Wholesaler / Distributor advice for trade computer consumables

[MatEc]

Hi all,

This is my first post in the forums.
I'm considering opening an online shop selling computer consumables and I'm wondering if anyone could recommend wholesalers / distributors for trade purchasing, or offer any other useful advice ?

Thanks in advance

Matt

 

[edmondscommerce]

be prepared to make nearly knack all margin

 

[MatEc]

ok, thanks.....anyone else..?

 

[TotallySport]

Do a quick search on the forum, there are stacks of people who thought the same and have good replies already on the forum. (the only advice I can give would be the same as Mr Edmonds)

 

[MatEc]

Thanks guys, I'm aware of potential margins as I have found two suppliers but I want to find a couple of more to compare. Ive looked around the forum but found no details of wholesalers who deal in computer consumables. If anyone knows of a wholesaler / Distributor please let me know.

Thanks

 

[benjamin_c]

Here's a list of companies that deal with computer wholesale, to get a good deal you will need to buy in bulk and the margins will still be tiny, i've seen things in tesco cheaper than any of these companys sell them for, and even if you can make a decent margin on the products you don't stand a chance of getting a decent search engine ranking for the keywords you will need, when i was going through college a few years back i used to buy bankcrupt stock or second hand computers and parts and refurb and ebay them and made enough to pay my way through college but it wasn't enough for a viable business, at best i saw a few hundred a week which to a 17 year old was a lot but if you have bills to pay and a car to run and kids its naff all good luck and i hope you find a business idea that is right for you and profitable but i'm telling you now unless you have huge amounts of money to invest or are able to offer a value added service then the computer industry is one you should keep well away from, its dominated by big players who will chew up any little guy and spit him out without a second thought.

http://www.computer2000.co.uk

http://www.westcoast.co.uk

http://uk.ingrammicro.com

http://www.unlimited.com

http://www.ccidistribution.co.uk

 

[shaunb]

Just a question to the people who have said something about the bad margins in this market... Have you ever seen what they are sold for by trade suppliers/disties? Obviously not based on your comments.

If you knew the prices of these products then you would know the margins are not that bad. What do you see as a good margin? 20%? 30%? On inks i make around 80-120% sometimes more when selling them in my shop, online i make around 40-80%, depends on the cartridge and what price they come in at that week, and i used to sell a hell of a lot of them online as well, but i haven't done any work on my website recently, Ive been too busy in the shop. But there is money to be made in this market. The comments above could be said about any market, its just the competition is a little more fierce, just need to work at it thats all.

You can get extremely cheap cartridges, but they are really bad quality, people selling these online/ebay dont last long as they wont get repeat custom, the cartridges we get are really high quality and hardly get any returns for bad chips etc.

Shaun

 

[TotallySport]

Sorry I was thinking components not consumables, i have no doubt about cheaper ink margins are fairly good.

 

[benjamin_c]

My reply was aimed towards hardware components not ink. and i have seen the trade prices.

 

[limessl]

I used to have an account with Ingram Micro. I quickly worked out that it was nigh on impossible to make money by reselling their stuff on the internet, and that it was only good for the type of company who sold "in person" to clients that they had a good relationship with (at least this was my take).

The only thing I figured I could make a relatively decent margin on was Sage products, but even still Sage have a very inflexible mark-up policy and I knew full well that Ingram's price would easily be beaten by another reseller who fancied earning a quick buck - so there was no real point in trying to be the cheapest for that either.

 

[smallbusiness-uk]

only by openinga walk-in store will you make a decent margin as it is more personal and any questions that cant be answered online, a human being can, e-commerce wont work with decent margins

 

[The Wholesale Forums]

Generally, the bigger the brand, the less margin you will make, especially on Inks.

I have heard unbranded inks that are of equal quality are both cheaper to consumers and present higher margins.

You will find that quite a lot of the branded Inks available online through marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon are re-packaged or old stock that has gone beyond its expected life. This is reflected in it's overall performance, even if it appears on the outset to be from a recognised brand.

We have some links to suppliers if you need any for further consideration.

All the best.

 

[edmondscommerce]

its amazing how much knowledge of various markets you get by working as an ecommerce specialist

 

[ctsiow]

Hi all,
Have you considered importing the computer consumables direct from overseas instead of getting them from your local suppliers? I am not sure abt UK laws for parallel importing but for NZ, this is permissible. The price of computer consumables in Malaysia is very competitive. If interested to look at this option, you can contact me.
Rgds
CT

 

[The Web Cupboard]

only by openinga walk-in store will you make a decent margin as it is more personal and any questions that cant be answered online, a human being can, e-commerce wont work with decent margins

Why can't a decent margin be made from an online business selling consumables ? A couple of consumables I have looked at allow a margin of more in excess of 50% and some even more.
With regards to answering questions there is online chat, email, and the good old telephone.
Part of being able to purchase online surely is the convenience of not having to go out to shops. That said though I do appreciate some people do like to go out and shop.

 

[The Web Cupboard]

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