The Wholesale Forums

[nightdude]

Hi I am new to these pages and am very impressed with the openess and informative advice.

I do need advice though

I am keen to find wholesalers who are happy to sell to Republic of Ireland. This may seem a mad topic, but the amount of time I spend phoning companies and as soon as you mention Southern Ireland, they loose all enthusiasm!
I am pretty much open to selling most things except - designer clothing, pallet loads, consumer electronics.
Looking for kids character stuff i.e Thomas, Dora and menswear such as sports brands i.e. adidas, nike, etc
Would like to point out I would consider anything as long as it's authentic and, the postage isn't crazy

Any advice/takers?

[Andy777]

I know what you mean. At a time when I was living in Ireland, I faced the very same problem with dealing with UK wholesalers (and even retailers).

But this rarely applies to wholesale companies from US, China etc. As it's really no difference for them to ship to the UK or Ireland.

My advice - you should filter down on products you would like to sell as there is no "One for All" wholesalers. The narrower the niche, the easier for you to search for a supplier.

[nightdude]

Thanks for your reply

Can you advise a good US wholesaler page (sent to my e-mail if you want?) and
how do you approach the subject of authenticity?

Ta in advance

[Costaconsoles]

Just out of curiousity why dont UK wholesalers like selling to Ireland? Do they have same policy with the North?

Find it really daft considering how close both countries are.

[nightdude]

Hi,
I think the problem is postage. In Ireland, we have a domestic, UK, Europe and Rest of the world rate. In UK it is domestic rate, European, and Rest of the World.
Add insurance and the fact that many of these companies feel they maybe have enough custom domestically!!!
I am not attacking UK wholesalers, I am just making the point that some of the ones I have spoken to give you such unrealistic quotes, especially interms of postage, that you are cheaper going outwith the EU!

[geosamm]

I dont understand their reluctance to post to south Ireland..... I used to post there and the cost wasnt that prohibitive.... not the same as "mainland" but not exorbitantly excessive

[blavann]

Its north as well in a lot of cases.

If the supplier in UK is using Royal Mail then its the same price to mainland UK as it is to Northern ireland, however southern ireland is Airmail.

If the supplier in UK uses ANY other courier, they see Ireland (both north and south) as international, and it can cost us as much to get the goods if they were shipped to France.

However it gets really funny...

I'm in Northern Ireland, if I decide to mail something to Nightdude here in Southern Ireland, I have to mail it Airmail, as Southern Ireland (althugh completely joined in island, just sperated by a border) is seen as International.

In fact in some places around the border, to phone someone in the next street could see you face international call charges.

[nightdude]

It is crazy. I hope that potential suppliers / wholesalers are taking note...

[Andy777]

Yep, it's mostly because of postage & insurance. Although Parcel Force offers great service from UK to S Ireland, most companies/wholesalers/retailers don't bother. They use one particular shipping company and if they do not offer reliable and cheap enough shipping to S Ireland, they won't bother to look for a different solution.

[geosamm]

Obviously they have so much business they dont want to expand their customer base.... I have always worked on the principal that if someone wants to pay the price I am asking plus the postage to where they want it delivered to..... they are a customer.... and I send it by whatever means is available.