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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).

The thought of having wholesale or liquidation merchandise shipped by a freight company can evoke outright fear into many individuals. It is ok, take a deep breathe…we can get through this together.

Shipping pallets by a freight company is really similar to having merchandise delivered by UPS (United Parcel Service). Yes, the trucks are bigger and I know you are wondering if you will need a forklift or loading dock to receive pallets…

Most wholesale and liquidation companies are frequent freight shippers and receive discounts based upon the volume of shipping they do on a regular basis. In most circumstances when you purchase a large volume of merchandise from a wholesaler they will arrange all aspects of shipping to your door.

If you are faced with scheduling your own freight I am going to recommend that you use the services of a freight Broker for the first couple of shipments . A broker will quote and arrange shipping for you charging in most case a modest fee.

I speak from experience on this issue as my first freight shipment (3 pallets) was arranged through the services of FreightQuote.com. All I had to do was answer a few simple questions online to get a quote. Once I entered the details of my shipment I was given several choices of carriers and cost. The information needed for the quote was very straight forward and they do have a customer service phone number if you have further questions. After using this service a couple of times I felt confident enough to open my own freight account with a large national freight company.

Whether working with a freight Broker or direct with a trucking company you will need to provide some key information to get a freight quote including:

• What is the origin and destination zip codes?
• What is the weight of the shipment? This is a critical requirement as all freight companies will re-weigh your shipment to make sure you are being charged correctly.
• Number of pallets being shipped?
• What type of merchandise is being shipped? This will determine freight class (See terminology below)

Freight Terminology:

FOB - Acronym for Freight on Board. An FOB point describes where specific merchandise is departing from, or rather where merchandise being shipped should be picked up. When you are shopping for wholesale inventory an advertisement might read:

“Name brand electronics pallet $500, FOB Los Angeles, CA.”

You now know where this pallet will be shipping from

Bill of Lading - Also referred to as a BOL or B/L - This is a document which establishes the terms and conditions of a contract between a shipper and a transportation company. The BOL is provided by the freight company to the shipper and will include information such as, type of merchandise being shipped (class) and specific delivery instructions if necessary. If you are having merchandise shipped you will be required to sign the BOL once merchandise has been delivered as evidence of receipt.

Freight Class - Refers to the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) and it is the category of your freight as defined by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA). Your merchandise being shipped will be categorized under a specific Class which will determine the freight companies shipping charges. When a Class category is assigned it tells the freight company details about merchandise being shipped including, but not limited to, item weight, volume, value and how fragile items are. FYI - There are 18 freight classes ranging from class 50 (the least expensive) to class 500 (most expensive)

Residential Fee - If you are having your pallet delivered to a residence there is usually an additional fee to pay. This fee usually costs between $25 - $75 depending on the actual freight company. It is best to avoid this fee by having your pallet(s) delivered to a business address or the nearest freight terminal closest to your door.

Liftgate Fee - You will need to unload your pallets and without a forklift you will need a Lift gate trailer . Adding a Lift gate to your delivery will cost an additional $25-$75 extra

LTL - Acronym for Less Than Truckload, which means the shipment does not completely fill an entire truck. A trailer can hold up to 24 single-stacked pallets (See chart below). If your shipment is less then 24 pallets it will be considered an “LTL” shipment.

Have you, or a loved one, experienced a wholesale or liquidation merchandise purchase that went terribly wrong?

Authors Note: Sorry..I could not resist adding “or a loved one” line in that sentence, it reminded me of the motorcycle accident commercials that are run continuously on daytime TV

Back to business, this is a serious topic…

Your Internet browser is an incredible tool which allows you to instantly search for wholesale and liquidation merchandise by simply typing a few key words. Once you hit the “enter” button after a search query you will notice page after page of companies advertising wholesale merchandise. Sitting in your living room or from your office how do you know which company to buy from?

Anyone with a few hundred dollars can produce a website and start offering wholesale or liquidation merchandise for sale…Do not trust “Just Anyone” with your hard-earned money.

If you have spent time researching a specific category of wholesale suppliers you have probably come across industry forums like WholesaleU. The forum provides a way for individuals to network with others who are connected to the wholesale Industry. If you are not networking with other wholesale buyers I suggest you sign up for a free forum membership at WholesaleU and start benefiting from tons of industry information.

The forum offers several different topical categories, however I want to bring to your attention one titled, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly . This topic has over 360 posts either asking about the validity of a wholesale supplier or revealing individual purchases that went wrong. This is a great resource for you in the pursuit of finding trustworthy, legitimate wholesale suppliers. I cannot tell you how many people I have spoken with over the last 5 years who have lost thousands of dollars attempting to purchase wholesale and/or liquidation merchandise from fraudulent companies.

In addition to researching through industry forums there are other websites which will allow you to further investigate the validity of wholesale suppliers you are thinking of buying from:

The Better Business Bureau You can search the online records of the BBB looking for consumer complaints associated with a particular business or website.

RippoffReport.com - This website allows disgruntled consumers the opportunity to publicly “voice” details of a purchase that they were unhappy with for various reasons. Ripoffreport also allows rebuttals from the company of which the complaint is directed to.

Network Solutions - You can enter a domain address in the “Whois” search to find out when the domain was registered, administrative contact information and often a phone number for the domain owner. This can be a great tool when researching a company. Some domains are registered as “Private” and all contact information is not available. This is a great tool to use when a website does not list a physical address!

