How do I become a Blu-ray movie retailer?

[Ectoplasm]

They sell Blu-rays overseas here in South Korea, but many of the stores selling them are gouging on prices -- asking $35 and up for discs that I can purchase and ship from Amazon US for less.

Does anyone know how I can obtain information on becoming a dealer selling blu-ray movies in South Korea?

My wife and I would like to set up an online site that is priced fairly.

Thanks.

[jw]

You will have to find a wholesaler willing to ship to S korea, That will probably be your biggest hurdle.Most companies wont ship out of country do to there is no way to prove delivery and the risk of fraud associated with it.

I buy mine from waxworks, they are the cheapest.I have another source for the Fox titles as WW is the same price as Amazon on them. I have been getting alot of my used movies from a local pawn shop, I buy both dvd and blu-ray. I do the occassional Video game but I wait til Christmas to do that, no money in it this time of year.

Good Luck though

[jw]

Another idea is to set up an affiliate site with amazon, there you buy a domain and use the Amazon library of titles and you earn a commission from 6-10% of the total sale. You never touch the merchandise but you have to promote your site to get traffic to buy from there

[Ectoplasm]

But they have Blu-rays here which are subbed in Korean on the boxes already (or the have a BR slipcover all in Korean).

Someone here is making them, apparently?

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by Ectoplasm

But they have Blu-rays here which are subbed in Korean on the boxes already (or the have a BR slipcover all in Korean).

Someone here is making them, apparently?

Sure, the studios have many titles available locally. However, the distributors are charging more for the titles than Amazon is selling them for in the U.S. (hence the ridiculous prices). Even if you're able to get setup with the local distributors, you are probably not going to be able to sell titles for much less than the local stores.

[Ectoplasm]

Well, as it stands, the Korea-released titles tend to be around the $22 US range in price at the lowest. The problem is that many of them are overpriced upon release. For example, I-Robot was nearly $40 here. I Am Legend was close to that price as well. It really depends on the title.

I'm not looking to make a huge profit... just want to enjoy my hobby more by selling them.

[Elandyll]

It is posible that if you contact the local represntatives of the studios they will either offer you to buy form them (most certainly udner contract to buy fairly large quantities, more suited for wholesale), or they can direct you to wholesale that distribute their products, which which you can make biz.

My 2 cents

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by Ectoplasm

Well, as it stands, the Korea-released titles tend to be around the $22 US range in price at the lowest. The problem is that many of them are overpriced upon release. For example, I-Robot was nearly $40 here. I Am Legend was close to that price as well. It really depends on the title.

I'm not looking to make a huge profit... just want to enjoy my hobby more by selling them.

I-Robot was MSRP'd at $40 here in the states (along with every other Fox release)! The problem with trying to start your own business here in the states is that Amazon.com is selling titles for the same or even less than most distributors charge smaller retailers. I know MoretonBay had that issue, and was never able to undercut Amazon on pricing, and when I looked into it, I could never get a better deal.

[jw]

Originally Posted by Elandyll

It is posible that if you contact the local represntatives of the studios they will either offer you to buy form them (most certainly udner contract to buy fairly large quantities, more suited for wholesale), or they can direct you to wholesale that distribute their products, which which you can make biz.

My 2 cents

Dont take this the wrong way, but the studios wont deal with the little guy, unless you are a Wal-Mart buying hundreds of thousands of movies they will snub you. Most of the US wholesalers that I have a list of are selling US releases and from the ones I checked very few of them have korean subs.

I am not sure if you would have better luck with the UK releases

[Kristin Simard]

You could investigate the costs involved with getting a retailers license in America (cheap), purchasing the BDs wholesale there and shipping them yourself (paying the importing fees at Customs). Places in America have done that with foreign DVDs not otherwise released in America, but that does not result in lower costs, just access to more obscure titles.

[Ectoplasm]

The problem is that the Blu-rays which don't have Korean subs just don't sell well here.

As for needing to be a huge retailer, virtually EVERY seller of Blu-rays in this country is a small mom-n-pop store which has 1/3 the movies of your local Blockbuster at most.

