When You’re New to Resell the Lingo Can Be Confusing.

When new small business people enter the online and traditional resell world one problem they often face is an elaborate and often confusing set of new terminology. GetThatWholesale wants to help. As part of a new effort to provide information helpful to retailers we offer this brief list of term commonly used in the wholesale industry. Look for more in future posts.

As Seen on TV:  A popular line of unusual products ranging from the ingenious to the simply absurd generally associated with availability from television advertising. The term is now used to describe an entire category products sold by retail stores and online wholesale businesses as well as through infomercials and similar marketing venues. Examples of famous As Seen on TV products include the Pocket Fisherman, food dehydraters, and Oxyclean.

Closeout:  Any merchandise that has been returned to wholesale supplier by a retailer due to a number of reasons that might include the merchandise having been returned by a customer, the item’s style or technology has become outdated, or the existence of minor defects. This merchandise is then resold either by the wholesaler or a broker to small retailers at extraordinary discounts.

Customer Returns: In the wholesale industry the term customer returns is applied to merchandise returned to a retailer in good working order or re-sellable condition that is then resold at a drastic discount by that wholesaler or a broker in returned merchandise. The purchaser of the returned merchandise can then sell the items again online or through a discount retail outlet.

Dropshippers: A dropshipper is an online wholesale supplier that allows other business website to offer their products to customers without the retailer maintaining the merchandise in inventory. Customer orders go directly to the wholesaler who fills the order and ships it to the customer. The retailer collects payment and then sends the wholesaler their share.

HBA: In the parlance of the wholesale supply industry HBA stands for health and beauty aids. This term applies to the sort of items once associated with drug stores including cosmetics, shampoo, dietary supplements, and related merchandise such as hot water bottles, nail clippers, hair brushes and the like.

Licensed Merchandise: The term licensed merchandise applies to any item sold that bares a registered trademark or copyrighted image. Examples include Spongebob Squarepants pajamas, Betty Boop merchandise, and most team and individual athlete’s jerseys. Selling merchandise that bares an image of a popular character that has not been licensed is illegal and retailers should beware.

Off-price:  The term off-price, as it applies to the wholesale industry means name brand apparel or other merchandise that has been manufactured with the approval of the brand name but that is not intended to be sold as that brand. Off price items are also often returns from retail stores or items that have some, usually insignificant, flaws as a result of the manufacturing process or storage. This type of item is referred to as irregular.

Seasonal Merchandise: Some products sell extremely well during one part of the year and poorly during others. For example sunglasses and tanning supplies sell better during the summer than during the winter and costumes sell well leading up to Halloween. This wholesale category contains items that sell in particular season or leading up to major holidays.