“Wholetail” (wholesale + retail) is a sale of products or services to an end user at wholesale (or near wholesale) prices. “Wholetail” has been cited in print since at least 1981, when the term was used in the auto industry. The “wholetail” term has also been popular in the computer and travel industries.
 
   
Wiktionary: wholestail
Etymology
Blend of wholesale +‎ retail
Noun
wholetail ‎(uncountable)
1, The sale of products to end user at wholesale prices
 
18 September 1981, Morning Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), “‘Wholetail’ means bargain on used cars” by Jerry Wallace, Wheels sec,, pg. F1, col. 1:
Car buffs and shopper looking for good used cars can add a new word to the vocabulary of slang that suffuses the auto industry: “Wholetail.”
 
That peculiar term was coined by the major rent-a-car companies to indicate that their prices on used cars culled from the rental fleets are usually somewhere between the pricing guides’ wholesale and retail recommended figures.
   
Google Books
Motor Trend
Volume 34
1982
Pg. 88:
Prices are “wholetail,” or between wholesale and retail, averaging $300-1200 under local retail prices.
 
Google Books
Motor Trend
Volume 37
1985
Pg. 88:
They will be priced a little under what most dealers would charge for the same car (an amount the National spokesperson termed “wholetail”) and prices are firm.
 
Google Books
Netlingo:
The Internet Dictionary
By Erin Jansen
Ojai, CA: NetLingo
2002
Pg. 414:
wholetail.
A business model wherein a manufacturer or producer delivers products or services directly to an individual. For example, Dell uses a wholetail model for selling its computers.
see also: click-and-ship
 
Travel Weekly
I can get it for you wholetail
By Arnie Weissmann / January 12, 2004
A travel distribution revolution, possibly as far-reaching and important as the emergence of the online channel, is occurring. Retailers are recognizing in increasing numbers that being a retailer and a wholesaler—a wholetailer—is far better than being one or the other.
 
And just as importantly, they’re seeing that they’re in a better position to claim this coveted ground than wholesalers.
   
TechCentral (South Africa)
Going bets on online bargains
A new e-commerce player is trying a different take on South African online retail by selling excess stock, clearance items, and other bulk, discounted products to consumers or independent retailers. By Craig Wilson.
Added by Craig Wilson on 19 August 2013.
There’s a new kid on the online retail block in South Africa. Going.co.za focuses on excess stock and other clearance items at heavily discounted rates, targeting everyone from individual consumers to small store owners and even informal retailers.
 
Going’s founder, 53-year-old Paul Greenberg — the man behind Australia’s online retail giant DealsDirect — calls it the “wholetail” model.
 
November-December 2015, Auto Remarketing Canada, “Q&A with Cheryl Munce, Chief Executive Consultant at ALTESO,” pg. 19, col. 1:
ARC: How is ALTESO playing a role in filling the gap known as “Wholetail,” or the bridge beween the wholesale channels and the retail marketplace?