Quantcast
Channel: Wholesale News - Suppliers, Trade Shows, Products : TopTenWholesale » Search Results » purses and handbags wholesale
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 17

Buying and Reselling Handbags

0
0

Any discussion about selling women’s accessories must start with handbags. Every woman needs at least one and most own several. Some have many, many more. Consider this in the United States alone there are roughly 122 million women over the age of twelve. If only two thirds of them bought one purse in a year well over eighty million bags would be sold.

(Editor’s Note: Top Ten Wholesale features the premier suppliers of wholesale handbags)

Over the years many items once held as vital to a woman’s dress, the hat for instance, have fallen to the wayside but the purse’s utility protects it from the vagaries of fashion. If anything handbags have become even more important to women who now more to carry than ever. Cell phones and ipods have joined the car keys, pocketbooks, and cosmetics in a woman’s handbag.

Men may still struggle with the problem of getting all their junk together but the woman’s handbag is the final word in keeping odds and ends together. Brief cases, satchels, book bags, and fanny packs are all attempts to address a problem women solved long ago.

Of course, the fact that women buy a great many handbags isn’t news to anyone. The Internet is alive with people selling handbags both retail and wholesale. The crowded market place can make selling handbags a tricky business and one that operates on paper-thin margins. Un-encouragingly for the small retailer, the less expensive and designer ‘inspired’ brands seem to sell at retail prices only a little higher than the wholesale.

Speaking of designer ‘inspired’ handbags, authenticity is a huge issue in the arena of women’s handbags. Attempts to pass off fraudulent designer brands have long been a serious problem. Fake handbag manufacturers have been accused of a close association with abusive child labor practices, organized crime and even terrorism. The overwhelming majority of suppliers of imitation designer handbags clearly state that their bags are not authentic and make no attempt to deceive the consumer. However, when shopping for wholesale bags the retailer should watch out for deals that are too good to possibly be true.

Authentic designer handbags can be very valuable. If a reseller can find a source for real Prada or Christian Dior purses they can be sold for hundreds of dollars. For example, a simple black Prada handbag can be purchased on a popular auction site for about $240. A very plain black Chanel bag was going for close to $80 on the same site.

This does not mean that money can only be made with very expensive designer bags. Just as most small retailers cannot afford the expensive purses neither can most of their customers. There is profit to be found with less expensive items it just requires careful shopping and good eye for what your customers want. For example, searching the web turned up a very cool retro-60’s style purse being closed out by a wholesaler and they were only $2.50 each. These handbags could easily sell for $10 or $15 on an auction site. Being patient and watching for the good close out sell will help the purse reseller get the most from their wholesale expenses. In some cases being able to not only improve their margin but also undercut the average price for like items.

There is a middle ground between cheap imports and expensive imports. There are many small purse manufacturers that make desirable, unique handbags that don’t cost the farm. When a retailer offers original designs from less famous manufacturers they help support smaller businesses but more importantly they can offer their customers good looking and unusual designs at a price both affordable and profitable.

For instance, one such company’s website offers a variety of the very trendy cigar box style handbags for $6 each. Cigar box handbags are very popular with hipster youths and if you’re unfamiliar with them and want to sell handbags you should look them up. Unusual and eye catching these hard shell handbags make for highly effective displays. Knowing the trends will help the retailer find bags they have a good chance of selling for more than the average asking price.

While certainly not a market that the small accessories or women’s apparel retailer should run headlong and uninformed into handbags are such a natural fit for so many businesses that it should be carefully considered. If a business has the time and patience to find the right prices and styles or the finances to get the best brand names then handbags can do your business a good turn.

Art Mickelwraith is the author of the Wholesale Buyer’s Guide at TopTenWholesale.com. He can be reached at artmicklewraith@gmail.com.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 17

Latest Images

Trending Articles



Latest Images