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where are you located and what is the new biz going to be ?
__________________ Well guys I am now down over 130 pounds and thanks all that had questions of about the diet and I know of at least one guy that has followed up and has lost over 60 pounds in the last three months. Anyone else that has tried it successfully let me know it makes me proud to have helped other people.
Exactly.
The Port Supply of West Marine is a wholesale supplier at a price between manufacturer's and retail. They ship quickly and have an extensive catalog. It is a way to get going with minimal inventory. Pick out some of their specials and run them on your web site.
But you will have to convince Port Supply of your sincerity and integrity. They are quite restrictive on who gets an account. It may take a substantial first order to convince them you are not just looking for big discounts to furbish your own boat.
Wintron in New Jersey is great I have used them for the past 2 years they also drop ship and have good shipping rates. You will need to provide them with all the documentation proving you are a re-seller and for Net-30 the proper credit docs.
Port Supply has no signficant discount on Marine electronics. You could not be competative. Many of the E retailers have the product drop shipped. However, there are a number who are very well established, and already have the volume of business, so you cannot be competative with these either. I would say that you are too late. I have a number of friends who tried it years ago, when the field was less crowded--none of them made it. Your chances would probably be better at Vegas. You have costs of doing business, and electronics are not discounted much at the wholesale level.
Unless you manufacture, service or install electronics you will probably not be able to make a living at just selling them. Like most products sold these days the margins are thin and the competition is fierce.
Want to make money on the web, start a boating website with a porn thread included in it! Then charge for a little ships wheel icon to access the porn area and hope some big conglomerate comes around and buys you up. They will of course dispose of the "adult content" , much to the chagrin of the dirty old boating mens and then sell ads to anyone and everyone with enough dough to afford space.
__________________ USCG 100 TON MASTER
Pursuit 2870 CC
Palm Beach 161
1984 Mckee Craft 14'
Sunset on the ICW
Madeira Beach, Fl
Honeymoon Harbor
Bimini
"Many times life gives you the test, before you learn the lesson!"
Jump right in bud. By the way, Walmart is offering the Garmin C330 automotive GPS at $128.00 on Friday morning while supplies last. If you can find a wholesale outlet offering you that unit for less than that, I'll close up and give you my business.
Just in case you find one, you may want to bone up on your electronics and get cirtified by the NMEA and ABYC. Or not, hell, it's only 12 volts and ground, right? How hard could it be?
Since you are just starting out your first concern should be setting up Net/30 terms.
Discounting will depend on the amount of business you give them.
Take it from someone in the biz... No real distributor or direct manufacturer in consumer electronics industry will give you NET-30 on you purchases until you PROVE you financial backing. That often times means references in the trade. If you are serious - take the Credit Card/COD terms and see if you can grow your sector/consumer base.
I will tell you for a fact, that the margins are slim, slim, slim.... I'm a consulting company by nature (which is why I still have a prosperous and growing business) and only deal in hardware as a component of my business model (with Hardware often comes consulting services). If I was solely in consumer electronics - forget about it... Drop shipping is not going to give you an edge... you want an edge, you need to think about how to inventory product, because your best deals will come with volume. Once you inventory product, you need to pay close attention to your competition and know when to have a fire sale. For example, in the past, I would buy a flat of processors from Intel on Tuesday and then on Friday Intel announce a price drop on processors... guess who is in the red from the start. In todays market, technology is at an all time pace and you need to be aware of this.
There is another Marine Electronics distributor in NJ that many of the board sponsors use - PM me and I will give it to you.
Be creative in your marketing...- take a loss in one area to make a gain in another.... This is the only way to actually offset costs in this industry with the fierce competition.
My 0.02... stay out of it unless you have the capital and aspirations to be a distributor - in which case you need to strive to purchase direct from the manufacturer. Consumer based product models on low margin are nothing but a problem to manage and grow in todays world.
It is hard for just sales, too many companies out there and no markup. Installation and service is what I do more as I actually love doing the installation more than anything. There is nothing like seeing a customers face when they pick up their new boat with all the new gadgets and show them what it is capable of. Its not the money for me but just the love of the business. Nothing like taking a new fresh dash and customizing it to a liking and look at it after.
Wholesale Marine Electronics Distributors 
