What does it mean when...

[jellybirddesigns]

I had a message from a potential buyer wanting to know if I would offer wholesale options on my items.

What does this mean to me as a seller? Would they be expecting a certain discount for a certain volume?

[kopenhagen5]

Yes. Usually means discounted for large quantities.

You currently sell retail so they are interested in buying wholesale so they can resell as retail or perhaps for another purpose.

Our retail store sells an item at $1, we would want to buy at 50c - 70c.

[bf1952]

It sounds like they want to on-sell your items - which would mean a discount for volume buys.

You probably need to ask a few questions of this buyer as you may find yourself in competition on ebay for your own items.

[digital*ghost]

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@jellybirddesigns wrote:

I had a message from a potential buyer wanting to know if I would offer wholesale options on my items.

What does this mean to me as a seller? Would they be expecting a certain discount for a certain volume?

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Most expect a 50% discount, so you would need to work out if something in that realm is feasible, and at what volume. These are terms you dictate, so if you reach a discount rate and quantity it applies to, don't feel pressured if they come back and try to say it's not good enough - i.e. it's ok to say "unfortunately I'm not able to accomodate your needs").  

They may not necessarily want to on-sell (it's the most likely, but you can also sometimes get inquiries like this from people who work in industries like home decor / interior design), but another thing that can be worth thinking about is whether you would have any stipulations in regards to branding - if you brand your items, would you be comfortable with an on-seller rebranding them if they wanted to, or leaving out the branding on the items you sell to them? 

[eol-products]

I can see demand in boutique shops in the city and Australian made is what will help it sell.

If I was manufacturing items like yours I would definately be looking into this way of selling. 

There's a furniture shop in Sydney that sells plenty of high end made designer items and seeing a single dinner fork for $50 told me I was in the wrong shop for my budget.

[jellybirddesigns]

Thank you all for your responses.

I guess one of the problems is that I buy the fabrics at full retail prices for the most part, so whilst my margins are ok, I definitely won't be able to deep discount.

Also, my labor costs are the same whether I make 1 item or 200.

I will discuss it further with the buyer though as it may lead to something worthwhile.

[digital*ghost]

Having a wholesale relationship can sometimes help you in that regard, if it works out, in that your margins might be a bit smaller, but you get a larger lump sum of cash to reinvest in the business, where you might go on to purchase bulk / wholesale fabrics yourself, or new equipment that can reduce labour (if possible) or other costs so that your retail pricing becomes a bit more profitable and maybe give you a little more room to move / grow.

In my case, my handmade items are listed a bit below what would otherwise be a full retail price, just to remain a bit more competitive on eBay, and likewise many costs can't be reduced, so when people ask about wholesale or bulk pricing on those, 30% is usually the most I can provide (and it takes a fair few items before that can kick in). Some have taken it up, others haven't, it all depends on what their own market is. 

[go-tazz]

We had a seller of pottery items at our market that were very popular and she always sold a good quantity and

then someone wanted one of each and a discount because of the bulk buy,(so they sold them).

A month later she was alerted that one of the cheap chain stores had all of her items in their store and when

she fronted the store was told that that they weren't protected in any way and their supplier was in China,(they

must have used her items to make the molds).

The whole chain got the items and her business went downhill quick as they were cheaper,(poorer quality

but she couldn't compete on price),

So it's something to keep in mind for everyone that has items that they "make" themselves.

[brerrabbit585]

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@jellybirddesigns wrote:

I had a message from a potential buyer wanting to know if I would offer wholesale options on my items.

What does this mean to me as a seller? Would they be expecting a certain discount for a certain volume?

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It means you do the work and they make the profit.  

Okay, there are times when that's not the case, but I'm sure you're selling your items as low as you can go already.  If people would pay more you'd have already put your prices up.  If you didn't have fees to pay and you were dealing direct, you'd have a little bit of room to move on prices but ebay have pretty well sewn that up now.  (Pardon the sewing pun)

@ tazz, they could still buy at full price and use the items to copy.  I doubt it'd apply to jelly's items though.  I had a buyer wanting pictures of my items once and I know she wanted to know how I made them and I knew she wanted to copy them because she already made a similar item. As far as I was concerned, if she wanted to see how I made them she could buy one herself and work it out from there but she wanted it free.