Whether you're looking for a profitable side hustle or a new career, it's wise to consider getting started in the world of wholesale electronics. These days, the electronics market is ripe with opportunity. With new electronics always coming out, it creates an endless cycle of both new and used inventory for wholesalers to take advantage of.
Consider these benefits that a buy-and-sell electronics business brings to the table.
High-profit potential
Low initial investments
Low overhead
Ability to work anywhere
Access to a large consumer market
Minimal training or experience required
Flexible schedules and goals
Since Trade-In Tech began in 2012, we’ve learned a lot about the wholesale electronics industry. With that in mind, we wanted to put together a guide. After reading this guide, you’ll know how and where to buy wholesale electronics. We’ll also cover how to get the best deals on these products and much more.
Also, don’t miss our bonus video below where Trade-In Tech’s CEO, Hayden Howard, covers how to buy electronics in bulk!
Is Buying Wholesale Electronics Right for Me? 3 Questions to Ask
Before you start buying lots of electronics, you might have questions about buying in bulk. To make things easier for you, it’s important to ask yourself a few questions. Answering these questions will help you decide if being a wholesaler is right for you.
1. Do You Have Enough Space?
First and foremost, you’ll need to think about how much space you have to store your electronics. Some people might have lots of space on hand. In that case, you won’t have to worry about storage concerns.
However, some people aren’t able to have as much space as others. If you’re living inside a smaller space, storing lots of electronics might not be a viable option. In that case, you might want to think about getting a storage unit.
If you’re working with a few people, you could consider splitting storage costs among your group.
2. Do I Have the Budget?
Another important question to ask yourself is whether or not you currently have the budget to buy in bulk. You might think that you need a huge budget to get started buying bulk electronics. But, that isn’t true.
If you don’t want to buy in bulk yet, you can also start out buying one electronic item at a time. After making a few sales, buying in bulk should become easier to do.
3. Do I Have the Time?
Before jumping into any business, it’s also important to ask yourself if you have the time to do this. As you continue buying more electronics, it means you’ll have more things to keep up with.
If it seems like there’s going to be too much to take on, consider hiring a little bit of help. Hiring a little extra help can make managing your business much easier than normal.
Top 6 Benefits of Buying Electronics in Bulk
At this point, you’ve determined whether or not buying in bulk is right for you. Now, we’re going to discuss the many benefits of buying lots of electronics at once. And buying in bulk has a lot more benefits associated with it than you might think.
Here are six great reasons to consider buying electronics in bulk.
1. Having a Large Selection of Items To Choose From
When you’re looking for business inventory, it’s important to have a large selection. This gives you the freedom to carry lots of items. You also have a better chance of finding profitable electronics that sell fast.
Fortunately, the electronics industry is extremely popular. This means that, while not always possible in other industries, it’s easy to find lots of bulk electronics. Many sellers love listing large amounts of electronics for sale at one time.
Some of the most popular types of bulk electronics include smartphones, tablets, and laptops. With that said, there are many more items that electronics wholesalers love to buy and sell and bulk. These electronics include headphones, game consoles, VR headsets, and more.
It’s understandable to think that buying in bulk means buying hundreds or thousands of items at a time. Fortunately, that doesn’t have to be the case. Technically, buying electronics in bulk might mean buying three, five, or ten items at once.
Having a large selection of potential items to buy is a huge advantage in any industry. With such a large selection of items to sell, you’ll have fewer worries about everyone selling the same thing. This situation is great for helping you to stand out as a seller.
2. Getting Lots of Items at Once
As you continue building your business, it’s probably not worth buying one item at a time. To expand your business, and be there for customers, you’re going to need inventory on hand.
What’s great about buying in bulk is that you’ll almost always have inventory available. To show how important it is to have lots of inventory on hand, let’s look at a quick example below.
Let’s say that you recently launched a website and decided to promote it with SEO or paid advertising. Within a week, your website’s traffic jumps up by 35%. As your website gets more visitors, your sales increase.
Because you keep low amounts of inventory on hand, your newest customers now have to wait longer for the electronics they need. At this time, they might end up choosing one of your competitors.
When you buy in bulk, you’re only limited by the amount of physical space you have. Buying in bulk can easily put all of those inventory-related fears and nightmares to rest.
3. Saving Money
Another great reason to start buying electronics in bulk is to save money. It might seem initially strange to think that you’re going to save money by buying in bulk.
