One minute I am taking out the trash and cleaning the coffee machine, and the next minute working out a spread sheet for a volume order from a company in Los Angeles. I am in my jogging suit. The dog is barking to go out. My assistant has finals and cannot come in to help me fulfill orders. So I have to do that in between feeding the dog and sweeping the floor. Know the feeling?

But I have bigger things on my mind. At least I used to. It took years of bumping into walls to find out the answer. I finally did, and it makes me (and my clients) much happier.

The dilemma and conflict has always been “who is looking after us”?....That is, the small or home business owner. Why is it that the huge corporate office can order office equipment, computers, monitors, etc. at such a low cost, and we have to pay a fortune for simply buying one. Either that or go to Ebay and take our chances. I have done that enough to have learned my lesson. My head hurts from bumping into so many walls.

I am an adult “return to school” student at age 52; not much longer to go, but decided to go back and major in business with an emphasis on e-commerce. I forced myself to do a paper on how to “get the deals as a small business owner on the Internet”, that is, how to have the same buying power as, say Bank Of America or McDonald's ordering one or two computers instead of thousands. Could it be done?

I decide to approach it with an open mind. The paper took months, but the discoveries were eye-opening and valuable. The answer is yes. It can be done and is all the time....but....and there is a big but.....a huge caveat. There are predators out there on the Internet and they have been sitting there waiting for us for a long time.

They have beautiful websites and they pretend to be wholesalers. You pay a fee, join their service and have “access” to “fantastically low wholesale prices on consumer products that you can resale on Ebay or your own site and retire young”. Ha ha. Oddly enough the sites are very convincing and have multitudes of testimonials (am guessing from mothers and sisters and brothers).

The truth is, there are only about two or three real Internet wholesalers who put you in touch directly with the manufacturers representatives. It takes a lot of research to find out who is real and who is yet just another middleman.

But it is not rocket science. All you have to do is simply visit Ebay or one of the shopper networks, see what products are selling for, then see what prices these so-called wholesalers are purveying and if the price is too close to the retail asking price, you have found it. When I say you found it, I mean you found yet another predator, a middleman, a bloodsucker who is simply there to take your money with hefty monthly or yearly fees (some are “nice” enough to charge only one fee), but that is how they make their money, not by leading you to someone who can give you a decent and real wholesale price; and when I say real and decent, I mean help you streamline a sale by drop-shipping as little as one item at the same prices as ten thousand items.

My store, Internet2yourdoor is not the only store on the Internet who has “found it”. We are one of many. We are savvy, but I can venture to say there are others just as savvy if not more so. My ego is not that big.

The bottom line is it is not how savvy we are, or how savvy some other firm is that sells products for the small or home business owner. The good news that comes of it is that you now have the same buying power as someone ordering volume merchandise, even if you only need one or two.

I did further research on home entertainment products, because, to me, that is one of the most fun parts of having a home-office. After completing and fulfilling a few orders, what could be better than sitting back and listening to a cd remix of the Beatles White Album or maybe an old Al Stewart CD?

So I decided I might not be the only one who likes to watch tv or listen to stereo while working and I decided to see if some of the same wholesalers/drop-shippers could help me in that arena as well. And the answer was yes.

I tell you all this, not because I want you to buy from me, of course I do, but I also want you to be aware that a lot of web-store owners are selling ridiculously inflated products, not because they want to take you for a ride, but because they have been taken for a ride (by a middleman) and think they are buying from a wholesaler, and are simply passing the NON-savings on to you.

With all that said and done, price is not everything, though it is a lot. It is good to make certain you are buying from someone who is “on your side”, who will follow up if there are any problems. Isn't it more likely a small or home

I am an adult “return to school” student at age 52; not much longer to go, but decided to go back and major in business with an emphasis on e-commerce. I forced myself to do a paper on how to “get the deals as a small business owner on the Internet”, that is, how to have the same buying power as, say Bank Of America or McDonald's ordering one or two computers instead of thousands. Could it be done?

I decide to approach it with an open mind. The paper took months, but the discoveries were eye-opening and valuable. The answer is yes. It can be done and is all the time....but....and there is a big but.....a huge caveat. There are predators out there on the Internet and they have been sitting there waiting for us for a long time.

They have beautiful websites and they pretend to be wholesalers. You pay a fee, join their service and have “access” to “fantastically low wholesale prices on consumer products that you can resale on Ebay or your own site and retire young”. Ha ha. Oddly enough the sites are very convincing and have multitudes of testimonials (am guessing from mothers and sisters and brothers).

The truth is, there are only about two or three real Internet wholesalers who put you in touch directly with the manufacturers representatives. It takes a lot of research to find out who is real and who is yet just another middleman.

But it is not rocket science. All you have to do is simply visit Ebay or one of the shopper networks, see what products are selling for, then see what prices these so-called wholesalers are purveying and if the price is too close to the retail asking price, you have found it. When I say you found it, I mean you found yet another predator, a middleman, a bloodsucker who is simply there to take your money with hefty monthly or yearly fees (some are “nice” enough to charge only one fee), but that is how they make their money, not by leading you to someone who can give you a decent and real wholesale price; and when I say real and decent, I mean help you streamline a sale by drop-shipping as little as one item at the same prices as ten thousand items.

