How to Find Legitimate Business to Business Wholesale Suppliers

Finding legitimate wholesale suppliers is not as hard as it seems if done right. The wholesale industry is somehow exclusive. This means that you have to establish yourself as a real business before having relationships with real wholesalers. Now, with ecommerce and the possibilities it opened for entrepreneurs, many people are able to start selling online. It is so easy now to use shopping cart software or even sell in a marketplace like selling on eBay auctions. But the problem is not setting up a web store or selling in auctions, the real problem for the average online retailer is the sources of their products. In other words, the size of your profit margin depends on your location in the supply chain of products. This article explains how to find legitimate wholesale distributors to supply your business.

Like mentioned above, you have to establish yourself as a legit retailer before being able to deal with any business in this industry, at least the real ones. You as a business must have a business name, this could be your Doing Business As or DBA, or it could be your company name. You also must have a seller's permit, which could be obtained from your nearest State Board of Equalization or a similar state organization. For online retailers, it helps to think a little like a brick and mortar business. When you are established as a business you can start contacting real wholesalers and inquire about merchandise.

Many wholesale companies will ask about your business information and some of them might ask for trade references. Those are the bigger more established companies that like to deal with established retailers only. This is the case for more popular brands, which are harder to obtain at real wholesale prices. For the startup online seller, it is not so easy to find those secret wholesale sources. So, most starting ecommerce businesses fail as a result of that exclusivity of the real sources and the increase of endless scams online.

But there is a remedy for all that, which I already mentioned the first part of it. Now it is just a matter of how to start contacting wholesalers and establishing accounts with them. This could be on the phone, or it could be online, in any case you should contact those wholesalers and let them know you are interested in opening an account. In many cases you might not be successful if you don't have enough history in the industry. But you can start working with whoever is willing to supply you and then build your reputation and experience. This should open up more profitable relationships for you as you go up the supply chain.

Another question remains, which is how to find the real legitimate wholesale suppliers? From my experience, the best to do this is by subscribing to trade magazines, going to trade events, word of mouth to your local community. The internet is another source for finding wholesalers, but the problem with it is that many scams exist, and many websites might claim that they are wholesalers, when at best they are discount retailers. So, using the web for finding wholesale suppliers has to be used carefully, and results have to be filtered to the legit ones only.

The ways I can tell if a website might be a real wholesale business is if they are exclusive, meaning you can't just know what their prices are, and that you have to apply for an account with them. Usually that would be done with an online form or they might ask you to fill some application forms and fax or email them. Another tip when contacting wholesalers is to call on the phone. This is much better in many ways; first you get to see if the business is real and that there is somebody is answering you. Second, you should talk to a salesperson and see what it takes to establish an account.

In conclusion, once you start establishing good accounts with different wholesalers you are building your suppliers list that will be the pipe to your retail business. The process of finding real wholesale businesses and establishing relationships with them is time consuming and involved. So, unless you are serious about being a legit retail business the options for your business will be non profitable. That's why it is best to have a concise plan of where you want to take your business and how to achieve that.

Best wishes for your business efforts.

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