Finding a reputable wholesale liquidator to work with can be a daunting task; there are hundreds of companies out there advertising all kinds of products but you may have heard a story or two that makes you leery of working with such companies.
Big-box and department stores often sell their returned merchandise, end-of-season inventory and items that just didn’t sell well at a substantial discount below wholesale prices.
That merchandise is contracted for sale through distributors and third-party services for sale by the truckload.
Truckloads and pallets of merchandise are what wholesale operations move frequently, and while the transition from lower volumes to weekly truckloads may happen quicker for some, making the leap for others is a well-refined process.
The buyer, such as your small business, can specify what type of merchandise it wants to buy – electronics, toys or clothing, for example.
Merchandise is also available by the truckload from manufacturers and wholesalers.
How to Start
Get a resale certificate
A resale certificate is something that you need in order to purchase from many liquidation companies. Some liquidation companies will allow you to purchase without a resale certificate, but generally you do need to have one.
A resale certificate registers with your state that you are a business, and do not need to pay sales tax on the products that you buy. Most larger liquidation companies only want to deal with people with resale certificates.
Who to Buy From
Search for vendors who specialise in large orders. Wholesalers are another option. If your order is large enough, it makes sense to deal directly with the manufacturer, rather than a distributer.
Inventory liquidators are another option for large quantities. Liquidation companies such as Quicklotz provide expert advise on how you should invest.
They give you all the information you require before you make a big purchase. Quicklotz specialises in lots, pallets as well as truckloads. To purchase, simply visit the company’s vendor page and browse for the right merchandise.
As part of the process, you may use the help of dedicated and trained account managers who will help you in quest for the best products. This is in addition to the all information available online.
The staff can help you find the right products, point you to the right shipping options, arrange for a delivery schedule if you would like certain products to be delivered when available or on certain dates, and a lot more.
This is all a testament to the quality of their business.Small sellers can get overwhelmed by the sheer volume if they buy an entire truckload. It’s also a large investment of capital, and a considerable risk.
Successful buyers at this scale have normally gained a lot of experience by buying smaller lots over a number of years.
How to Get a Good Deal
If you are a newcomer to the liquidation business, we recommend that you only buy manifested product. Manifests really reduce the amount of risk that you have in purchasing liquidation, because you’re able to see exactly what’s there.
The manifest is extremely important because it allows you to analyse the contents of the lot that you are thinking about buying.
Every manifest has a different structure of how it’s laid out, and they can be a little difficult to read but it is very important that you are able to analyse the pricing in some way.
Even if you purchase a manifested lot, you will still have to take a detailed inventory yourself before you sell it – go through and scan every single barcode to find out exactly what the contents are.
Only then will you know how good the supplier’s manifest really was.
To make the job easy for you, Quicklotz has cases, pallets and truckloads of manifested as well as non-manifested merchandise for you to choose from.
You can visit their warehouse to take inventory of the product yourself and see if you’re making a good investment or not.
What to Do After the Purchase
Your garage fills up pretty fast with large orders. Your current retail location may not have the space for additional products. Arrange for outside storage facilities. Rent a warehouse or part of a warehouse.
Keep in mind that trucks require additional space for parking and manoeuvring. You also have to rent or buy a forklift to unload crates or large boxes from trucks.
To participate in the liquidation business successfully, you need to get the processing part down to a science.
You need to be able to purchase properly, receive the product, process the product and sell it to the customer accurately. If you do a good job, you’ll get a good reputation and more sales.
Get the channel and the process correct, and there is a huge amount of money to be made. Get it wrong, and it can ruin you. Customer want better and better deals, and the liquidation business provides one way to get that to them. Learn the ropes, gain experience, and use it to your advantage.
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