Question
wholesale:
Of, relating to, or engaged in the sale of goods in large quantities for resale: a wholesale produce market; wholesale goods; wholesale prices.
wholesaling:
the activities of those persons or establishments that sell to retailers and other merchants, and/or to industrial, institutional and commercial users, but who do not sell in large amounts to final consumers
Essentials of Marketing, Fifth Ed., McCarthy and Perreault
That's the traditional view of wholesale and wholesaling. Wholesalers traditionally have been unwilling to venture into retail territory because they don't want to make investments in advertising, facilities, staffing, etc. In the past, most wholesalers devoted their efforts to supporting their retailer customers; making money by helping their retailers make money.
However, the Internet -- not just eBay -- turned wholesaling on its head.
Web sites are inexpensive to develop and maintain. A minimum-wage employee can be brought onboard to process online orders.
The Internet made it a level playing field for everyone, including people who'd never considered playing before.
How to cope in the new economy?
Get familiar with the components of supply chains: parts suppliers, manufacturers, brokers/jobbers, wholesalers, retailers. Where do you want to be in that chain? And maybe you don't really want to limit yourself to one function. Perhaps you should be both a wholesaler and a retailer. A wholesaler because you want to buy in the biggest possible quantities to get the best possible price and service; a retailer because as the old saying goes "Goods well bought are half sold." As a wholesaler your sales to retailers may not have the biggest margins, but will be your bread and butter. Then your retail sales to end customers are icing on the cake.
fLufF
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Answer
Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat1
"Goods well bought are half sold." As a wholesaler your sales to retailers may not have the biggest margins, but will be your bread and butter. Then your retail sales to end customers are icing on the cake.
fLufF
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Yup.
Answer
Nice post fluff . I understand the wholesale system, the argument was how it applies to the tool, the eBay market, and business in general.