It is said, to be successful in selling, you must be passionate about what you sell. This is easy if you love designer handbags and fashion. Fashion is a huge industry. Wholesale designer handbags and fashion is also quickly becoming a very large and profitable industry.
But as good as it sounds, there are many things to know before you jump in and become a designer handbag wholesaler.
The most important issue you must understand is the manufacturing and distribution channels of the top designers. The production of designer handbags is almost a top-secret event. With the heavy competition between the designers to offer the latest and hottest trends for the up coming season, handbag manufacturers keep quite about their production runs, the quantity they will produce and orders must be placed two or three seasons in advance just to get any product. What does this mean to you, the wholesaler? It means that you cannot call up GUCCI or Hermes and ask for a couple hundred bags and expect to not get laughed at (in Italian of French of course). It also means that the top designer handbag manufacturers only supply their product to large retailers, small boutiques and maybe a website with an exclusive contract.
So where do all the handbags that you see for sale online come from? Well, that is the key to getting into the wholesale designer handbag business. Most of the bags come from intentional or unintentional overstock by the small to medium size boutiques oversees. They will sell off their surplus of last season’s handbags to distributors who will then sell them to wholesalers. It is your goal to find these distributors.
To find reputable, honest dealers who distribute authentic merchandise is tricky. There are a couple of things to consider.
**Most dealers that sell designers from Italy, France and England are not found in the US. It only makes sense. They need to have a close relationship with the boutiques, and very rarely the manufacturers themselves, that supply them with their overstock. So become familiar with what country the handbags you want to sell were originally produced.
**Learn the language. You will need to learn a little Italian or French. Just enough to understand colors, styles and shapes of the handbags when you are given an inventory list. It would also be good to know enough to at least say hello and what your intentions are when initially contacting the dealer. Learning the language is also extremely helpful when conducting searches on the internet. Don’t limit your search to pages here in the US, search google and yahoo in Italian and French as well.
**Contact as many dealers as possible. This will help to validate which ones are honest and have an interest in a business relationship. Once you have received the inventory/price list from several dealers, cross reverence them. Are the prices similar? Are the quantities on hand reasonable? This is important to gage if the dealer is selling authentic merchandise. If he has 600 of a particular bag, chances are they are not real. It is not reasonable, given the means in which he most likely purchases his stock and the production methods of the manufacturing, that he would have so many of one style.
**Understand all terms of sale prior to placing an order. It is not uncommon that the dealer will want a deposit on your order. You will usually commit 30% up front and pay the remainder when the items have shipped. Many dealers will only accept bank transfers. This is where becoming a designer handbag wholesaler takes a great deal of faith. A bank transfer offers no protection from the dealer taking your money and never shipping product. If he was dishonest and took the funds, but shipped nothing, you could have very little recourse. Unlike a money order or credit card purchase, there is no 3rd party protection. At the least, make sure you have the dealers phone number, complete business address and email address.
Of course, like with all start-up business, there are many, many more things to consider. But to make your search for the right distributor easier, we highly recommend going to ModaImports.com. Unlike the many lists and directories that claim to offer true sources for authentic designer handbags, ModaImports.com has used, or contacted, all of the sources on their Supplier Database.
If you have a passion for fashion and are looking to start your own lucrative business, wholesale authentic designer handbags is a great business opportunity.
By Deanna Key
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