Fashion Bulk Wholesale Clothing Review

When you’re an online reseller who wants to grow your business, you have to grow your inventory. That takes time, especially if you thrift. Another way to quickly and easily grow your inventory is to purchase wholesale lots to resell.

Today I want to share with you my experience purchasing a wholesale lot from the company Fashion Bulk. Read on to see what I received, my thoughts on the clothing, and if it’s right for you.

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Benefits of Wholesale

Before I get into the review, I should mention some of the benefits of wholesale and why I choose to shop this way.

1 | Lower prices

Access to goods at low prices is one of the biggest benefits of shopping wholesale. Lower costs for inventory mean more profit for each sale.

I live in the SF Bay Area where thrift stores are expensive. Used dresses regularly cost between $7-$15 each. Pants run $7-$10.

If I can pay a few dollars less for clothing that’s just as nice or even new, I should do it. It would lead to increased profits with every sale.

While not every wholesale lot will give you low prices for great profits, there are great deals to be had if you want to acquire inventory this way.

2 | Access to better brands

Another benefit of wholesale lots is access to better brands of clothing. The quality of items you find at the thrift store will depend on your area.

I’ve heard some people say they find lots of high-end brands in higher cost-of-living cities or neighborhoods, while others will say their area is filled with low-end brands. Wholesale lots are a reasonable alternative if you find yourself without a lot of brand options.

3 | Save time

Let’s say that your goal is to source 50 items from a thrift store today. You could find that at one thrift store, but it would likely require visits to several stores or even take several days.

You save time when you purchase a wholesale lot. You place your order online and it shows up at your door. You don’t even have to leave the house!

Imagine eliminating all that time-consuming work.

Good brands, low prices, and saving time are all wins to me. That’s why I’m trying out wholesale lots.

Fashion Bulk

I came across Fashion Bulk on the recommendation of another online reseller. The company has several wholesale lots for sale including:

Revolve brands
Nordstrom high-end apparel
Macy’s designer brands
Joe’s Jeans

I purchased the Revolve designer apparel lot. Revolve is a website that sells on-trend women’s and men’s apparel from different brands.

I picked the lot of 50 pieces for $587.50. That comes out to be $11.75/item. It costs a bit more per item if you choose smaller lots of 10 or 25 items.

Shipping was an additional $34.28. That brought the total to $621.78 or about $12.43 per item.

It’s important to keep this cost in mind when deciding whether or not a wholesale lot is worth purchasing. You’ll have to make back the cost of an item and then some to see a profit.

I know that’s a lot of money for many people, including me. I decided to buy it because my closet shrunk over the winter with sales and purging old goods. I’m looking to restock my closet with as much as I can as quickly as I can.

Video

If you want to see everything I received and my impressions of the box on video, you can watch this YouTube video below.

What I Received

I received 50 items from these brands:

BB Dakota (22)
Jack by BB Dakota (12)
Black Orchid (5)
Monrow (3)
Cupcakes & Cashmere (3)
Pistola (3)
Endless Rose (1)
Michael Stars (1)

This is a breakdown of the types of items:

25 tops
5 skirts
4 dresses
4 shorts
3 cardigans
3 jeans
3 rompers/jumpsuits
2 pants
1 vest

Impressions

1 | Narrow brand variety

My main complaint with this lot is that there’s not much brand variation within the 50 items. I was pretty disappointed to see that 34/50 items were by one brand BB Dakota and its offshoot Jack by BB Dakota.

If you’ve looked up BB Dakota online, particularly tops, you’ll see that they don’t have a high resale value.

I don’t go out of my way to pick up this brand at the thrift store or resell it. I would only pick them up if they were new, the right clothing type like dresses and jackets, or no more than a few dollars.

If the lot included a greater variety of different brands with good resale value, I wouldn’t have minded so much receiving BB Dakota. The other brands might be able to make up for the lost value if there had been more of them.

I liked the Black Orchid shorts and jeans the most of all the brands I received. Those had the potential to sell for a good profit if I held out for the right sales.

2 | Reasonable item variety

I thought the variety of clothing types was reasonable. The lot description says that the lots tend to be dress-heavy.

Dresses tend to sell for more than tops at resale, so I would’ve preferred that. But that wasn’t a given. I knew I could end up with few dresses just depending on what was available to send me at the time.

