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I am starting a small retail shop for computer sales, accessories, peripherals, service and support etc. Picture a small Best Buy if you will. I have a solid initial inventory list and a 20,000 budget to get started with purchasing that inventory (even if only one of each item to stock the shop.) I have already worked out the entire inventory cost using Amazon.com prices so please don't tell me that it cannot be done.

Can anybody recommend a solid wholesaler that has a good track record of getting smaller retailers started (good prices, knowledgeable sales team)? What about companies like PCMall, TigerDirect, or Compnation.

My purchase timeframe is 1-2 months. I appreciate any support the community can offer.

Thanks!

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What country? You question seems too localized. – Ross Sep 16 '11 at 15:18
@Ross -- How about we find ways to support questions rather than look for reasons to "shut them down"? ELE is asking with good intention as can be seen from past question and follow-up. You have a lot of great information which could help -- can we find ways to share it? – Joseph Barisonzi Sep 16 '11 at 17:24
Thanks @Joseph Barisonzi for you suggestion. I don't vote to close this question. This question is still not clear and require a lot of assumptions. – Ross Sep 16 '11 at 18:31
Hey guys thanks for the interest so far. The location is in The Bahamas. I am open to working with freight forwarders etc to handle shipping concerns. @Ross, May I ask what other information is required to recommend a wholesale distributer (of consumer electronic products)? More than anything I am looking for recommendations. There are a bunch of wholesale distributers out there, a nudge in a direction is all I need from people that actually know and have had this experience in the past. Can you offer any help from prior experience in retail? – ELE Sep 16 '11 at 18:49

1 Answer

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Until you have a large enough sales volume to get quantity discounts, your best bet may be to make purchases from online sites. If you shop online and find the best prices, you should be able to mark things up enough for retail sales. Large online stores may only have a 5-10% margin, so you would not be losing too much by going that route. You can provide some in-store service to add value to your products.

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thank you @xpda for your response. I am seeing that even Amazon offers great prices for me to at least get started. Thanks again. Other than Amazon, or TigerDirect are there any other options that people are using nowadays? – ELE Sep 17 '11 at 4:07
Newegg.com is pretty good for computers, parts, and peripherals. I don't know much about consumer electronics vendors. – xpda Sep 17 '11 at 4:18
Thanks again anyway. Forgot about newegg.com so you were useful nonetheless. – ELE Sep 24 '11 at 19:49

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