What Is Wholesale To The Public?

Can you buy wholesale?
Many websites are using the terms wholesale to the public or wholesale prices to the public.
Are these prices a bargain? Can you find a lower price?
Read this information before you buy.

A recent online search for the phrase wholesale to the public brought up 15,600,000 results. A search for wholesale price to the public showed approximately 9,750,000 results. What exactly do these phrases mean?

Dictionaries define wholesale as the sale of goods in quantity usually for resale, as opposed to retail which is defined as the sale of goods in small quantities directly to the ultimate consumer. Wholesale price is defined as cost of a good sold by a wholesaler to a retailer. The consumer is defined as one who acquires goods and services for his/her own personal needs, one who utilizes goods. Quantity, resale and consumer are the important words in these definitions.
Public is defined as the people as a whole, or accessible to and shared by all the people. The public includes consumers.

The phrase wholesale to the public is a contradiction. A merchant who sells to the public is a retail business.

Most states charge sales tax on goods sold to consumers. Any merchant who sells to consumers is required by state law to collect tax. Retail businesses acquire vendors’ licenses which give them the privilege and the obligation to collect sales tax. Since an item is only taxed once, sales from a wholesale business to a retail business are not taxed. By requiring wholesale merchants to keep records of customers’ vendor ids, the state ensures that tax will be charged when the item is resold to the consumer. Since each state has its own tax laws and collection policies, goods shipped to a different state are not taxed.
Most true wholesale websites require a tax id and large quantity purchases. The tax id may be required for all customers or only for in state customers.

Website businesses may offer both wholesale and retail. The wholesale customers will be given true wholesale prices. The retail customers may be given quantity discounts, but will not be tax exempt.
Foreign merchants may have other regulations, customs, or import laws.

So, what is wholesale to the public?
Simply an advertising technique designed to make customers think that prices are lower than other retail websites. It has no more real value to the customer than any other advertising.
Is it successful? Research of the phrases used for online searches estimated about 47 a day for wholesale to the public. Most searches will include a specific type of product – anything from fresh flowers to Chinese motorcycles. The number of searches for wholesale jewelry was estimated at 1,619 per day.
A recent search for wholesale jewelry brought up 16,500,000 results. The first site advertised wholesale clothes and jewelry. The items were priced individually with no quantity required. Sales tax information stated that tax would be charged to customers residing in state.
Even if a website does not post sales tax information, a shopping cart can calculate and add tax for in state addresses. If customers pay sales tax, the business is retail.

Is the advertised wholesale price a bargain?
Any price, whether wholesale or retail, is based on the cost of doing business plus the amount of profit.
The cost of doing business can include: maintaining a physical store, office, warehouse, website, employees, cost of buying or making products, transportation of products, packaging and shipping, record keeping, taxes, advertising, travel.
Profit can be affected by these factors: amount needed to support lifestyle of the owner, number of owners (sole owner, partners, public owned with shareholder dividends), type of income (sole, supplemental, hobby), amount and value of time spent by owner.
Look for information about the business on an About Us page. Other pages may offer clues.

Is the advertised wholesale price lower than other retail sites?
The best way to find the lowest price is by comparison shopping.
Here are some tips. Ignore all the advertising techniques: discounts, sales, lowest price guarantees, wholesale. Look at the price.
Examine photos of the whole product. On line photos do not always show size, shape, or color accurately. Look for text descriptions. Beware of websites that show only a title, photo, and price. The quality may be poor.
Compare same quality. Read product details.
Terms such as beautiful, high quality, unique, inexpensive, easy to use, low price are relative. Compare specific descriptions and judge for yourself.

We do not buy our jewelry from wholesale merchants. It is handmade by us. I have a vendor’s license and often buy beading supplies at wholesale prices. Our business, like any other website that sells to the public, is retail.