Vendors of Target and Walmart

Texas Brave13 · Jun 4, 2011

Some may know, but I don't. Are the sportscards that are stocked at places like Target and Wal*Mart usually stocked and refilled by the candy vendors? Have any of ya'll tried contacting "XYZ" vendor to see if the middle-man can be cut out and "you" just get them directly from the vendor?

mintman2 · Jun 4, 2011

That's a good question. Looking forward to the answers.

Ajax44 · Jun 4, 2011

I used to work at Toy's R Us and actually interviewed to be a vendor. I'm not certain they are the same guys as now. They used to be called Vintage Value, if I'm not mistaken. If you buy any of those boxes, I believe they may have some sort of seal on them.

mindbinge · Jun 4, 2011

i dont know how other Targets are, but the one here gets its boxes in with other shipments on the regular trucks then once a week the guy who does the vending comes in and fixes the display and puts them out...i've gone in there one tuesday night and seen them sitting around in the floor opened but not put out and asked the manager if i could have "whatever" box it was i wanted and was able to get it a day early that way...i think it was Topps Platinum football blasters from a year or two ago.

kinda odd system...not sure exactly how they work it.

pfosset · Jun 4, 2011

i used to work at walmart a few years back, they cards would come in a truck shipment, then whenever the vendor felt like it, he would show up and put them away, sometimes it tooks weeks--what i would do working the graveyard shift, i would just get the boxes and do it myself--if anything good i would buy it with my discount---now they have a new vendor, and hes pretty good once a week to come in and put them away

rob

David K. · Jun 5, 2011

It took a long time...but last week Bowman chrome blasters, retail boxes, packs and value packs finally arrived at Target. Best regards, David

cardboardcrazy · Jun 5, 2011

I know here at my target they get a box in shipment with blister and a few racks and singles, but the vendor here is called EXELL (sp?) and they are horriable. They only come about every 3 weeks. They fill wal-mart and K-pmart here as well. I do not know if you can contact them and buy directly, might do a web search, or even call the store and ask who it is, thats how I found out, I just asked the nice lady at CS. She also had a black bucket of box's the vendor leaves them to refill the emptys and lets me search thru it to see if there is anything I want.

Texas Brave13 · Jun 5, 2011

This gives me a good perspective. Thanks fellas...

budd2222 · Jun 5, 2011

I would say each state will have its own rules. I have a friend who's son works for a vender, He said they could only sell to someone with a retail license. [Collecting and paying to the state local and state sales tax]

jbjeeplj · Jun 5, 2011

I don't know if this is true, but I also heard from a LCS owner that the big retailers also only end up paying for the product sold, which is why they aren't that concerned with pack searching, because all unopened/damaged product gets taken back by the vendors.

Texas Brave13 · Jun 5, 2011

That makes sense now you said that.

timfsu2k · Jun 5, 2011

Pretty sure you have to have a tax ID to buy directly from the vendor. Used to work for a guy who had a friend with a tax ID, and that friend used to order boxes for us at cost.

thedarkbrown · Jun 6, 2011

Regadring the tax resale license, that's true. You can only buy true wholesale if you have a state sales tax ID. I know this from first hand experience as my wife and I are in the middle of starting our business. One aspect of our business includes selling baseball cards. Even with that it seems to be quite difficult to get any product unless you have an actual retail storefront, but we'll see once we get more involved. Maybe different distributors have different options.

brewerfan34 · Jun 6, 2011

Currently I work in industrial sales and I am one of those "evil" middle men. I realize that each industry is different. However, I see this playing out as follows:

A vendor who gets to supply Target or Wal-Mart will never find a better customer and any sane person would never do anything to jeopardize that relationship. Retailers would see any sales of this type as lost revenue that they already have negotiated for in good faith. They in turn would come down very hard on that individual.

Perhaps if you are a very close friend to a supplier you may get the chance at a small amount of product. This would come under very strict orders that no one else EVER is to ask him for the favor. The chances of you walking up to a vendor and him/her selling to you is incredibly small. However you may get someone who is upset with the company or is on their way out, and they don't care. If a vendor would get caught doing this my guess is that they would have to look for another job.

Also as being one of those "middle men" I can easily tell you that you would not save nearly as much as you think you would.

I hope this perspective helps, good luck if you still try to go through with it,

Frank

ffman · Jun 6, 2011

I believe my Wal-Mart is stocked by a company named Beckett (not the magazine company).

opcfan · Jun 6, 2011

All this talk about baseball cards in Walmart and Kmart. How I wish I could walk into my local Walmart and pickup a blaster of baseball product. I live in Canada and if it ain't hockey it doesn't sell (so they say). I complained several times but they say the baseball doesn't sell. I saw some Topps baseball packs a few years ago at the checkout so I picked up a few packs to look at the product and went back two days later and the packs were gone. I have never seen any baseball product since. I really think the baseball will sell if they bring in descent products but according to Walmart I am the minority.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Jim

Texas Brave13 · Jun 6, 2011

I have a tax license and have learned a lot from each response. Thanks for the responses!!!!

brewerfan34 · Jun 6, 2011

Texas Brave13 said:
I have a tax license and have learned a lot from each response. Thanks for the responses!!!!

No problem, congrats on shedding your newbie avatar. Seems like not that long ago I helped you with one of your first trades. It's nice to see you hanging around, I'm still impressed with the mailer you sent me!

Frank

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