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Post by Ozzallos on Oct 25, 2011 2:31:56 GMT
Hope this is in the right forum, because its certainly a beginner's question... after a fashion. I'm at the point in my sword engraving projects where I need to lower the price in order to continue operating, let alone someday resell my art. While I don't mind giving my business to reputable companies like True Swords, I don't need to be absorbing their retail price to utilize test blades, let alone production material. In essence, I'm wondering how I get that 'in' to the manufactures to buy wholesale bulk. First, let me be clear, I'm not after that secret forge somebody may have in china. I'm looking for material you can easily find resold anywhere on the internet. For example, I've been working on Shirasayas that retail from $40-60. I think I have a line or two on a few vendors, but really don't know how to get started, how to cut out the half dozen middle men I seem to encounter, etc. Do I need a tax ID? A DBA? Purchasing in bulk will more than likely be required, which I'm prepared to do. Aggrg. Lots of questions and not many answers. Help? Please?
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Marc Kaden Ridgeway
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Retired Global Moderator
Awful lot of leaving and joining going on here for me .... And gosh I can't recall doing a bit of i
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Post by Marc Kaden Ridgeway on Oct 25, 2011 2:40:33 GMT
Depending what you want... Yes a tax ID . Then you can sign up as a dealer with various companies. You can also seek out Chinese forges to deal with ... Two that come to mind are Wukatana and Zubeng. Beware though that any larger shipments from China involve some import knowledge ... Customs ... Duties ... Fuel surcharges
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Post by Ronin Katana on Oct 27, 2011 1:20:12 GMT
Contact Master Cutlery. They are the cheapest wholesaler around.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2011 15:06:01 GMT
I was web-surfing last night and found this random link (No affiliation, or info myself). www.handmadesword.com/closeout-swords.html(I happened to still have this topic in mind was all). Interesting the "closeouts" are "one-third" original price. Because they're rusted a little OR "10%" have cracks... That's like saying ," 10% came from the dumpster behind the manufacturer's place" IMO though. But I was thinking you could send for hand-picked w/out cracks, and (not sure, but) since you do engravings , the rusty parts would be fixed with engravings or polishing...No idea(?) I hope I'm not "stepping on anyone's toes" since SBG has their own affiliations. For some reason I thought you'd find that link interesting. Oh, the link you posted has some crap. One of those sold there was posted in "worste ever" thread. :roll: :lol: EDIT: Forgot, they have bulk rates too. IDK, anything about them though.
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Post by chrisperoni on Oct 27, 2011 15:20:20 GMT
As far as I know Master Cutlery and HAndMadeSword are the same guys, aka Sunpoint. I would imagne with what RoninKatana knows about selling swords that's your best bet.
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Post by Ronin Katana on Oct 27, 2011 16:02:10 GMT
Master Cutlery is actually the largest wholesaler in the world. Handmade Sword is not affiliated with them and is a tiny faction of their size. MC moves a few million pieces per year and has massive warehouses on both coasts. Swords, stand, knives, basically everything you find at a flea-market/swap-meet. They also own Masahiro, Ryumon, and a few other brands.
Are they China cheap? No, but dealing with China is for people with a large budget and lots of experience. If you are asking on a message board about how to contact people, then dealing direct with China is probably not for you. Also, with MC you get non-damaged goods. China direct is anywhere from 5-100%.
You'll need to meet their dollar and quantity minimums for ordering, and you will also need an EIN (federal) and probably a state issued tax number. They only deal with real businesses, so if you are just looking to place a tiny order, they won't waste much time with you.
If they don't have what you want, try Wuu-jau. They are the second or third largest wholesaler.
There you go. All your homework done for you.
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Post by chrisperoni on Oct 27, 2011 17:02:49 GMT
So, I guess it's that HMS would sell closeout stock picked up from Master?
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Post by Ronin Katana on Oct 27, 2011 18:01:14 GMT
They used to. That's where the famous Bamboo swords for under $50 came from. HMS bought all the stock and sold them on ebay. At this point I think they are doing their own thing. They are the largest independent sword dealer I know of that designs and stocks their own inventory.
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Post by Ozzallos on Oct 28, 2011 22:59:20 GMT
I need a price check from the experienced buyers. I've contacted a forge that I've had on file for nearly a year and after some discussion, they can field a folded steel, clay tempered, Japanese stone (sharpened? communication is somewhat marginal) 1095 steel shirasaya at $95 dollars, assuming I order 10-20 units.
The closest I can find through google shopping with these general attributes is $189 (retail, I'm assuming). I'm specifying shirasaya merely as baseline in my hunting and the fact I've been using them as my test product.
Again, thanks for all the input so far.
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