Wholesale DVDs, Pesky Pros, and DVD Movie Sourcing Free Tips

Wholesale DVD movies! Welcome one and all. I hope you are here either out of genuine curiousity, or (what I really want) because you love movies and are truly interested in selling DVDs. Assuming the latter and since you have zeroed in on DVDs, I expect that you are either already trying to sell on eBay or thinking about it. You have also noticed that this is a very competitive eBay market and perhaps wonder how in the world DVD prices can seem to be so low.

Wholesale DVDs v.s. low cost or close out DVDs. This is important. A true wholesale supplier of any product will require proof of your state sales tax permit. If the supplier does not require this, then it is not a wholesaler, not a true wholesaler. There are, however, other sources of low cost DVDs that are not wholesale DVDs. Some businesses buy liquidated stock or close out stock at incredibly low prices and then sell in bulk to people like us.

Sources for wholesale dvds, the real deal. Much of what I know about wholesale DVD source--and I have spent many hours researching wholesale sources--I learned from Brent Crouch. Unfortunately, it would not be ethical for me to reveal Brent's sources, but I promise you his directory is the real deal. I personally guarantee that you will find the the honest to god, true, few DVD wholesalers who supply the pros. And you will find much more, such as all of studio and manufacturer contact information.

You are not likely to find these sources on other lists, such as the Salehoo list. This is an excellent list, in fact I am a member and recommend it, but for DVDs, you want Brent Crouch's Jillian Entertainment list. To get you started, let me mention these few sources. BuyRitedvd.com has a dropshipping program, and a separate "wholesale" program. They are not true wholesalers, but many of their prices are very good. Mountainviewmovies.com is another source of low cost DVDs, and also have a separate, true wholesale program. And last, a source for bulk DVD lots only is wholesalediscs.com. Be cautious with bulk lots because you don't know exactly what you are getting.

Best of luck to you, and stay tuned for more coming up!

Start With Thorough Market Research

Solid market research boosts your chances of profitting handsomely from the wholesale goods you buy. Start off with a list of 5-10 different ideas. Then check completed listings searches on eBay to see what the item generally sells for, the sell-through rate for each one, and the level of competition. Use the free keyword tools at Nichebotclassic.com to find out how many people are searching for your product per month. If there are ten thousand or more searches per month for an item, this indicates a healthy market.

Figure Out the True Cost of Your Item

One big reason why people fail at establishing a viable wholesale based home business is that they don't treat wholesale like a real business. To accurately discover your true profit potential on an item, you need to add the shipping cost and insurance, eBay fees (or equivalent for other advertising), Paypal and/or credit card fees (these can be a real profit killer), packaging costs and labor involved packaging, and any storage costs to the cost of your item.

Confirm Credibility of All Suppliers Found on the Internet

Getting caught out by scammers is a common stumbling block for people new to wholesale and business in general. If you are searching for suppliers off based on your own research (rather than using a wholesale directory like SaleHoo), it is absolutely critical to check authenticity before making a purchase.

Start Finding Legitimate Suppliers Right Now

Chinese Suppliers?

Chinese suppliers can be an essential source for anyone intent on making money selling online. But, dealing with Chinese manufacturers and suppliers can be terrifying. Manufacturing costs are currently extremely low in China, thus it can be the secret to gaining a competitive edge. On the other hand, you must take the time to learn the territory. Dealing with Chinese suppliers is sort of the Star Trek of wholesaling. You may go where no wholesaler has gone before, and if you aren't wary and smart, you may never come back. So, you can reduce the risk factor a bit by placing small orders first, using secure payment methods, getting shipping insurance for 110% of the cost of the items, and using suppliers with a good reputation

Start Finding Chinese Suppliers Right Now

Liquidation Closeout Caveat

Always obtain the reasons for liquidation and closeout sales before you buy. Liquidation and Closeout sales can be a fantastic source for cheap products, but you usually have to buy by the pallet load and these can sometimes include broken or returned goods that aren't in saleable condition. To be safe, ask specifically whether broken items and returns are included before you buy. Interestingly enough, Salehoo has actually started brokering liquidation stock with major retail outlets, such as Macy's, and making it available to members in small bulk lots. Salehoo also verifies the quality of the products before offering it to memebers. This is something new in the world of liquidation closeout supply and allows Salehoo members to purchase small lots at the same discounts normally only available by the truck load.

Find Liquidation Specialists Right Now

I want to repeat an important point that is all to easy miss if just starting out with wholesale dvds or wholesale goods in general. As mentioned in the article above, a real wholesale source must require a state sales tax permit from you. As a retailer, you will not pay sales tax on wholesale goods, however your state will require to charge and report sales tax for state residents.