Twenty-five tops is a lot when you consider that many of them were crop tops or tank tops. Those generally don’t sell for as much as more substantial clothing such as sweaters and jackets.

The rest of the other items were a good mix of dresses, bottoms, etc. I was happy with that variety.

3 | Mostly size smalls

Most of the clothes were size small with a few XS, M, and L thrown in. Jeans and skirts were mostly size 26.

I don’t mind selling size small clothing, but much of the US doesn’t wear a size small. Heavily stocking this size may mean waiting longer to make sales.

4 | Low resale value

Overall, I was disappointed with what I received. I don’t think it was worth $600+.

As with many wholesale lots, you’ll find that some items have damage. I received a dress missing its waist tie, shorts that had been cut probably accidentally, and other items with marks on them. That’s to be expected, but the profit of the other goods needs to make up for it.

I don’t think I could’ve made $600 off this lot. Each of the item items would’ve had to have sold on Poshmark for almost $16 to cover the $600 cost of the items.

A buyer would have to be willing to spend about $24-25 on each item:

$16 for the item
$7.11 for shipping
$1-2 tax depending on the state

After commission was taken out, I’d receive $12.80, which just covers the cost of the item.

I couldn’t see these items selling for an average of $16 each. They’d likely sit in my closet for a long time or I’d have to discount them.

Return

I reached out to the company for a return. Although their website states no return, they said they’d be willing to work with me since I wasn’t happy with my purchase.

After several emails and a phone call, they agreed to accept a return of the lot and cover the cost of half of the return shipping, which was approximately $15.

I appreciated that they worked with me for a return and thought it was generous of them to cover part of the return shipping.

But it’s been several weeks since I requested to return the items and sent them back, and I haven’t received a refund yet. I’ve had to follow up several times unfortunately. I have my fingers crossed that I get a refund soon.

Update: I got a refund!!!

Recommendations

If you decide to shop from Fashion Bulk or any wholesaler in the future, consider these things first:

1 | Try out a small lot first

I jumped into buying a large lot because I wanted the cheapest price per item and have been looking restock my closet quickly. If I were to try out another lot from a wholesale company in the future, I would probably pick a smaller one so that there’s less risk involved.

If you like it the first time around, then buy another one. Chances are the lot will be available again. This is a good way to test out lots without risking too much of your money.

2 | Ask questions

Looking back, I would’ve sent an email asking for more detail on the lot I was buying. Most wholesale lots are unmanifested meaning that the inventory is not listed in detail. You get what you get.

Manifested lots may tell you item names, brands, quantities, suggested retail values, and more. I would’ve asked for an idea of what I would be getting this time around. Maybe they would’ve given me the information, and maybe not.

Lots also vary widely depends on what the company (Revolve in this case) sends them too. In my case, it seems Revolve sent Fashion Bulk lot of spring and summer clothing by BB Dakota. At another time of year, I may have received other brands and types of items.

3 | Read the company’s reviews

The best way to see if you want to do business with a company is to read honest reviews about it. Fashion Bulk didn’t have any reviews besides those on its own webpage.

Some people might find that concerning. I figured I would take the risk with my purchase because I could at least write a review for you and other sellers.

4 | Look at the company’s sales page

Revolve sells some of the trendiest, in-demand brands right now. Some items go for hundreds of dollars and sell out.

Wouldn’t it be nice to receive some of those items to resell? Chances are that’s not going to happen.

You’re likely going to get:

Shelf pulls – These are items that have been out for sale but haven’t sold
Overstock items – The company purchased too many to sell.
Returned items – Customers returned the items for whatever reason. They may not be in good enough condition or the right season to sell again.

You can sort of get an idea of what you will receive in a liquidation lot by looking at Revolve’s sale page. It makes sense that you’re not going to get the hottest items on Revolve’s front page.

The items that are on sale and don’t sell will eventually go to liquidators who sell wholesale lots like the one I received.

Wrap Up

I’m thankful that Fashion Bulk allowed me to return my wholesale lot purchase. The person I communicated with by email and phone was polite and professional to me throughout my whole experience.

But I wouldn’t purchase from Fashion Bulk again because I wouldn’t be able to make a profit from reselling their clothes.

They do say that every lot is different, so you may have better luck than I do if you purchase from them.

What has been your experience purchasing wholesale lots to resell? Do you have any other tips and recommendations?