Many electronics business owners, especially ones like you who are in the wholesale industry, enjoy moving large quantities of products at once. To encourage people to buy larger quantities, sellers usually employ wholesale discounts.
Let’s say that you were wanting to buy used iPhones in great condition. If you buy one iPhone, you’ll pay $150. However, this same seller offers five iPhones for $700. Normally, buying this many phones would cost $750, saving you $50 if you bought five at once.
In most cases, wholesalers are going to have pricing strategies that help you save money on electronics. These pricing strategies are also great for wholesalers who can make room for more shipments in the future.
After buying your items in bulk, you can also make profits faster. You don’t need to wait to replenish stock to make more sales. You have everything on hand.
4. Avoiding Expensive Shipping Costs
Another burden associated with buying online is paying shipping costs. No matter what it is, most items need to be shipped and some company needs payment to ship it.
It’s nearly impossible to avoid shipping fees as your online business launches. But you can minimize how much you pay on shipping with bulk purchases.
Sure, you might pay a decent amount of money for larger shipments. But, more often than not, you’ll still pay less than you would if shipping each item one by one.
When you’re buying in bulk, it’s also much easier for bookkeeping purposes. After all, it’s much easier to save a single receipt than it is to keep track of 20 of them.
5. Having Various Buying Options
We’ve mentioned that buying in bulk allows you to choose from many items. Another bonus of bulk purchases is that it opens up where you can find electronics.
When you decide to buy in bulk, you can also check out liquidation and closeout auctions. Both of these types of sales are great because they allow you to possibly find lots of great electronics at rock bottom prices. There are also liquidation and closeout auctions available for those who buy in bulk.
Best of all, almost everything listed in these auctions are in large quantities. You don’t need to filter through listings and spend hours searching for that perfect auction. When you only buy in bulk, you can shop for electronics almost anywhere!
6. More Environmentally Friendly
Throughout the world, more companies are working to ensure they’re environmentally friendly. One great way you can do this is by buying in bulk. Buying more electronics at once tends to cut down on shipping materials. Doing this also places less of a strain on transportation companies that need to make deliveries.
Preparing To Buy Wholesale Electronics
Considering the time and financial investment of buying electronics, it’s helpful to check out a few tips before you get started. To help you get your foot in the door, here's how you can prepare to buy wholesale electronics.
File Your Business & Sales Tax Permits
As you probably know, you'll need to have permits and other types of legal documents to operate a business. Without the required documentation, your business could be at risk of being shut down. However, there are several other reasons to have proper business documentation.
Having the required permits also ensures that you're a legitimate business. This is something that both customers and vendors will want to know about. Also, having tax documentation is extremely important because it provides records to your local and national governments. If you don't have this type of documentation, you won't be able to file business taxes.
You certainly don’t want to be operating a business that’s trying to avoid paying the government. Digressing from that, after taking care of business and sales tax permits, your business will soon be able to start making a profit!
Know Where To Sell Before You Buy
Another important element of any company's success is purchasing goods. However, before doing this, it's wise to know where you're going to sell the items you're purchasing. Don't worry, this doesn't have to be a complicated process. Fortunately, you can sell electronics on many of the websites you purchase these items from.
Sometimes, manufacturers and large retailers want to claim an understandable share of profits from online sales. If you’d rather hold onto the profits you make from buying and selling electronics, consider joining Trade-In Tech. We proudly offer no fees to our members, no matter if they’re buying or selling electronics.
Verify New Suppliers Before Doing Business
Hopefully, you encounter nothing but trustworthy suppliers while you're purchasing your wholesale goods. With that said, you can drastically reduce the chance of this happening by verifying the suppliers you're working with.
Fortunately, Trade-In Tech makes it incredibly easy for you to achieve this goal. Each Trade-In Tech member must go through this company's verification process. Also, each member must have at least two industry trade references from previous customers.
With Trade-In Tech, it's also extremely easy to find the buyers and sellers you're looking for. Best of all, this wholesale electronics platform has many features to help buyers and sellers grow their companies. This website also utilizes the latest in social technology, allowing you to easily network with buyers and sellers from all over the world.
By using Trade-In Tech, you’re not setting yourself up to deal with the unfortunate amount of scammers in the wholesale electronics world. Here, we’re a community that’s working to help each other grow their respective businesses.
Learn How To Properly Test Electronics
If you’re going to be buying or selling electronics on a wholesale basis, it’s also beneficial to learn how to properly test these items. You can also consider hiring an electronics refurbisher to partner with.
