade Co. I ordered from them, and I am very satisfied. Great products and customer service. I just don't want you to be scammed like I just was.

@J&L Collectables: Thanks for the advice. Lucky for me, i can make the 6 hour drive to Los Angeles and check out the merchandise in person and throw it in my truck-n-trailer if needed. At least the 100 bucks on gas will save me an additional 100+ on shipping. I'd only purchase items with a manifest from liquidation.com from their vendors like techexcess,onlinereturns, and NewBargains. I usually filter for 'South' and 'New condition'. Those and some of the 'return' items have a manifest, although some are more detailed than others.

@GLBCo: I ordered my pack on 1/12/09 and i've seen your post on the 'Name em shame em' board. I feel for you fella, hopefully this doesn't happen to me. I want to tell you to just hang in there because with all of the shilling for ppwdg on salehoo.com, i find it hard to believe they are simply ignoring you - there must be a reasonable answer, I just can't figure out what that might be. Best of luck.

Sound like a great plan. Just make sure that with liquidations you are perfectly honest when making descriptions. Liquidations can be an awesome profit maker if you can buy in bulk. But you must inspect every item for a defect or a flaw and just be honest with your description. The item will sell itself and you will not have any problems with your buyers.

Now If you are laid off as You say I would not recommend trying to start a online business. Most people loose money before they make it. I actually sold items online for 2 years before I turned my first profit. But if you can afford it get pallets as they are heavily loaded and have a higher profit potential then a small order. Truckloads are 10 times better but thats only for people that can get into that size of an order.

Be wary of liquidation.com A recent incident happened on the ebay forums where they accused paypal of sending Known fakes to liquidation.coms warehouse address for so called. Destruction of the property. It sent the whole ebay community in an uproar and many posts were deleted by ebay admins to quell the uprising. If this is true then I advise you to inspect any merchandise you get to make certain they are not fake before trying to sell them on ebay. I have promoted them for years but now after hearing of that I am wary of what I say about them.

And thanks for choosing us for your sample tryout. But guys if you have trouble reaching me by email. Use the buyer feedback page I created to ask about your order, complain or tell me your order has not arrived. I created that page for that sole reason. Its not a compliment post. My email sucks plain and simple. And im not perfect. That page is the best way of reaching me if you cannot by email.