The term wholesale is so overused that it has almost come to be synonomous with "low cost," but as explained above, it means something very different. A real wholesaler buys goods from manufacturers and then sells to retailers. When setting up accounts with real dvd wholesale sources, you will find that you may need to negotiate with them for the best price. Just because they are a wholesaler doesn't mean that you will automatically be given the lowest price. Wholesalers are in business for the money, too, and tend to give the best prices to those moving the most product, in this case, the most dvds.

The much maligned "middlemen" that you often hear about position themselves between you and the wholesaler. This becomes shady when the middleman represents itself as a wholesaler. You, as a retailer, need to bypass the middleman and go directly to either the wholesaler or manufacturer. There are, however, businesses that specialize in liquidated stock. They buy stock from retail stores who need, for whatever reason, to offload it quickly and cheaply. Liquidators often have tremendous prices, are not wholesalers, and do not requires tax permits. Liquidators can be very good source for low cost dvds.

Stay tuned for more where we discuss the secret of cheap eBay dvds.

In my opinion, if you think a guide to wholesale dvd sources would be useful for you, there is only one wholesale dvd directory worth using. Follow the link for more information.

I have to warn you that this may not be what you expect to hear.

One question that many people have when they start selling dvds is how dvds on eBay can appear to be sold for so little. People really do knock themselves out over this question. If you take a moment to browse eBay dvd selections, you will notice some sellers pricing new release dvds, such The Departed or Apocolypto between $2.50 and $5.00.

How can they do that? There are really just two answers. The first thing you must understand, however, is that legitimate, new release dvds will never, even at wholesale rates, be priced that low. Not even Walmart will sell, for example, Apocolypto at such a low price.

So, how do eBay sellers offer such low prices? The answers are these--either the seller is taking a loss, or the dvd is suspect. Why would a seller take a loss? A new seller will do this to bring people to the auction in order to get the positive feedback necessary to instill confidence in buyers. PowerSellers can afford to take the loss and may do this to bring in more customers.

There really is no secret source for ultra cheap, brand new release dvds. Dvds are expensive, even at wholesale rates. However, having said that, some of your best bulk bargains, your rock bottom prices, may come through purchasing liquidated and close out stock. Here you are buying dvds from a retailer who needs to get rid of them, and who may therefore sell them well below cost.

There you have it. I hope this has been helpful and gives you something to think about.

Start sourcing DVDs Right Now

The hard truth behind behind buying dvds from true dvd wholesalers is that setting up an account is not necessarily either easy or straight forward if you are new to business, just starting out, and have relatively little money.

So, what is the easy way? We are getting there, but first I just want to make one point.

One of the largest of these companies requires a $25,000 letter of credit in order to use their online services (dropshipping) in conjunction with a credit account. Although such a letter is not as hard to get as you might think, the demand itself could seem daunting to a beginner. In the absense of an established business history, only one of the three major players will let you in without a letter of credit. All three require some sort of credit checking and and paperwork before an account is established. Again, for a beginner, this may be confusing and somewhat daunting.

Until you figure this out, you may want to use buyritedvd.com. Now, Buyrite is not a true wholesaler as I've defined the term in ealier posts, and I feel that the inventory is limited. However, it is a source of low cost dvds.

Buyrite allows you a free "wholesale" account, and for a monthly fee, you can subscribe to their dropshipping service and data feed. Dropshipping is offered at three subscription tiers. Tier 3 has the lowest dvd price, tier 2 slightly higher, and tier 1 slightly higher. I think tier 1 starts off at about $10 a month.

Personally, I don't think this is an optimum arrangement. But, it does allow you get an inventory posted to your site and to start selling until you can make arrangements with on of the major players. You do not need a state sales tax permit because Buyrite is not a real/true wholesaler.

Remember, before you invest in your product, do the research to figure out demand.

As always, I suggest the best darn dvd wholesale diretory out there!

World Wide Brands, now better known as OneSource, and Salehoo are the two giants of Internet wholesale product sourcing directories. Many believe that the two are enemies, pitted against one another. But are they? In competition yes, but the truth may be that their competition is constructive and serves to benefit the product sourcing community as a whole.

In this Salehoo blog post, Jimmy Huber, key man at Salehoo, says,

"You also need to realize that the content of each and every directory on the Internet will be based to a degree on the owner's experience, line of business, contacts, and customer demand. Each directory then, will offer different advantages and value.For example, directory A may have a wide range of excellent sources for wholesale indoor and outdoor furniture.But directory B might have more drop shipping sources for major cosmetics.Both provide great value, but in different areas."

