wholesale/warehouse vs online sales

I wanna start by thanking everybody for the help you guys put in really helps all of us that try to make it in the 12volt industry.

Well I started my buisness last year October of 08 (great time to start a buisness knowing economi being so low right). Well anyways I get my stuff from a wholesale distributer "resellers only". I get stuff pretty cheap so i think untill a customer came in and said he could get same product cheaper. So my question is how do stores up front make it, if they can make profit by selling the product. What is the advantage of being a retail store when the only advantage is installing in my part. Am i getting bad warehouses or do i have to digg deeper. Thanks Cesar.

If the customer can get it cheaper, why is he wasting your time? Did he allow for shipping, warrenty, is it new.............

Wholesale price depends on volume, the higher up the chain you are the better price you can get.  It's good to look around at different distrubutors.  Some import directly, others trade with other distributors, so product prices will vary.

Some "wholeseller" are greedy and wants more profit than the reseller can make.  For the last few years I've been telling some of my reps I can by cheaper online.............................now their slowly starting to realize something is happening because their volumes go down.  It hard when you can take them to the nearest Walmart and show them "their" product on the self for $30 less than they will sell it to you for, and still don't understand the customer will by it from the less expensive source.

Find product lines that allow some profit, they are out there, not many.

Good luck