One way you can see how trustworthy they’re being is by “testing” electronics by making a small order from a potential supplier. After finding a buyer or seller that looks right, make a small order and see what you end up receiving. If it matches what you were promised, this could be a valuable business partnership.
The types of electronics tests you’ll need to perform might vary slightly, depending on what industry you’re in. Make sure the device powers on and off properly. Also, ensure that any connection ports, buttons, and your device’s screens are in working order.
Don’t let these steps scare you away, they will become a habit soon enough. These are just precautions that ensure what you’re purchasing works properly.
Always Secure Your Money
Of course, no business can get far without making money. Considering that, it makes total sense to want to secure your payments as a wholesaler. One way to do this is by having a PayPal business account. PayPal offers many features including fraud prevention, seller protection, and account monitoring.
With that said, PayPal isn’t the only option to ensure that wholesale business owners receive their money.
You can also set up a type of escrow account, which is where either money or assets are held by a third party. While this might initially sound strange, it’s a proven way for both people and companies to work together. Instead of sending money, hoping you’re working with someone honest, a third party is there to ensure you get what you pay for. If something sketchy happens, you get your money back.
We’re not saying that these are the only ways for buyers and sellers to secure their money. However, these are two of the most commonly used methods. If neither of these methods is what you’re looking for, you might consider securing their money including QuickBooks, Authorize.net, and Stripe.
With so many options, choosing one of these should help provide you with peace of mind that your money is safe and secure.
Buy In Bulk / Sell To Individuals Using eCommerce
Understandably, you’re probably not wanting to buy and sell one or two electronic items at a time. After all, you’re wanting to learn about what it takes to become a wholesaler. Considering that, an important aspect of this industry is buying items in bulk. This means that you’re purchasing a large number of items, typically at a lower per-item price.
With that said, certain people starting in the wholesale industry might think they can do this locally. Unfortunately, this is rarely the best option. For one, you might be spending quite a bit of money to rent or purchase a physical retail space. Making matters worse, you’re going to have a limited target audience. To solve this problem, it’s much more beneficial to start buying and selling in bulk online.
By operating your business online, you’ll be able to connect with sellers and buyers all over the world. You’ll also have a vast selection of potential electronics to choose from, giving you plenty of variety. Also, there’s a much better chance of finding more bargains online than you would dealing with only local sellers.
Figure Out What You Want to Sell
The great thing about the electronics market is that you can earn a profit with just about any type of device. As long as there's a demand for it, you can find someone to sell it to.
Consumer electronics, such as smartphones, computers, tablets, and more tend to be the most lucrative. With each passing year, the secondary market is flooded with used devices ready to be bought and resold.
The same goes for electronics that serve a single purpose. This includes cameras, video game consoles, and media devices. Also, you don't have to stick to one particular niche.
Oftentimes, it pays to branch out and sell a wide range of devices to suit your customer base. However, specializing in a type of electronic has its advantages, too. Focusing on one type of electronic can help you gain more experience and earn a reputation among customers looking for those products.
Buy Low and Sell High
After you have figured out a game plan, it's time to start stocking up. There are several places where you can buy electronics. We won't go into the specifics here, but take a look through the secondary market. There's no shortage of products available.
The whole point of a buy-and-sell business is to purchase your stock at very low prices, so do some research. Don't settle for the first supplier you find. The goal is to get a good deal so that you can sell at higher prices and make a decent profit.
Where Can I Buy Wholesale Electronics?
Since 2012, we have been aggressively buying all types of new, used, and damaged electronics. With companies like Apple, Samsung, and Google fighting for the top spots, we’ve been able to carve out a nice little niche reselling their products.
Most consumers don’t want to pay $1000 for the brand new iPhone, but they are willing to pay $300 for a phone that is 2-3 years old with near the same capabilities.
Here are a few helpful strategies you can use to buy wholesale electronics. After learning what makes buying in bulk so beneficial, it’s time to learn where to find these items.
Here are a few of the best places to find bulk electronics online.
Trade-In Tech
If you’re looking for bulk electronics, you’ll definitely want to check out Trade-In Tech. Trade-In Tech is a wholesale social platform made for electronics dealers. Since 2012, we’ve been helping people in the wholesale industry connect with other buyers and sellers. We focus on building a tight-knit community of people that want to see each other’s businesses continue growing.
