Expert: Michael Michelini - 7/23/2009

Question
First of all thank you for your time !! I would like to open a e-bay store and sell golf equipment and bowling equipment but I am having a hard time getting a hold of wholesalers for golf and bowling they do not want to sell to people who want to e-commerce could use some help with some wholesalers

Answer
Hi Greg,

Happy to hear you are entering the world of ecommerce! This is the future, and maybe those wholesalers your are contacting now feel threatened new competition is entering, who knows.

I remember having the same problem when I started my ebay store.  Many wholesalers are not setup for e-commerce.

What i would recommend you do is do research on "drop ship" or "drop shippers", these are suppliers who understand ecommerce and  will ship direct to  your customer from their warehouse - no need for you to pre-pay and stock the inventory.

Sure, you may worry they will take your customer, or something like this, but this is a much better way to enter ecommerce.  you don't take inventory risk.  

And then you can see which products sell better, and if  you decide to start buying wholesale, then you can negotiate better pricing and organize a place to warehouse

hope this helps - but yea, I would research drop shippers of golf equipment.  

BE CAREFUL - many drop ship sources try to charge you membership fees,  look around before signing

Mike