Resellers License

[Guytalbot]

Me and my 5 roomates buy a ton of hardware every month, and we were considering getting a resellers license and starting a small business to give us a little extra cash. I have searched all over the net and have found no information about obtaining one in West Virginia. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[gsaldivar]

Start at your local City Hall, or Chamber of Commerce.

Be aware that you will be required to forward Sales Tax proceeds [of sales tax-exempt purchases] directly to your the state of West Virginia, and you may be required to alter your method of filing taxes. You may also be required to acquire a business license, and permit depending on where you are doing business from (almost always required when doing business from home). Your City Hall or Chamber of Commerce will have more information.

 

[ChrisOh]

If I remember, Firingsquad has an article on this as well as The Techzone.

 

[Workin']

The funny thing is that as a reseller your wholesale price for hardware from a distributor like Ingram Micro will be more than if you just buy the parts retail from a place like www.mwave.com! And you won't have to deal with sales tax, income tax, self-employment tax, and all the other fun stuff that goes with being a business.

 

[bozo1]

Like Workin' said - unless you are buying in large quantities, your prices will likely be more than from MWave or Newegg. Also, many distrubutors (Ingram, TechData, etc.) usually require a minimum initial order which could be > $10K.

 

[gsaldivar]

"...Also, many distrubutors (Ingram, TechData, etc.) usually require a minimum initial order which could be > $10K..."

No distributor has a minimum initial order that high.

Usually the initial order is a few hundred dollars - and no minimum order after that point. (Though some distributors like Tech Data & Ingram offer free shipping & other benefits for placing orders of $500 and higher)

Having a reseller's license has many other benefits besides having the ability to purchase from the distributor.

There are many demo deals, sample, and free equipment deals which are not available to the general public. With a Reseller's Permit, you can also often bypass the distributor completely, and purchase directly from the manufacturer. Almost every manufacturer has a direct-to-resale program where you are can be assigned a representative who will work to get you all kinds of free or heavily discounted equipment in order to win your business. These programs are often open only to those who have valid Reseller's Licenses.

If you have a Reseller's License, and get your name & business card out to as many comapnies as possible, you will also find that there are many tradeshows and industry conferences (also not open to the general public) you will be invited to.

Having a Reseller's License is almost like being a "super-consumer". You will find that manufacturers will respond more actively to your complaints & requests, than those of individuals. After all, what manufactuerer can afford to piss off a company who is selling their own products, right?

One thing is for sure, your mailbox will never be empty again

Of course, you can choose not to use the Reseller's License once you have it.

As others have noted - Merisel, Tech Data, and Ingram Micro's prices for small quantities often exceeds street pricing. However, simply having the Reseller's License opens up a whole new world of opportunity that you would otherwise be excluded from. If you are buying hardware in any volume - even if it's only $5000 per year, you would be wise to take a few hours to learn more about this license and how you can put it to work for you...

Good luck!

 

[Workin']

<< After all, what manufactuerer can afford to piss off a company who is selling their own products, right? >>

Actually, just about all of them. If you have small volume - like a mom'n'pop store front (or even worse, a couple dudes in a dorm room) - EVERY manufacturer will tell you to go to hell if you complain to them, threats to take your business elsewhere carry no weight - like Intel really cares if I hate them. And Microsoft treats its small &quot;partners&quot; as if they were criminals. A few thousand $$ per year in volume means squat. A lot of the manufacturers most of the time seem kind of annoyed that they have to deal with the &quot;small fry&quot;. You'll never have a rep you can build a relationship with - they turn over so fast that I rarely deal with the same person twice. I've had numerous mfg reps tell me this again and again. I'm a small volume reseller and I know a few people who own small computer stores, and we certainly aren't on any free gear gravy train. Oh, I got a free NIC from my 3Com rep once! Woohooo! But my mailbox sure gets filled with crap, and I have lots of T-shirts, posters, and hats.

It's true that you get invited to trade shows and stuff, but unless you live around a really big city or in Silicon Valley it is really not too practical to attend, if you have a life and need to earn a living and have to pay your own way!

Man, I guess this sounds a little cynical - but I guess the point is don't expect to make piles of money or even to save piles of money or get truckloads of NFR goodies. But it does make you feel like you are part of &quot;the scene&quot;.

 

[gsaldivar]

&quot;...I guess this sounds a little cynical...&quot;

Um.. yea For sure it's a double-edged sword, and I certainly wouldn't call it a &quot;gravy train&quot;, but our small business of less than 6 people has gotten free printers, scanners, hard drives, SCSI cards, tons of software over the last few years. We partner with Adobe, 3Com, Lexmark, Sony, Maxtor, FWB, Apple, Netopia/Farallon... etc. No Microsoft

&quot;...EVERY manufacturer will tell you to go to hell if you complain to them, threats to take your business elsewhere carry no weight ...&quot;

If you call up your rep and threaten to take your business elsewhere, you deserve to be told to go to hell. I'm sorry but this hasn't been our experience AT ALL. We have a very close working relationship with Adobe, Plextor, Apple and several other large software and hardware manufacturers, and we are not a large volume operation by ANY means.

If you purchase computer products in volume - then it's a pretty safe bet that you have some product insight that can help a manufacturer make their products better - it's in their best interest to keep you happy, and keep this channel of communication open.

Now there are exceptions to this - like anything in life. But our experience has taught us that if we communicate with manufacturers on a level where they feel that we are both on the same team, doors simply start opening for us.

I once had a rep drive over 100 miles with a RAID system - worth more than his car - packed into his trunk! - the company loaned the entire setup to us for a month just so we could make a presentation to a client. Not once did the rep ask how much volume our business was doing - or when theyr were going to get the equipment back. Now that is what I call service!

Workin': I'm sorry you haven't had the same experience in the reseller channel - maybe it's time to look at who you're partnering with, or how your company represents itself? Just a thought - no offense intended.

 

[Workin']

<< Workin': I'm sorry you haven't had the same experience in the reseller channel - maybe it's time to look at who you're
partnering with, or how your company represents itself? Just a thought - no offense intended. >>

No offense taken. I've decided to refocus on services, it's too unprofitable to compete selling hardware (except specialized stuff or as a convenience for my best clients).

Sometimes it's hard to convey all the details of a complicated situation in one or two paragraphs. I'm not saying I haven't had good experiences - but lately it just seems to be less hassle to buy my hardware from mwave than through reseller channels. The only software company I deal with is MS, and I'm thinking of saying sayonora to them, too.