Our network of worldwide members includes retailers, wholesalers, and partners of some of the largest electronic companies in the world. This also allows our members to carry the world’s most popular electronic brands, some of which include Apple, Samsung, and Google.
We make it easy for both buyers and sellers to get what they’re looking for. You can also check out our marketplace to get a look at everything available for sale.
There are also special social pages that each of our members has. These pages allow you to list what you’re selling or looking to buy. After you post it, everyone in your network receives a notification.
One feature that truly helps us stand out is our awesome members. We have thousands of buyers and sellers on Trade-In Tech from all over the world. Because of this, we’re able to offer a wide range of electronics from many brands. Another reason we’re so popular is that we offer zero buyer and seller fees, something any supplier can appreciate.
You’ll also be glad to know that each Trade-In Tech member must go through a screening process. Trade-In Tech also requires that, before becoming a buyer or seller, each member must provide at least two references that verify previous transactions. This process ensures that you’re only working with other, legitimate wholesale professionals.
B2B Resellers
There are 10,000+ companies in the USA alone that are constantly buying and selling electronics on a weekly basis. These companies sell on eBay, Amazon, Swappa, and other large eCommerce platforms as well as directly to wholesalers.
Finding these companies is quite hard. You will need to get on the phone with quite a few people to find the best products to source. Using a platform like Trade-In Tech will give you the best chance at finding reliable companies.
Corporate BuyBack
Many companies have been able to create successful buyback companies focused on acquiring IT assets like tablets, computers, and phones from corporations, schools, and private institutions.
These companies offer an all-in-one solution for private companies to upgrade their equipment and get top dollar for their used devices.
Companies like PaceButler and Buyback Solutions can supply resellers with high-quality used electronics at wholesale prices.
Manufacturers
Out of all the strategies, buying directly from a manufacturer is the most scalable business model. You can purchase devices like phone cases, accessories, repair parts, and more directly from manufacturers.
Plus, many companies are able to become profitable and grow when buying from a manufacturer to resell to consumers. When purchasing inventory, make sure to do background checks by collecting the company information and previous trade references.
You can also ask for photos of the stock and a list of serial numbers or IMEI numbers. Make sure to secure your money with Escrow, PayPal, or payment after inspection.
Amazon
Another way to find electronics in bulk is by joining Amazon. No, this doesn’t mean you need to make a normal Amazon account. Instead, we’re talking about Amazon’s Liquidation program. This program allows you to find and bid on items in wholesale quantities.
Before getting started, you’ll need to create an official seller account. To do this, you’ll need to provide a copy of your business license. This is Amazon’s way of making sure that you own a business.
Amazon’s liquidation program doesn’t only have electronics. So, it might take a little time and energy to find the listings you’re after. However, Amazon can be a potential way for you to find lots of electronics.
eBay
To find bulk electronics, you might also think about checking out eBay. Most likely, you’ve heard of eBay. If you haven’t, this website is an extremely popular place for listing items for sale.
In the past, eBay used to only host auctions. However, now this company does both auction and “Buy It Now” listings. As the name implies, Buy It Now listings allow you to buy an item for a specified price.
More often than not, bulk electronics are usually on eBay in the form of auctions. With auctions, you’ll likely be spending less than you would with Buy It Now prices. However, auctions are also going to be more competitive since only one buyer walks away with the item up for sale.
Shopping Around Locally
Last but not least, there’s also the option of finding bulk electronics by shopping locally. With that said, the results you’ll have with this process depend on where you live.
If you live in a busier area of the world where lots of electronics wholesalers reside, this method can be a great option. However, you might not get the best results if you live in a more desolate area.
Should you decide to take the local route, there are several kinds of businesses you can check out. A few of your possible options include checking out retailers, pawn shops, and other types of vendors.
We can’t guarantee that only shopping locally will give you the bulk electronics you’re looking for. However, it might be a worthwhile option to consider as part of your plan.
What Are the Best Ways to Get Deals on Wholesale Electronics?
If you want to make profits running a business, the electronics industry has a lot to offer. With that said, it’s important to know that the electronics industry is quite competitive. Because there are so many companies competing to buy and sell electronics, it’s good to have as many advantages as possible.
To stay competitive in the wholesale electronics industry, it’s good to know a few tips for how to get the best deals on wholesale electronics.
Have a Network of Sellers
Throughout life, it’s always good to have options. Without having options, you would find yourself getting bored quickly.
It’s also good to have options when you’re looking to purchase wholesale electronics online. One of the best ways to find potential deals on wholesale electronics is by having a network of sellers to work with.