We have no amazon here. There is Amazon Japan, but their prices are far higher than the USA, and the discs have Japanese all over them.

Shipping from USA amazon is prohibitively expensive to the point that it's not worth getting into, as it would defeat the purpose of being able to offer the discs at a fair price. There is no Amazon in Korea.

The larger retailers (like Kyobo Books) sell some Blu-rays now, but their selection is very limited, and prices are MSRP all the way.




.

[Ectoplasm]

Originally Posted by Kristin Simard

You could investigate the costs involved with getting a retailers license in America (cheap), purchasing the BDs wholesale there and shipping them yourself (paying the importing fees at Customs). Places in America have done that with foreign DVDs not otherwise released in America, but that does not result in lower costs, just access to more obscure titles.

Unfortunately, South Korea is one of the most protectionist states in the world. We have a 60% import tax on electronics brought into the country. For example, if I wanted to buy a Denon receiver overseas, I'd pay about 1/3 less, but customs would smack on a 60% import tax.

Sony Bravia TVs around the 50" range cost about $6,000 US here.

Every large company (Sony included) who tries to sell stuff here must partner with one of the local Chaebols so that they can get a cut of the sales. After that, and the import taxes, it's pretty difficult to consider anything but Samsung or LG.

The same happens with movies, in large quantities of more than say $100 worth.

[WickyWoo]

Does anyone know how I can obtain information on becoming a dealer selling blu-ray movies in South Korea?

My wife and I would like to set up an online site that is priced fairly.

I seriously doubt you can, at least not at prices you would consider "fair". By the time you pay for shipping, storage, overhead, and whatnot, plus taxes, import fees (don't forget they will eventually flag you and start "inspecting your discs for illegal porn), you're going to be selling at the same prices they already are.

People keep assuming that wholesale is so much cheaper

$24.99=$16.24
$29.99- $19.49
$34.99- $22.74
$39.99-$25.99

Keep in mind those prices are before shipping to the retailer, overhead, or anything else.

If you want to open a wholesaler's account with FOX or WEA, Universal, Paramount, whatnot, then you're going to have to be willing to do at least $5000 from each (might be more now) as an initial order, and they will not ship outside the US. If you're going through a middleman, tack on at least 5% over those prices. Then by the time you ship them (USPS no longer does sea mail, you'll have to UPS/Fedex and that's ouch), plus duties, taxes and everythig, I don't see how you'd have any margin left

You and friends are better off pooling together on the shipping for an Amazon order

[Ectoplasm]

I'm not talking about International shipping here, folks. As I've stated, there is no profit in that.

Some studios are apparently distributing them in Korea already. We have boxes in Korean and all.

Some company or studios (WB and Sony) are already making these things in Korea (or bringing them in) then selling them to retailers.

That's who I want to get them from -- whomever is distributing them to retailers. I just wondered if anyone knew of how/where to contact people about getting into this here?

[Kristin Simard]

Originally Posted by Ectoplasm

... I want to get them from -- whomever is distributing them to retailers. I just wondered if anyone knew of how/where to contact people about getting into this here?

Try a google search.

[Mermen79]

Well, why the heck are you asking Americans here? You think you'd get a good answer? Just keeping dealing with Koreans (like what they do in S.K. according to you) and you'll be fine. Perhaps there is some bluray.kr website somewhere.

[Elandyll]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

Dont take this the wrong way, but the studios wont deal with the little guy, unless you are a Wal-Mart buying hundreds of thousands of movies they will snub you. Most of the US wholesalers that I have a list of are selling US releases and from the ones I checked very few of them have korean subs.

I am not sure if you would have better luck with the UK releases

Which is why I told him they would most likely direct him to a wholesaler that distribute their products.

[WickyWoo]

That's who I want to get them from -- whomever is distributing them to retailers. I just wondered if anyone knew of how/where to contact people about getting into this here?

You should call the local divisions of the studios then. However given typical Asian distribution systems, I'm telling you you're not going to be able to operate much cheaper. Typically product passes from the main to the regional, to the city, to the district to the block distributor. There's a huge chain between the warehouse and you. So if the regional is buying a disc for $20 from the warehouse, it might be $25 by the time it gets to you