My store, Internet2yourdoor is not the only store on the Internet who has “found it”. We are one of many. We are savvy, but I can venture to say there are others just as savvy if not more so. My ego is not that big.

The bottom line is it is not how savvy we are, or how savvy some other firm is that sells products for the small or home business owner. The good news that comes of it is that you now have the same buying power as someone ordering volume merchandise, even if you only need one or two.

I did further research on home entertainment products, because, to me, that is one of the most fun parts of having a home-office. After completing and fulfilling a few orders, what could be better than sitting back and listening to a cd remix of the Beatles White Album or maybe an old Al Stewart CD?

So I decided I might not be the only one who likes to watch tv or listen to stereo while working and I decided to see if some of the same wholesalers/drop-shippers could help me in that arena as well. And the answer was yes.

I tell you all this, not because I want you to buy from me, of course I do, but I also want you to be aware that a lot of web-store owners are selling ridiculously inflated products, not because they want to take you for a ride, but because they have been taken for a ride (by a middleman) and think they are buying from a wholesaler, and are simply passing the NON-savings on to you.

With all that said and done, price is not everything, though it is a lot. It is good to make certain you are buying from someone who is “on your side”, who will follow up if there are any problems. Isn't it more likely a small or home

The truth is, there are only about two or three real Internet wholesalers who put you in touch directly with the manufacturers representatives. It takes a lot of research to find out who is real and who is yet just another middleman.

But it is not rocket science. All you have to do is simply visit Ebay or one of the shopper networks, see what products are selling for, then see what prices these so-called wholesalers are purveying and if the price is too close to the retail asking price, you have found it. When I say you found it, I mean you found yet another predator, a middleman, a bloodsucker who is simply there to take your money with hefty monthly or yearly fees (some are “nice” enough to charge only one fee), but that is how they make their money, not by leading you to someone who can give you a decent and real wholesale price; and when I say real and decent, I mean help you streamline a sale by drop-shipping as little as one item at the same prices as ten thousand items.

My store, Internet2yourdoor is not the only store on the Internet who has “found it”. We are one of many. We are savvy, but I can venture to say there are others just as savvy if not more so. My ego is not that big.

The bottom line is it is not how savvy we are, or how savvy some other firm is that sells products for the small or home business owner. The good news that comes of it is that you now have the same buying power as someone ordering volume merchandise, even if you only need one or two.

I did further research on home entertainment products, because, to me, that is one of the most fun parts of having a home-office. After completing and fulfilling a few orders, what could be better than sitting back and listening to a cd remix of the Beatles White Album or maybe an old Al Stewart CD?

So I decided I might not be the only one who likes to watch tv or listen to stereo while working and I decided to see if some of the same wholesalers/drop-shippers could help me in that arena as well. And the answer was yes.

I tell you all this, not because I want you to buy from me, of course I do, but I also want you to be aware that a lot of web-store owners are selling ridiculously inflated products, not because they want to take you for a ride, but because they have been taken for a ride (by a middleman) and think they are buying from a wholesaler, and are simply passing the NON-savings on to you.

With all that said and done, price is not everything, though it is a lot. It is good to make certain you are buying from someone who is “on your side”, who will follow up if there are any problems. Isn't it more likely a small or home

My store, Internet2yourdoor is not the only store on the Internet who has “found it”. We are one of many. We are savvy, but I can venture to say there are others just as savvy if not more so. My ego is not that big.

The bottom line is it is not how savvy we are, or how savvy some other firm is that sells products for the small or home business owner. The good news that comes of it is that you now have the same buying power as someone ordering volume merchandise, even if you only need one or two.

I did further research on home entertainment products, because, to me, that is one of the most fun parts of having a home-office. After completing and fulfilling a few orders, what could be better than sitting back and listening to a cd remix of the Beatles White Album or maybe an old Al Stewart CD?

So I decided I might not be the only one who likes to watch tv or listen to stereo while working and I decided to see if some of the same wholesalers/drop-shippers could help me in that arena as well. And the answer was yes.

I tell you all this, not because I want you to buy from me, of course I do, but I also want you to be aware that a lot of web-store owners are selling ridiculously inflated products, not because they want to take you for a ride, but because they have been taken for a ride (by a middleman) and think they are buying from a wholesaler, and are simply passing the NON-savings on to you.

With all that said and done, price is not everything, though it is a lot. It is good to make certain you are buying from someone who is “on your side”, who will follow up if there are any problems. Isn't it more likely a small or home

So I decided I might not be the only one who likes to watch tv or listen to stereo while working and I decided to see if some of the same wholesalers/drop-shippers could help me in that arena as well. And the answer was yes.

I tell you all this, not because I want you to buy from me, of course I do, but I also want you to be aware that a lot of web-store owners are selling ridiculously inflated products, not because they want to take you for a ride, but because they have been taken for a ride (by a middleman) and think they are buying from a wholesaler, and are simply passing the NON-savings on to you.

With all that said and done, price is not everything, though it is a lot. It is good to make certain you are buying from someone who is “on your side”, who will follow up if there are any problems. Isn't it more likely a small or home business owner who “feels your pain” or can identify with your obstacles and challenges is more likely to be committed to helping you down the line? I think so.