One reason why having a network is so great is that it helps you deal with demand issues. If you’re only partnering with one seller, a single demand issue might mean not getting the electronics you need.
Even worse, this might cause you to go back on promises you made to buyers. This is something no wholesaler wants to have happen. Seller networks are also great because they give you pricing options. This ensures you’re getting the electronics you want at the lowest possible price.
Look for Closeout Electronics
As you likely know, things move fast in the world of consumer electronics. It sometimes seems like every time you turn around a new smartphone or tablet is coming out soon. While this might seem like a barrier to being in this industry, you can use it to your advantage.
Closeout electronics can be a wholesaler’s best friend. These types of electronics are items that, for one reason or another, retailers or manufacturers need to get off of shelves fast.
An example of this would be when Apple is about to release a new iPhone. Apple wants plenty of space on its store’s shelves dedicated to its newest smartphones and other electronics. However, these retailers might already have space dedicated to models from a few generations back. To solve this problem, Apple might soon issue some type of closeout deal on older inventory.
What’s great about closeout inventory is that it’s brand new. Since retailers need these items out of their stores fast, they’re often priced far lower than if you paid retail costs.
Find Overstock Electronics
One of the most important determinations to make as a wholesaler is whether you prefer buying new or used electronics. With that in mind, some people stay away from new electronics because of their high price tags.
If you’ve been avoiding buying new items because of price tag woes, you’ll love overstock electronics.
With overstock electronics, you’re almost always buying brand new items. Plus, you’re not worrying about the questions and concerns over conditions that come with used items. Best of all, you can typically get overstock electronics for a fraction of their retail cost!
Why Do Electronics Become Overstocked?
Companies can deem goods as overstocked merchandise for a few reasons. One reason for this is due to poor customer demand. While a company can have huge advertising budgets and a seemingly perfect product, there’s no guarantee that the product will actually become popular.
Another reason items become overstocked is due to an error on the retailer’s part. Every retailer must order merchandise to ensure that shelves are fully stocked. Sometimes, mistakes happen during this process.
Don’t Forget About Customer Returns
We also want to mention the importance of customer returns. Each day, retailers throughout the world receive returned items from customers.
Why customers return items varies wildly. One study found that only 20% of returned items were either damaged or didn’t work. This means that about 80% of returned items work perfectly fine.
Many times, customers will return items because they either had a change of heart or they received the wrong product. When customer returns happen, it can be great news for someone wanting to buy wholesale electronics.
In some cases, companies will be able to take these returned items and place them back on store shelves or in warehouses. If the returned products don’t meet brand new criteria, the store needs a way to sell them to resale companies.
Read Listing Information Closely
It’s understandable to get excited about seeing something you need on a closeout or overstock list. Instantly, your heart starts beating faster. Within seconds, your hand is almost shaking due to excitement over making a bid. But, wait!
You don’t want to rush into any listing you see without taking a closer look. Take a closer look at why these items are being listed. Are they damaged? Did the store order too many? Finding out this information can give you a better idea of how much they’re worth.
It’s also a good idea to read each listing’s descriptions closely. These areas are usually where retailers and sellers list out crucial details.
Imagine you’re buying a Samsung Galaxy lot of 100 smartphones. You don’t read the description but see a low price and decide to place a $200 bid. As the auction nears its end date, you’re noticing that no one else is placing any bids.
Thinking you’ve got a great deal, you open your boxes of smartphones to find they’re not powering on! After scrambling to check the listing, you find out the description states all phones have an internal CPU problem. By not reading the listing, you’re now out $200 and have smartphones you can’t do anything with.
Making matters worse, you’ll now need to partner with a refurbisher, which now puts you out of even more money! Just remember the previously mentioned scenario the next time you think about skimming over or skipping a listing’s description.
Check If Suppliers Are Having Any Specials
Many businesses utilize the power of offering specials and deals. Fortunately, the top electronics wholesalers are no different. Since they’re wanting to sell large quantities of merchandise, many have specials throughout the year.
If you’re unsure, try to reach out and inquire about any current specials. With a network of sellers to talk to, you should always find some type of deal happening. If there are no good specials out there, consider giving it a day or two and coming back. Chances are, you’ll spot some specials worth your time and money.
Buy Larger Quantities
Sometimes, especially when buying wholesale, you’ll get discounts by buying more items. Wholesalers will do this because it helps them move more products in the fewest amount of transactions.
