Archive for the ‘Commonly asked Questions’ Category

What Payment Methods does Via Trading Accept?

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Via Trading accepts the following methods of payment:


- Credit Card (3% fee is charged for walk-in purchases)
- Money Orders
- Wire Transfers
- Paypal (3% fee is charged is charged for walk-in purchases)
- Cash
- Certified Bank Checks
- Personal Checks (3% fee is charged to process the checks)

Credit Cards

We accept credit cards for USA orders as long as the billing and shipping address are within the United States. For your protection, you will be asked to fill out a Credit Card Authorization form and return it to us with a copy of the front and back of the card and a photo ID. This information will be kept safely on file for all future purchases with the same card. Via Trading does not accept Credit Card payments over $2,500 from new customers. Please speak with your Account Manager for payment details at the time of your order.
There is a 3% additional charge on all IN-PERSON credit card payments (but not for Internet orders).

Paypal

We accept Paypal for USA and International orders as long as the paypal address is a VERIFIED address. We can take paypal only on orders under $2,500 until we establish a trusting business relationship with a customer.

Wire Transfers

Wire transfers are the preferred method of payment for international orders and orders over a certain dollar amount. We will provide you with our bank details once an order is confirmed.

Cash

We accept cash payments for walk-in orders only. You can also place an order on our website and come pick it up and pay cash in person. We have an ATM on site where you can withdraw cash if you prefer to pay this way when you are here.

Checks

We accept checks for order payment and can take them in 2 ways. You can mail us a check and we will ship the merchandise once the funds clear into our account. Alternatively, we can run a check through our Telecheck system over the phone with you or in person, and releases/ship the merchandise immediately without waiting for the check to clear. There is a 3% additional charge for all telecheck payments.

You can mail all checks and Money Orders directly to us at:

Via Trading Corporation
2520 Industry Way
Lynwood, CA 90262

Please include your order number on the check or money order.
Please do not send a check for the payment of an order until you have received an invoice with a total for your order.

What Discounts does Via Trading Give?

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

We offer volume pricing on most items. When browsing our website, you will see different price breaks on many of our items. We generally have one price if you buy 1-2 of any given item, another price break if you buy 3-5 of an item, and a further price break if you buy 5-10 of an item.

Our volume pricing is ACROSS CATEGORIES!! Meaning you don’t need to purchase 3 of ONE item to get the volume discount, but you can purchase 1 of each of 3 different items and get the 3-item price on all of them!

(Only applicable on items that do have volume pricing. Some items are based on a flat price and discounts would be worked out on a case by case basis with your account manager).

What are Overstocks & Shelf Pulls?

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Overstocks and shelf pulls typically refers to merchandise that has never been purchased by a customer, but are considered excess inventory from store shelves and/or warehouses.

Overstocks will typically be in good selling condition, and will have some of the following characteristics:

  • Items may have price tags/retail or discount stickers on them
  • May show signs of handling
  • May be defaced/de-labeled (inner labels or tags removed to prevent return to the store)
  • A percentage of the items may be out of box or in open boxes
  • Short-dated or expired goods may be found in some pallets

In the vast majority of cases, new overstock goods require much less work than customer returns in terms of testing and repairing, but you should expect to have some checking work to do, as well as cleaning off potentially dusty items, removing price tags if necessary, before selling the items.

Another type of new overstock item in the industry is referred to as “Master Case Goods.” Master case goods signify goods that are 100% new and still in the original manufacturer’s exterior factory packaging. Via Trading does not deal with these items much, but we do occasionally have a few lots to offer which you would be able to find in the “new overstock” section of our website.

Please click here to read about seasonal overstocks and the investment opportunities they may present.

What are Customer Return Products?

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

In a nutshell, customer returns/salvage goods are typically items that have been purchased from a store but then returned by the customer, but can also be discarded goods in a variety of different conditions. Stores can decide to “salvage” these goods for a number of reasons such as the ones listed below:

  • Defective when returned by the customer
  • cosmetic blemishes or slight defects
  • out of box goods
  • missing minor or major components (remove controls, manuals, covers, cables)
  • in-store display items
  • damaged exterior packaging
  • items that the store does not want to or cannot reshelf
  • one or more features does not work
  • store is overstocked with such items
  • out of season items
  • discontinued items

Depending on what store they come from and what category of product it is, working percentages on customer return loads can vary greatly.

Generally speaking, the recognized industry average when trying to estimate working percentages is said to be around 65-75% working, 20% repairable, and the remainder throwaway/scrap/parts, etc.

In practice, no individual load or pallet will have that exact breakdown, but these percentages are fairly accurate when describing the average expected condition of the goods when purchasing them regularly.

Ultimately, this is a rough approximation and the actual working percentage on any given pallet or load can be much worse or better.

Note: many stores do not separate ‘returns’ from ‘overstocks’ and it is very typical that a good percentage of their ‘salvage’ loads will be made up of overstocks and shelf-pulls.