So here is Jimmy Huber advising you to be open minded and consider the benefits that other directory resources may have to offer. He goes on to say,

"World Wide Brands was established by Chris Malta, renowned author of What to Sell on eBay and Where to Get It. This guy really knows his stuff and, as the only book devoted to the subject of sourcing goods to sell on eBay; this tome has quickly become the bible for anyone filled with trepidation about dipping their toes into the wholesale market."

So you see, far from attempting to dissuade you from joining worldwide brands, he encourages it as a valuable part of your research. And this makes sense. If you need wholesale dvd movie suppliers, or plan on reselling wholesale goods in general, the relatively small price paid to join the best wholesale directory resources is money well spent.

Mr. Huber continues to add,

"Chris Malta supplements the book by offering a regularly updated and strictly monitored database of genuine suppliers. Although I haven't personally tried the sources, a good look through them reveals an excellent lineup of drop ship wholesalers, light bulk wholesalers and general wholesalers for most searches I carried out."

And, in fact, that is what I have found for Salehoo, as well, an excellent lineup of dropship wholesalers, light bulk and general wholesalers, as well as liquidation and closeout inventory sources.

Aside from price, Salehoo is now much less expensive than Worldwide brands, one supply area where they differ is in access to high quality liquidation stock. Salehoo now brokers liquidation stock from major retailers, such as Macy's, so that members can purchase small bulk lots at the same discount they'd expect if they were purchasing really big lots, such as by the truck. In my opinion, that is worth its weight in gold. I'm not awaare of any other membership offering that service.

You may have heard of Brent Crouch. If not, and you are thinking of selling DVDs on eBay, then you had better read this. I am reprinting this article by Brent Crouch, owner of Jillian Entertainment, because it spells out important information you must be aware of before you start selling new release DVDs.

The wholesale price of new release dvd's is the driving force that propels many sellers to purchase every single dvd wholesale list they can find. Many have already found the largest dvd wholesaler, but are convinced there must be some other secret dvd supplier out there.

I admit, I was just as shocked as anyone to discover the wholesale cost of new release dvd's. We all have some expectation that new release dvd's must be available at a very low cost. Otherwise, how would so many sellers on ebay be offering them for a few dollars each?

NEW RELEASE DVD'S ARE AT A PREMIUM

My research has proven to me that new release dvd's are high demand no profit titles. If you will research the auction of ebay's top dvd sellers, you will not find any selling new releases. The reason is simple. There is so much competition for new release dvd's, there just isn't any money to be made selling them.

There are several important reason why an item as popular as a new release dvd would yield no profit to a dvd seller.

1. Unless you have millions of dollars to spend, you have to buy your new release dvd movies from one of the three main dvd suppliers in the United States. For the huge box stores like Wal-mart, they have enough volume to buy directly from the studios. They are able to bypass the middle man and buy these movies at the same cost paid by the big distributors.

Typically, these huge box store will advertise new release dvd's at cost. They simply use them as a loss leader to get buyers in their store. They know if you come in to buy a new release, chances are you will buy other items they will make a profit from. This is why you will find Wal-Mart will sometimes have new releases cheaper than we can buy them from one of the dvd wholesalers.

2. The second reason is new release dvd's are not just in demand with the public, they are in demand with the bootleggers as well. A bootlegger can make a new release dvd with the cover art for as little as $1.50 each. These illegal counterfeits usually go on sale before they are even officially released to the public.

You can't compete with a bootlegger that is creating movies on a computer for $1.50 each.

HOW DO EBAY SELLERS SELL NEW RELEASES SO CHEAP?

1. A lot of sellers are actually buying new releases at Wal-Mart and reselling them on ebay. This is not my method of choice. I just avoid new releases altogether. But I have ran into several sellers so intent on selling them, this is the method they use.

2. Some of the big sellers may be using them as loss leaders like Wal-mart. If you were selling 10,000 dvd's a month you were making money from, you could afford to sell 100 - 200 new releases at cost.

3. I'm of the opinion that a very large portion of the new release dvd's available on ebay are counterfeits. One of the giveaways are dvd auctions that include any of the following in the description: DVD-5, import, doesn't include the case, shipped in plastic sleeves, shipped from China, Philippines, Malaysia, or some other third world country.

DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON NEW RELEASE DVD'S

The large suppliers in my directory will offer you new release dvd's. These are the same distributors that supply new releases to all the dvd rental stores. So they are available if you are set on selling them. However, I would encourage you to focus on picking profitable titles you can use to start and grow your dvd business.