Kevco Wholesale customers now have a new sales channel to exploit – eBay. The distributor represents a number of leading lingerie labels in the UK and Ireland and it has historically prevented its resellers from selling its brands on the world’s biggest online auction marketplace. According to Kevco’s Kevin Wooldridge, eBay was previously seen as a dumping ground for cheap products or finding a bargain and some of the brands it worked with did not want to be associated with it. Kevco took the view that, as a company, any policy had to be ‘all or nothing’ so it barred its resellers from selling any of its brands on eBay.
This has now changed though, as Wooldridge explained: “More and more retailers large and small now have eBay shops which mirror their websites,” he said. “Brands that were previously against this have changed their view and told us that they would now allow it. So we can now announce that our products can be sold on fixed price listings and eBay shops, though low start auction listings are still prohibited.”
At the time of writing the following brands distributed by Kevco Wholesale are now available to be sold on eBay: Pleaser Shoes, Ellie Shoes, Seven ‘til Midnight, Baci Lingerie, Hustler Lingerie, Rene Rofe, Pink Lipstick, Lapdance, Blueline, Pleasure Wigs, and Bodywands. Automated dropshipping options are available too.
Before changing its policy Kevco did canvass opinion among its existing customers, though it says that it knew most of them were in favour as they had been requesting the option. The firm is now bracing itself for an influx of new account applications: “It will be rolled out initially with our existing customers but we expect a lot of people to now apply to open accounts,” Wooldridge said. “We expect current customers to embrace this additional sales channel and we hope it has a positive effect on everybody’s sales. We already ‘police’ eBay, when customers inform of us of infringing sales, so we hope that by now allowing the sales it will be a fairer place for everybody. Some of the biggest players in the industry started in their bedroom and we hope to develop more.”
Potential new customers will need their business status verified before an account can be activated as Kevco will not supply non-trade customers. Once this has been done then all Kevco’s trade resources, such as POS, images and product descriptions, will be available to them.
When asked how eBayers will differentiate themselves from their competitors, Wooldridge said: “We have so many SKUs available through our ranges we feel that everybody will be able to create their own USP if they do their research and don’t just follow everybody else. We also believe the quality of the store and listing can set people apart.”
The new policy will be constantly reviewed by Kevco and its brands to measure its effectiveness and the distributor says it reserves the right to refuse to supply anyone who is doing harm to it, its customers or its brands. For more information visit www.kevcowholesale.co.uk