Yes, you might spend a little more than you intend by purchasing more electronics. However, this shouldn’t be a problem if you have a steady stream of buyers. If you’re used to buying smaller amounts of electronics, we’re not encouraging you to start buying truckloads of electronics or anything crazy.
The worst-case scenario in this situation is that you have excess inventory on your shelves for a little while. However, you could also find that buying a few too many electronics ends up being a good idea. This might be the perfect type of calculated risk you’ve been wanting to take.
Search Wholesale Directories
There's no doubt the wholesale industry is extremely valuable. Data from 2009-2019 estimated the value of the wholesale electronics industry to be about $301 billion. If you're looking for wholesale electronics, you'll be glad to know that many types of directories have what you're looking for. Best of all, these directories are entirely online. Business directories are places where multiple types of companies or industries are included together.
You can search through local online directories to find companies nearby to partner with. It's also possible to find much larger online wholesale directories that feature a wide range of electronics including mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, laptops, and many other types of similar items. As long as you’re using a popular online directory, you should find plenty of wholesale electronics.
Since these types of directories are completely online, it makes it incredibly easy to find what you’re after. Most of these directories should have information categorized in a way that’s easy to navigate. Also, these websites have search features that enable you to be only a few simple keywords away from finding lots you’re wanting to purchase. This is much more convenient than having to travel throughout your town, wasting fuel and time, in search of wholesale deals.
The vast amount of options that wholesale directories offer is also great for someone who might be just starting as a wholesaler. For instance, you can find smaller lots for a lower price than larger ones. Don’t worry, there are also plenty of larger lots available if you’re wanting to get your wholesale business jump-started right away.
Contact Authorized Carrier Retail Locations
Another great way to get your hands on wholesale electronics is by partnering with authorized carrier retail locations. These are retailers that establish official partnerships with some of the world's largest mobile phone companies including, but not limited to, Verizon, Cricket, and Boost Mobile. This is just a small fraction of the brands you might end up purchasing after striking up these types of partnerships.
As you likely know, the main way these retailers make money is by selling goods from popular electronic companies. It would be great if these retailers could sell each item these companies purchase. However, this isn't always the case and there are many reasons why including a failed product launch or incorrect demand estimates. Fortunately, these are situations that many successful wholesalers can utilize to their advantage.
Let's say that a nearby authorized Verizon retailer orders too many Samsung Galaxy tablets. Because of this store's mistake, it allows wholesalers to purchase some of its inventory. This is an example of overstock. On the other hand, imagine that there’s a new generation model from a popular mobile phone company about to release. Retailers will want to clear shelf space, which provides you with potential closeout sale opportunities.
It might take a little extra time to find and be able to access either closeout or overstock opportunities. However, when they do arise, make sure you're able to make purchases. In most cases, these goods are brand-new and sealed.
Become an R2 Recycler
Initially, it might seem a little odd to see becoming a recycler on this list. After all, what does recycling electronics have to do with your wholesale business? Surprisingly, becoming an R2 Recycler (Responsible Recycler) can help in more ways than you might think.
By receiving your R2 certification, you’re showing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that you know how to safely handle and recycle electronic devices.
Another major advantage of becoming R2 certified is having access to what is known as carrier auctions. These types of auctions can include a massive range of electronics from the world’s most popular brands. What makes them even better is that attending and purchasing items from this auction means you might be able to get a great deal. At auctions, the bidders control how much a lot ends up selling for.
What Factors Affect How Much My Electronics Are Worth?
Whether you’re reselling cars, electronics, or baseball cards, you’ll find that every item’s value depends on several factors. If you learn about these factors, it helps improve how you price electronic items. Before you start buying electronics, follow these tips to price your items accurately.
Physical Condition (How It Looks)
One of the more important aspects of electronics for consumers is how these devices look. Unless they refurbish electronics, most buyers and sellers won’t be interested in broken or otherwise non-functional devices. However, when determining the physical condition of electronics, it’s not quite as easy as saying an item looks good or bad.
Let’s look at how most wholesalers identify the condition of new and used electronics. Brand new electronics are self-explanatory, these items have never been used. Like-new electronics aren’t brand new but they look and perform as if they were. If a device is in like-new or near mint condition, it shouldn’t have any signs of wear or use.
If the electronics you’re working with aren’t in brand or like-new conditions, look for any signs of damage or other issues. Used electronics with no major issues and one or two minor imperfections are likely in excellent or great condition. If you find more issues, these electronics are in good condition.
