The Wholesale Forums

[johnnyboy]

Hi guys,

I've looking at starting a ecommerce business (not selling video games your thankful to know) most probably selling quite niche items such as bathroom appliances (taps etc), however I get the feeling that if you are selling niche appliances that it'll be very difficult to find wholesalers of such items and seem to only find retailers, does anyone know where to find wholesalers not retailers?

Thanks in advance

[missmushroom]

Hi Johnnyboy, I have tried various methods in the past for searching suppliers including the normal google search, trade magazines and B2B sites. All have worked for me. B2B sites are great in finding a china supplier as they have tonnes of them. However, the time required to sift through the legitimate wholesalers from the agent sellers can be such a pain .

Last year, I was trying to promote a rare beauty cream that can only be found in Myanmar so I just searched at their local yellow pages (http://www.yellowpagesmyanmar.net) for manufacturers and mail out a letter to each and everyone for a sample and info of their cream (pricing/pics etc). None of them had a website. I think I sent out about 30 letters. 7 responded and 5 even gave me free samples.

My point is not all manufacturers have a website (but many retailers and agent sellers do). Some don't even display their email due to spam reasons. Just search at trade websites (eg yellow pages) for a list of manufacturers with a product that you are looking for. Don't be put off if they don't have an email or website just get their address and mail out a letter of inquiry. There is one trade UK website that I came across: http://www.britishcompanies.co.uk/bathrooms.htm
You're lucky, many of the listed manufacturers there have websites

Good luck in your searching, cheers