Sales Channels: Better to place eggs in multiple baskets...

By Robert Cyr

I have had the pleasure of interviewing Alain Stambouli from Via Trading this past week and we discussed several key areas in the wholesale liquidation industry. Alain explained the sales staff at Via Trading is expected to work with each new client prior to a purchase making sure each customer understands what to expect when buying liquidation merchandise. Via Trading supplies hundreds of online ebay auction sellers with name brand merchandise.

(excerpt of interview)

Q- What advice can you give the small Ebay seller wishing to purchase liquidation merchandise for ebay?

Generally speaking standard advice is the more sales channels you have – the better chance you have of recuperating a higher amount on your inventory investment. For example: someone who sells at flea markets and on eBay has a much better chance of making more money then someone who only sell on eBay alone or vice versa.

Via Trading offers the following guidelines to eBay sellers –

• Aim to purchase High Value (low bulk) items (e.g. a low end microwave – retailing for $40 will not do well on eBay since shipping costs will be prohibitive
  
• Keep unbranded goods to a minimum as people tend to search for top name brands on ebay
  
• Depending on your business model – purchasing assorted wholesale lots (as opposed to large quantities of same item) will mean a faster turnover of goods for you and will minimize your risk in case any particular item for some reason or another is ‘price dumped’ in the online market
  
• Be creative and intuitive – Try to distinguish yourself form other sellers. E.g. if your selling shelf pull clothing – try to match up bottom with a top and sell as a set. If selling cosmetics, try to match up like colors and sell Lipstick, Skin, Eye as a set as opposed to individually.
  
• Keep a database of your customers and what they have purchased. With permission email them appropriate offers – discount coupons etc.

Alain Stambouli offered additional advice that I will be sharing with you in future blog posts, but lets talk a little more about diversifying your sales as explained above.

In addition to selling on Ebay you might try the following:

• Sell on Craigslist which is a centralized network of online urban communities, featuring free classified advertisements. Users are able to post "For Sale" items in dozens of categories. Unlike ebay, there are no fees associated with listing or selling merchandise!
• Sell at your local Flea Market or Swap Meet. Often dealer tables can be rented by the day or weekend. Large markets will attract tens of thousands of buyers every week. Flea markets are a great way to move merchandise that will not sell on ebay.
  
• Leverage the traffic from your ebay auctions to your own E-commerce website. Make sure you link your "About Me" page to your website and cross sell all auction winners with special discounts for future purchases
• Sell through local classified adds through your print newspaper. I know of several local ebay sellers in my city who routinely run two line adds daily

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The Closeout Industry - A wealth of information centered around wholesale closeout merchandise. Author and consultant, Robert Cyr has educated thousands of entrepreneurs offering advice relating to sourcing name brand merchandise far below wholesale pricing.