The more problems and imperfections your electronics have, the lower the resale items these devices will generally bring.
Technical Issues (How It Performs)
The other main factors affecting how much your electronics are worth have to do with how they perform. All consumer electronics depend on multiple parts working together to deliver a great user experience. If electronics have technical problems, they’re going to affect how much someone can do with these items. It also brings down their resale value.
Your best way to learn if any electronics have technical issues is by testing them out. If you test smartphones and tablets, you’ll need to check out touchscreens, buttons, and cameras. Due to their complexity, testing laptops and PCs usually takes more time and effort.
Sometimes, performance issues are harder to find than physical problems, it’s best to work with someone who knows how to spot technical issues. To find the help you’re seeking, contact an electronics refurbisher or flipper. These are people that buy electronics in damaged states and repair or restore them to like-new conditions.
Non-Blacklisted Devices
When it comes to electronics, it’s imperative to make sure you’re selling “clean” items. If not, you’ll likely have electronics that are either lost, stolen, or not paid in full. You’ll typically see these problems with smartphones and tablets over other types of electronics.
To find out this information, you’ll need to find either the ESN or IMEI of your devices. This might sound complicated, but we’ve put together a great guide for how to find the ESN and IMEI of your electronics.
It’s best to stay away from any electronics that don’t have “clean” ESN, IMEIs, or serial numbers. By taking the time to check out this information about electronics for sale, you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches and stress in the future. You also won’t be stuck with electronics that no one wants to buy.
Memory
When it comes to popular consumer electronics, almost all of them depend on memory to store information. Much like the human brain, devices are only capable of storing so much. And, in many cases, electronics with the most memory bring in the highest resale values.
If you don’t check how much storage space your devices have, it’s almost impossible to get accurate resale values. Pricing your electronics too low will get them sold. However, you’ll be losing quite a bit of money in the process. On the other hand, pricing electronics too high isn’t going to bring in any profits.
Let’s use the iPhone 11 as an example. This phone is available with 64, 128, and 256GB (gigabytes) of storage space. Checking storage space also helps you avoid potentially angry customers who pay for a 256GB and get one with only 64GB.
Storage space also varies among other popular electronics including tablets and laptops. Before you start buying or pricing electronics, always keep a close eye on each device’s memory capacity.
Color
With electronic devices becoming so popular for people of all ages, companies came up with ways for customers to personalize their electronics. Mostly seen with smartphones and tablets, electronics manufacturers release these items in a wide range of colors. What you might not know is that certain colors are rarer than others.
For example, purple iPhones are rarer than black iPhones because Apple produces fewer purple smartphones. When you’re looking for electronics to buy, always keep an eye out for any rare colors.
New smartphone and tablet models are being released all of the time. As you come across these items (both old and new), it’s beneficial to know what colors of smartphones and tablets are fast sellers.
Accessories
If you work with electronics, you’re aware of many accessories these devices come with. Almost any electronic item includes charging cables, AC adapters, and other important accessories. Most devices will need these accessories to properly function.
Fortunately, finding electronics with their original accessories helps boost the resale value of these items. Customers and vendors can buy these electronics from you, knowing they won’t have to go elsewhere to find accessories.
When it comes to accessories for electronics, you’ll have either original manufacturer equipment or third-party items. In most cases, the original accessories that came with an electronic item will be worth more than those made by third-party companies. If you have the option, it’s always better to stick with accessories from the original equipment manufacturer.
Market Value
Another essential factor to think about when pricing electronics are market values. Unfortunately, the market value of electronics is something that’s completely out of your control. Also, the market value of electronics can change based on several factors.
For example, imagine that Apple releases a brand-new line of MacBooks. When this happens, it usually causes the value of previous models to slightly decrease. After this new MacBook comes out, the previous generation isn’t going to command as much resale value.
Market values and price drops can sometimes be frustrating for wholesalers. While you can’t control the market value of electronics, you can keep an eye on what affects these values.
Pricing Wholesale Electronics to Get the Best Resale Value
Before you start wholesaling electronics, it’s essential to price them properly. With that said, we know that pricing isn’t the most fun subject to learn about. But, we promise that we’ll do our best to keep things fun and interesting!
Plus, learning how to price electronics is an incredibly important part of buying and selling items. Without learning the tips you’re about to read, you might not be making maximum profits from reselling electronics.
