9/2/08

Got Inventory Extras?

I received an e-mail today from a friend who owns a ladies' shoe store. She was looking for advice about what to do with the summer inventory that didn’t find a home. The lines at Perfect Pair Shoes are very specialized and may be difficult to sell because of the high-fashion nature of the styles.
As an early riser, I tend to wake, check e-mail and listen to the radio. Here in Boise, Idaho, Wall Street Journal Radio plays from 4:30 to 6:00 am. It is a wonderful source of quick business information, that doesn’t require a pair of glasses. Who wants to try to find a pair of glasses at 5-am?
Today, Gordon Deal, the host, mentioned that Overstock.com has a new competitor -Redtag.com. It has almost everything you could possibly want, and allows you to sell everything you possibly don't want via online auction. The parent company to one of the five selling channels is Enable Holdings, which operates several inventory control sites.
Ubid.com sells inventory by auction and ensures security with a rigorous screening process, and provides customer service with a United States based call center. 
Redtag.com launched a couple of days ago and is a fixed price site. Redtaglive.com is an offline marketplace where buyers can get great deals and sellers can offload that extra inventory.  For businesses with excess inventory, consider Dibu.com, a global B2B trading company for wholesalers who need to move large quantities of inventory, and Commerce Innovations, currently still in development, is for bulk inventory lot selling and buying.
In order to become a seller you need to have a FEIN, or SSN (Federal Employer Identification Number, or Social Security Number), a valid credit card, Dunn & Bradstreet Number (These guys track your business credit), three business references, and bank account information. It seems like a lot to go through, but if you can get your money back on the seasonal extras, and free up shelf space for the new Fall and Winter lines, it just might be worth it.
Weather it’s a pair of pumps, a flat screen, or a few palates of outdoor speakers,
Redtag.com can help you make room for that next round of goods.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your help George! I appreciate it - MJ from PPS

Anonymous said...

I think this is great to have this communication with you. I have yet to figure out facebook. Where do you get all the time to do this? Oh, yeah you are up at 4...actually I am too but that is 7 our time. I put in a good 8 hours by then. Have started jogging at the tender age of 63...so that has expanded my day by being pumped on running night. I just finished 13 minute jog, 2 minute walk, times 2 or 30 minutes total. Have been building up for 6 weeks starting at 2 minute walk, 2 minute jog for 5 times. We are working toward a 5 K race. TBA So perhaps you can learn this today.from your old auntie, you are never too old to do what you want. Love ya, loads!! cissy