Can you give me some advice about becoming a middleman for a wholesaler?

bizvp
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I am currently developing a 2nd activity as a micro-entrepreneur.
I am buying products from a company and planning on reselling them on my website and selling via small venues to individuals.
This company is based outside of France and only does wholesale. I receive a % of free products with each order and do not pay freight as part of my relationship with this company.

In my research, I see an opportunity to capture a small part of their market share. Using the following example: The company has a minimum order of 500 euros plus TVA plus freight which is approximately 10% of the order total. The mark-up margins after TVA per unit are 50% suggested but can be bumped up to 55% on most products.

There are small businesses that can’t or won’t take the risk of the minimum order requirements on a new product or simply do not know about this product. The wholesaler business is booming but they operate on a bit of a bare-bones structure and do not do much marketing in several important areas so I see what I think is a great opportunity.

Since I am already buying from them I am thinking of prospecting businesses pitching them on a minimum order of 250-300 euros plus freight within France which would be approximately 5% of the total order.
I understand that I can not charge TVA as a micro-entrepreneur. 

I don’t know if there is a term for what I am thinking about other than middleman? By launching this idea I am offering them an opportunity to try the product. If they are successful and want to make a larger order (i.e. the minimum of 500 euros) they would order directly from the wholesaler, I in turn would receive a one-time small commission from the wholesaler and then move on to finding other small clients as one area of my business.

I understand I am walking a fine line between a middleman and commercial rep position. I do not want to be a commercial rep for this company but simply open up more venues to sell their products via my business structure.

Is this idea workable? What do you suggest I propose as my wholesale per-unit prices to prospective clients? Since I can not charge them TVA they already are receiving a 20% discount per unit how much more can I add?
Anything else that I am missing or need to think about?

3 replies so far...
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