After learning what affects the price of electronics, you’ll have an easier time learning how to price them. You might think that pricing wholesale electronics is complicated, but it won’t be after you learn several helpful tips. Here are four steps to follow to start accurately pricing your electronics.
Use Industry Pricing Websites
The main way to create a pricing strategy for electronics goods is by visiting a few industry pricing websites. We recommend visiting several of these websites and comparing the price values you find. Next, take the information you find and start writing it down or placing it in a spreadsheet.
By having a range of resale values to work with, you don’t risk setting your prices solely based on one source. So, where do you go to start finding the resale value of electronics? A few great websites to start finding resale values of electronics include Swappa and ItsWorthMore.
After finding a few pricing websites, all you need to do is type in or find the electronics you’re interested in. Next, most of these websites will need to know more information about the condition of your items.
Keep an Eye on Your Competitor’s Prices
In the business world, it’s sometimes helpful to be a little sneaky. There’s another amazing source of prices that many wholesalers know about, which are their competitors. But, how can you find out the prices your competitors are selling their items for? By visiting their listings.
No matter where you’re selling your electronics, it’s likely your competitors are on these same websites. Why not gain a competitive advantage by keeping track of how much they’re selling electronics for? By doing this, you can also find out how your pricing structure compares to theirs.
Keeping a close eye on the listings of your competitors also helps you learn what electronics are either quick movers or slow sellers. Before relying too much on competitor’s prices, make sure you’re doing this from popular sellers whose items are moving fast.
Visit Trade-in Tech’s Blog
At Trade-In Tech, we have a large platform for anyone in the wholesale electronics industry to join. Not only can our platform potentially help you price your electronics, but it’s also the perfect place to start buying or selling them too.
We understand that security is extremely important when becoming a new member of any wholesale directory. To keep out any potential scammers, we require each of our members to go through our vetting process. After this process is complete, you’re ready to start connecting with suppliers all over the world.
When we’re not helping our members grow their companies, we love creating content for our blog. The Trade-In Tech blog is quickly becoming one of the leading blogs in the electronics industry. There’s plenty of great content for you to enjoy there, including information about how to resell smartphones, tablets, laptops, and much more.
Stay Informed About Electronics News
Many business owners wonder how certain competitors always seem to be ahead of them. How do these companies seem to be able to predict the future? The answer to this question is because they’re following news in the electronics industry.
While it might seem like extra work, following a few tech news websites is a smart step to take. Staying informed about the electronics industry helps you watch out for anything that might affect your resale prices. It’s also great for learning about any recalls and news about electronics to avoid buying.
There are many great tech news websites out there to help pricing strategies for electronics, a few notable ones include CNET and The Verge. You don’t need to spend hours each day reading through every tech story you find. Instead, spend a few minutes each day or week looking at top news stories that might affect your pricing structure.
How to Buy Electronics in Bulk (Video)
In this video, I will be breaking down the strategies I used to sell over $30 million of iPhones, iPads, and Samsung electronics online in less than 5 years.
This training is for people who are interested in reselling electronics, resellers looking to expand their business, and wholesalers who want to find more customers. Learn how to buy and resell in bulk and scale your company to become an industry leader.
By the end of this training, you will understand how to build a multi-million dollar business in the electronics industry, understand where to find customers on autopilot, and be able to find the highest paying buyers in the world.
The first step is to create a business plan. 7 out of 10 companies don't have a business plan or written procedures for their employees. Document your goals, tasks, and requirements before getting started.
Second, instead of cold calling, I suggest creating a lead generation machine to attract new customers. You can create a sales funnel and pre-qualify each lead based on interests and behaviors. It's much more scalable to bring customers to you, instead of going after them.
Third, I believe in having omnipresence for any brand in any industry. If you want to dominate your market, you need to be present on all advertising platforms. The most popular websites include Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Swappa, eBay, B-Stock, and more. You can even use paid advertising and private messenger groups like WhatsApp to connect with other resellers.
Focusing on providing the best customer experience will help generate more revenue and a respected name for yourself.
If you want your business to continue to grow, you must outsource and automate repeating tasks, always secure your money and only make purchases to fulfill orders.
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We hope that you’ve enjoyed our guide to buying wholesale electronics. Of course, like any other business, you have to be vigilant to succeed! Nothing comes for free, so be prepared to put in the work. For more helpful tips and guides, make sure to check out the other helpful articles on the Trade-In Tech blog. We keep our blog updated with everything you need to start and grow a successful wholesale electronics business.