Google Maps - If you cannot travel to a wholesale or liquidation companies’ warehouse you can map the location. Often you can zoom in through Google’s satellite feature to see specific location details. Why would this be beneficial? Well, if you are told an address is a warehouse, but you map it out to be a residential home you probably should find another company to buy from.

When I am buying wholesale or liquidation inventory from a new company I follow a six step procedure:

• I carefully read through the entire website in question reviewing payments accepted (checks, credit cards etc), merchandise returns and shipping information. I ask for clarification if needed.
• I contact the company by email and phone asking specific questions about the company’s history and detailed information about the merchandise I am interested in purchasing.
• Ask for customer referrals. Be specific in requesting names and phone numbers of individuals who have purchased similar merchandise in the past. Understand that some companies have strict privacy policies in place which do not allow for disclosure of customer information.
• I like to “Google” the company in question, you will be surprised at information (both adverse and positive) which can often be found on the Internet.
• I visit industry forums like WholesaleU, Surplus.cc to actively look for company information.
• And lastly, I visit The Better Business Bureau, Ripoffreport, Google Maps and Network Solutions to further complete my research

Following the suggestions above will assist you in making “better informed” decisions. Please understand that not all companies have an internet presence or can be readily found (adverse information) by searching the Internet. I am a huge advocate for the old saying, “Fly and Buy”. The phrase basically means visit the company you are about to send or wire thousands of dollar to. A $500 plane ticket just might turn out to be the best investment you will ever make…..

We have a tough match up tonight; both competitors have equal value when looking for inventory to resell. I look around the sold out arena and I see a crowd of ebay sellers, flea market vendors, retail store owners and exporters eagerly awaiting to find out which category of merchandise will prevail!

Both competitors will allow your business to profit, but there are some serious differences between the two. If you have never bought liquidation merchandise to resell you might be pleasantly surprised to find out that this category of merchandise can pack extra dollars into your pocket.

I hear the bell ringing now and it looks like the match is about to start……

Round one: Buying traditional wholesale merchandise allows the reseller pick exact styles and models when buying inventory

Round two: Buying Liquidation merchandise allows the reseller to have a great variety of merchandise as every pallet or truckload is different

Round three: Buying wholesale requires the reseller to purchase a minimum quantity of any one item. Often merchandise will be case packed and a retailer might have to purchase more of one particular item than needed

Wholesale just sent a right hook to Liquidation and due to this solid blow Liquidation has just fell to the mat. Wait, liquidation is getting right up for more!

Round four: Liquidation merchandise allows the small retailer to have the ability to sell national name brand products taking advantage of the massive amounts of brand advertising manufacturers spend each year. Name brands sell!

Round five: Buying wholesale allows the reseller to reorder the same item when stock runs low.

Round six: Liquidation merchandise can allow a reseller to sell at a fraction of original retail passing the savings onto the end consumer. This effect can create an increase in customer spending as your customers’ dollar will go farther.

I cannot believe it!….Liquidation landed a low blow to wholesale and was just warned by the Ref. Its getting “down and dirty” as both competitors are ready to supply your business…

Round seven: Wholesalers tend to specialize in one area for example, apparel wholesalers probably will not be able to supply your business with toys. So, you may have to line up several different wholesalers to supply your business if your product lines are diverse.

Round eight: Liquidation merchandise will often have reselling restrictions. You might have to specifically ask if merchandise must be de-labeled or defaced prior to reselling. There are many different type of reselling requirements placed by large retail big box stores. To be safe ask the liquidation company prior to buying.

Round nine: There are many more wholesale companies to choose from versus wholesale liquidators. This is wholesale’s advantage. As time goes on the wholesale liquidation industry is growing as consumers want to purchase from retailers who can offer discounted, low pricing.

Round ten: When buying Liquidation merchandise you can buy from a wholesale liquidator (distributor) or you can attempt to buy shelf pulls, returns and overstocks direct from the original retail store’s liquidation department to save even more.

Both wholesale merchandise and Liquidation merchandise went head to head and came out on top. whether you buy first quality, new wholesale merchandise or liquidation merchandise… either category will allow you to profit in your business. If you decide to look into Liquidation merchandise make sure you fully research this niche category of wholesale. The wholesale liquidator/distributor you are thinking of buying from should be able to help you decide what type of merchandise will work for your business.

Its my first blog post here at TopTenWholesale and I should start by introducing myself, my name is Robert Cyr. I am a “Seasoned” buyer of wholesale merchandise and more specifically wholesale liquidation merchandise. I have years of internet Ecommerce experience selling and distributing name brand products to ebay sellers, on line retailers and have worked extensively with exporters throughout the world.

I am looking forward to blogging here at TopTenWholesale sharing my knowledge, experience and industry viewpoints. We have a lot to talk about, so if you haven’t already please bookmark this blog. I need the help of this community when it comes to feedback so please comment and comment often. Your voice will help serve all community members.

I find the best way to learn is to network with others. The old saying goes, “You are who you hang with”…but I, for the purpose of this post will change the saying up a bit to, “You learn from who you network with”. Today I would like to share a short interview with a motivated ebay seller who is just now starting to purchase wholesale closeout merchandise to resell. She is excited about the opportunity ebay has provided allowing her to build a business right from her home. I have had the pleasure of working with hundreds of ebay sellers over the years about inventory purchasing and overall auction marketing.

Q - How long have you been selling on Ebay?

I have been selling on EBAY since 2001. Small potatoes compared to some sellers! I started by helping a friend who used to purchase designer goods from a Nordstrom outlet and resell on EBAY… back when you needed to know HTML code to have