Posted By:
Jim VBJeff and Dan,
As someone with about 30+ years experience in the retail industry, I can not think of a better business plan than being able to sell inventory that you don't own. The costs of carrying inventory has dragged down countless retailers. I used to hammer suppliers to give me 90 day payment terms. Then I would argue with our corporate bean counters to NOT add the dollars into my inventory until those 90 days were up. (Believe it or not, May Department Stores actually had an official policy covering this practice back in the 1980's. The policy was refered to as "Invoice Dating".) During that 90 day period, most, if not all of the goods would be sold, prior to it ever hitting my books. I NEVER attempted to sell any goods owned by any of my competitors, however. I don't know how I missed that wrinkle.