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Discount office supplies are frequently advertised, but I think it is much harder to promise than deliver.  Retail margins are razor thin, so it is extremely difficult for one merchant to sell for significantly less than another.  They all have to pay staff and overhead at much the same rates. 

Ebay presents a slightly different case.  Listed below are a few of the 18,000+ current Ebay auctions for office supplies.  If you check a few I think you will see that Ebay is the only true discount office supply source.  Why is that?  An Ebay seller can specialize in a narrow range of inventory, work from home or other cheap space, has no shrinkage issues, and has many other ways to hold down costs.  The Ebay fees take a nasty percentage, but it is still a space where the small merchant can hold down costs.

Shipping is a problem for Ebay sellers and tends to equalize the prices with local brick and mortar stores.  However, for customers that live farther from town, the cost of gas will quickly offset the shipping cost.  

I think DiscountOfficSupplies.com could become a profitable site for someone living and working in a small town.  It would work especially well for a card shop or drugstore owner who wants to build an online business and already has connections with office supply vendors.  If I was in that situation I would start by looking through the office supply items for sale on Ebay and find items where I thought I could at least break even selling at Ebay prices.  I would make sure I always had a few auctions running, but their main purpose would be to drive traffic to my website via my "ME" page.  

As long as my prices stayed fair I think I could gradually build a loyal following and a mailing list of customers who would buy from me directly rather than continually searching Ebay to try and save a few cents.