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Readers here at the TopTenWholesale Blog will be astounded today as I am about to unleash a cutting edge Top Eleven List offering ways to sell wholesale and liquidation merchandise.

I know the advent of a top 11 list might be a “walk on the wild side”, but bear with me. Everyone loves the good ‘ole top 10 list including viewers of the popular Late Show with David Letterman, but please remember when Top 10 lists are superseded by 11…you saw it here first. I expect full credit.

Successful retailers understand that cash flow is critical and when sales are down it might be a good idea to look for additional ways to market inventory….

1- Ebay We have to start with this auction giant. There are tens of thousands of “brick and mortar” retailers who supplement their income by auction selling. What doesn’t sell in your store can be sold online through ebay’s global market reach.

2- Craigslist - Ebay is a shareholder in this online classified website, but ebay does not have a large enough stake to influence Craig to start charging for listings! Here you can list merchandise in your geographic region for free. Upload pictures and await the emails and phones call to come…believe me they will. Craiglist is a highly visited site

3- Website - Maybe it is time to to start your own dot com empire? A wesbite will give your customers a way to visually view your products through an online catalog. The first step is deciding on a domain name…you know like www.yourname.com. You can register a domain name at www.godaddy.com for as little as $9.99 per year.

4- Classified Ads - Yes, they still print a newspaper in your hometown. Many who subscribe to the “Old School” mentality still browse the classifieds in print. I have sold a diverse offering of merchandise through my local newspaper. Give it a try-

5- Garage Sales - Maybe in your neck of the woods called a rummage sale. People love to get up early and find great deals driving from sale to sale. Word of advice: if you advertise your sale starting at 8:00 AM expect “early Birds” to start coming around 7:15

6- Flea Markets - Depending on your area, flea markets or swap meets are a great way to showcase your inventory for a reasonable per day fee. Some of the larger flea markets will have upwards of 20,000 - 30,000 visitors in a single weekend. Now that is exposure.

7- Event Sales - One or two day sales where you rent a portion of a parking lot or an actual storefront to “Liquidate” merchandise. Advertise locally and make sure you have adequate staff on hand to assist with the frenzy of sales.

8- Rack Merchandising - Start a local route re-wholesaling your products in retail stores. You can negotiate with store owners to place inventory in each store on consignment. You get paid by the retailer when your products sell. For example…if your main product line is jewelry you could merchandise your products in apparel stores, beauty shops, discount stores etc. Make sure to revisit each store on a regular weekly or bi-weekly basis to restock and invoice for items sold.

9- In-home Parties - Serious money here as giants like Tupperware, Home Interiors and other companies understand that networking with friends can be lucrative. Model your business just like the pros and host partys inviting family, friends, coworkers and strangers off the street. Ok, maybe not complete strangers. Set up a marketing compensation package to recruit others to hold partys and sell your merchandise. At each gathering setup your display merchandise and take orders while eating cookies and socializing.

10- Live Auctions - Every medium to large city will have a traditional live auction house where you can offer your merchandise for consignment. The average the commission charged by auctioneers will range from 8-12% of the final bid. I know of a very successful friend who purchases “scratch and dent” furniture by the truckload and auctions it off for huge profits!

11- Festivals/Fairs - Check your geographic area for scheduled 1 and 2 day events which allow retailer vendors. Often these events will attract tens of thousands of people who love to spend money on souvenirs and miscellaneous wares

A little online market research can go a long way when you need to track moving trends: Latest fashions, must-have lifestyle gear, best-priced jewelry, designer and knockoff shoe brands. Here are some look-out posts, social media lurking sites, and top deals listings.

Look Out Post #1: Search Trends by Keyword, Brand Name, Category.

Go to http://www.toptenwholesaletrends.com, select a time period from the drop-down box, then enter words for the merchandise you are stalking: womens handbags … mens leather … plus size denim jeans … urban and hip hop clothing … fashion watches … backpacks for adults. Alternatively, plug in search terms for the brand name of your choosing.

A click of the search button gives you a graphic line chart showing how popular – or not – your searched merchandise is. This Trends charting from TopTenWholesale dips a toe into a wholesale search database that draws from over 20,000 buy/sell search actions a week. You are pulling popularity stats – totaled search results — from manufacturers seeking resellers, power auction resellers searching for product sources, and wholesalers stalking the best off-price and returned merchandise lots.

Lurking Post #2: Hang Out in Social Media to do Buzz Checks.

Surveyors of online user behavior — Pew Internet and American Life Project – recently published results of the Internet’s influence on politics and social participation, especially among youth. Key was the UNFILTERED and NO-SPIN nature of information exchanged at social media sites; sharing the latest and greatest without going through middlemen like newscasters, publisher’s editors, advertisers or other folks with an agenda. Unfiltered and uncensored opinion.

The Pew Project simply supports what we already know: Lurking and listening at the right social media and social networking web sites can provide up-to-the-minute trend and marketing info.

· Youth Hangouts (Ages 18 to 29): Facebook, MySpace and Most-Viewed Videos at You Tube.
· Boomer Lifestyle Sites (Ages 45 to 60+): Second Life, Gather.com.

Daily Deals Lists #3: Check Top Deals Lists to Learn What Moves.

Go to main category pages at eBay, such as Fashion & Apparel or Electronics. You’ll often find a list of most active products at auction, by product or brand name, for a quick merchandise pulse check.

TopTenWholesale offers a Top Ten Daily Deals list that draws from patterns of buyer and seller search activities in over 20,000 wholesale searches on our industry network. (TopTenWholesale, OffPriceNetwork, WholesaleU, Wholezilla) See http://www.toptenwholesale.com/daily-deals.html for lists and links to the day’s hottest merchandise. Sample Top Ten Daily Deals include the latest fashion watch that tells time and holds a portable Flash drive, the most text-friendly cell phones, backpacks for grown ups from makers of the Swiss Army knife, and Lifestyle Gear (the latest healthy food dehydrators; right-priced adjustable training weights).

Okay. That DNA stuff was an exaggeration, but not by much.