Earlier this month, Joshua Van Valkenburg launched Dealer Backstock, a new online wholesale trading program for dealers only.
The platform is designed to help dealers connect with each other across the United States and Canada in buying and selling their wholesale inventory, something Van Valkenburg said has been a gap in the industry for quite some time.
“It’s a huge need in this business,” Van Valkenburg said. “I wish there was something like this 15 years ago when I started. And for whatever reason, there still [wasn’t] anything, even though everybody that I’ve approached throughout the last 15 years has always wished that somebody would do something.”
“[I thought] there has to be a better way to do this than what’s been going on,” Dealer Backstock co-founder Ryan Beckmann added.
Dealers can be limited in how they purchase or sell wholesale inventory outside their immediate reach, Van Valkenburg explained, often relying on other dealers they may know or have done business with in the past, or even sending RVs to a local auction, depending on where the nearest auction might be.
Dealer Backstock aims to both expand that reach and simplify the process, offering a platform where dealers can search for and/or list inventory – used or new, although the emphasis is on pre-owned – and refine that search based on the many filters available.
“There are endless ways to use all the search features, functions and alerts,” said Van Valkenburg. “You can create alerts based off what specific customers want. You can create alerts and filter down those alerts based on a type of unit, how many bedrooms the unit has, how far away the unit is, how many slideouts, at what price point — you can create endless filters, and then if somebody lists something that matches it, [you] instantly get a text message.”
In addition to a customizable back-end for managing inventory, leads and inquiries, the program also verifies dealer credentials, enabling users to feel more secure about conducting transactions. While dealers may still purchase from someone they don’t know, the site adds a layer of security by vetting users. It also provides the ability to communicate with buyers and sellers ahead of time, something Van Valkenburg and Beckmann said dealers can’t usually do when using an auction.
Although Dealer Backstock is still in its infancy, the two are excited about the feedback they’ve received so far, which has been extremely positive. At the time RV PRO spoke with them, they had roughly 50 different locations signed up, and they’re anticipating 300 to 500 in the next 60 to 90 days. Initial users have had good things to say about the process of signing up, adding inventory, viewing the marketplace and creating searches. Additionally, people have been pleased with the appearance of the site and the ease of operation and navigation, the team said.
While the website is currently free for dealers to use, their plan is to eventually make the service subscription based, at a minimal cost.
“Other competitors who’ve attempted to do this charge fees per transaction,” Beckmann stated. “This gets expensive very quickly for dealers who conduct multiple transactions. We believe a monthly subscription-based product with no transaction fees is a more attractive option.”
Other benefits about Dealer Backstock include that it’s broker-free, without any middleman, and the platform puts both large and small dealerships all in one place.
“It gives a small dealership the ability to buy from people that they never would’ve been able to dream of buying from before,” Van Valkenburg said.
Both Van Valkenburg and Beckmann are passionate about broadening the availability and access to preowned RVs for fellow dealers. Van Valkenburg specializes in pre-owned inventory as well as new fifth wheels, and Beckmann has a background in wholesale, having worked at both Scottsdale RV and Blue Compass.
“In any of the big dealership groups right now, used is the primary focus. How do we get more?” Beckmann said. “And it’s a struggle. These enterprise dealers have multiple people on the payroll most of the time at numerous locations simultaneously, and their job is to find units and find them at the right price.”
With Dealer Backstock, they hope to give dealers another – more convenient – avenue for acquiring inventory.
“[With our platform], I don’t have to pick up the phone. I don’t have to email a bunch of people. I do it one time, and that’s it,” Van Valkenburg said. “We’re the easy button when it comes to wholesaling RVs.”
