If you're new to buying wholesale there's so many terms to learn!  It can really be confusing!  Hopefully you had the chance to check out our Wholesale Terminology Dictionary.... yes, we literally wrote a dictionary for you!  But today we are going to discuss the difference between quantities.  Let's get started!

BULK AND BUNDLE essentially refer to the same thing. What we sell on BigBrandWholesale.com is bulk. Bulk Wholesale simply means “multiple things being purchased at the same time with the purpose of resale”

Bulk can be small or large; so 25 pieces of jeans can be considered “bulk” and so can 2,500 pairs of jeans.

COST: There is no way to provide a cost unless you define WHAT is being sold and HOW MANY. For example, 500 pairs of Hanes socks are going to cost less than 200 Eddie Bauer Down Parkas, even though you are getting a larger bulk quantity of socks. Typically speaking, the larger amount you purchase, the more of a discount you receive. You can likely assume Bulk is going to cost anywhere from $1.50 (kids hair accessories) - $15.99 (fancy womens dresses) per piece.

CASE refers to, usually, duplicate items that are packed together in the same box. For example, a “Case of Shampoo” might have 12 pieces, 14, 18 or 24 pieces. There isn’t such thing as “A Case of 100 Full-Size Shampoos” because the case would not be able to hold 100 shampoos. In fact, 100 shampoos would weigh 63 pounds! This weight would greatly exceed the “crush weight” meaning the products inside would become damaged and the actual cardboard box would likely rip. So, if you wanted 100 shampoos you would want to purchase 5+ “Cases”.

COST: Again, there is no way to provide an accurate cost without knowing WHAT and HOW MANY are in the case, but a case can cost anywhere from $1 per piece (Cheap, no-brand products) to $30 per piece (Full Size Designer Perfume Gift Sets)

PALLET means the merchandise ships on a wood pallet. The wood pallet weighs 30 - 50 pounds, empty, so when merchandise ships on a wood pallet you are also consuming the cost to ship 30 - 50 additional pounds. BigBrandWholesale.com ships for free, but if you are buying through a different seller who does not ship for free, and you are buying a large quantity of merchandise (500+ pieces) it may be cheaper for you to have it shipped on the wood pallet. However, from our experience, most companies who ship high volumes get a large discount on postage, so shipping on a wood pallet isn’t always cheaper… it’s just EASIER for the seller. Instead of printing and shipping 15 boxes they can just throw it on one pallet, wrap it, weigh it and have it picked up. Here’s an example of how it isn’t cheaper in many situations:

4 large boxes, shipped through FedEx or UPS, going from Ohio to Michigan can cost as little as $35 each (= $140) for a huge company like M*CYS. Whereas if they put those identical 4 boxes on a pallet and ship them the cost skyrockets to $275 (almost DOUBLE!)! In this instance, where the pallet starts saving money on shipping is if there’s 8 or more boxes on it. My point is, please do not assume that by purchasing “pallets” you are saving money on shipping. LOOK at the QUANTITY in the pallet. If it’s 150 pieces, it is likely so much cheaper to NOT have it shipped on a pallet! Or, buy through our wholesale company and enjoy Free Shipping in the USA.

COST: The cost of a pallet can greatly vary. It might be as little as $500 (+ shipping) for damaged merchandise, all the way up to $10,000 or more for high end merchandise. Generally speaking, I would say to plan on spending around $3,500 per pallet.

TRUCKLOADS is probably the topic that causes the most confusion. We get asked all the time “How much are truckloads?”, which is utterly impossible to answer without more details.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: You MUST have a loading dock OR highlow to purchase a truckload. If you do not have a loading dock or forklift, don’t even consider buying a truckload.

SECOND: You won’t be able to have it delivered to your home. Trust me on this, you absolutely wouldn’t want it delivered to your home! It’s so much stuff! Even if you have a HUUUUGE basement, it still won’t fit.

The amount of pallets that come on a truckload depend on the size of the truck. Truck sizes range from 24 feet to 53 feet. Typically, a full truckload will have 24 - 30 pallets. Each pallet measures approximately 4’x4’.

COST:

So, how much is a truckload? Well let’s guess:

24 Pallets of low end merchandise = $24,000 or so, excluding shipping

24 Pallets of high end merchandise = $240,000 or so excluding shipping

30 Pallets of low end merchandise = $30,000 or so excluding shipping

30 Pallets of high end merchandise = $300,000, excluding shipping

How much is shipping? It depends on the distance of transit. A truckload going from Indiana to Michigan can cost $1,700 whereas a truckload going to California to Michigan is well over $5,000.

And lastly we have CONTAINERS. Containers are basically the same as truckloads, but they are for shipping merchandise across the ocean. Shipping on a container is super expensive ($4,000+, on average)... and that’s just the shipping cost. There is also the cost of the actual container. You can rent the container or buy one. If you buy a used one you can get it for around $1,500 - $2,000 but you still have to have it delivered to you. If you rent a container you will pay around $200 a month, so if you plan on shipping containers more than 1 time, it would be financially cheaper to buy a used one. Anyways, we don’t deal with containers but if you want to learn more about containers, here you go.

COST: Too many variables to provide any kind of reasonable guesstimate.