The Wholesale Forums

[mjl1297]

Greetings everyone! This is my first post in this forum and I'm hoping that someone can point me in the right direction. I operate an online venture selling imported shaving creams, shaving soaps, and aftershaves. Finding wholesalers to deal with has been an ongoing struggle. I'm fairly well set up for my UK and Italian products but there are some products made in Spain, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany that I would like to find reliable suppliers for and I don't know how to go about it. Finding the UK suppliers was fairly simple. There was a fair amount of work involved but I came up with names and contact numbers and all is well there. My Italian suppliers were a little more difficult but I came up with a few there as well. I would like to add to them but I have a few to go on so I'm fairly settled there too. However suppliers for the other products have been an exercise in frustration. I thought contacting the manufacturers and asking for a list of suppliers would remedy the situation but apparently that was just a testament to my naivete as the so called contact points for these companies have been either completely unresponsive, they make promises they never fulfill in spite of multiple inquiries, they send you useless outdated information, or they are just outright rude to you. Honestly one could be forgiven for wondering whether or not these people actually want to sell their wares with this user hostile approach. I'm weary of banging my head against the wall and I'm posting in this forum to see if anyone can point me in the right direction. There are particular brands that I am interested in so that narrows it down a bit. I would appreciate hearing from anyone that may be able to help. If you wish to know the specific brands I am looking for then contact me through this thread. Many thanks.

[Pete]

You must understand that many wholesalers are not intgerested in online only sellers. They have an established group of retailers they feel a responsibility to. Many sell only through contacts made by their own outside salesmen or at trade shows or other industry contacts.

This is how probably 90% of the wholesalers operate, and I'd guess an even higher percentage in many countries where online business is barely taking hold.

There are resources for locating wholesalers, you may have to pay a small fee, however.
.

[mjl1297]

Originally Posted by pete

You must understand that many wholesalers are not intgerested in online only sellers. They have an established group of retailers they feel a responsibility to. Many sell only through contacts made by their own outside salesmen or at trade shows or other industry contacts.

This is how probably 90% of the wholesalers operate, and I'd guess an even higher percentage in many countries where online business is barely taking hold.

There are resources for locating wholesalers, you may have to pay a small fee, however.
.

Hi Pete. Yes I'm aware that some wholesalers aren't interested in online only retailers but I don't understand it. It's a rather myopic if not stupid approach on their part. Business is business after all and money is money. Fortunately I've managed to find a few that aren't that provincial in their attitudes and I'm looking for a few more.

What are these "resources" you are referring to? Are there any others besides these trade directories that they charge the earth for? As far as trade shows are concerned I'm willing to travel to those but I don't know how you go about finding out when they take place.

[canada]

This website http://www.tsnn.com has a database of trade shows around the world.

Scott

[haydee_salehoo]

Hi mjl1297,

I agree with the previous posts. Try what canada recommended. You can find what's on in your area through that link. I believe going on Trade Shows is a great (if not the best) way to find suppliers because you get to meet them face to face. This is a good start when you're serious about building a good relationship with your supplier.

Aside from trade shows, there are other ways that you can do to find suppliers. Although they may prove to be tiring and time-consuming (what isn't), you might just find what you're looking for by trying them out.

Forums- have a look at the posts here. Of course, no one would be advertising their best and reliable suppliers but you might find some great recommendations.

Google- you can find suppliers (with a website) through Google but that's not to say that it is the easiest and fastest way because it might not appear until you get to page 5 or higher. This is because real wholesalers don't really need to have an internet presence to get business. Some suppliers don't even advertise.

B2B Websites- you might find Business to Business Portals like EC21 and Thomas Net useful in finding wholesalers and manufacturers that fit your requirements.

Wholesale Directories- there are some well regarded directories that have extensive list of suppliers that are verified and safe to use, for a fee.

When trying any of the aforementioned ways, you might want to educate yourself (though I'm sure you're already good at this) in verifying the legitimacy of your supplier. There are a lot of helpful tips in the forums and online that you can refer to. Just to point out the basics, here they are:

1. Do a background check. Run Whois. Check BBB. And go for well established companies that have been around for years (for at least 2 years or more).
2. Check for safe payment methods like PayPal or credit cards.
3. Check the contact details. Make sure that you have all their contact details (physical address, phone numbers, email address). Avoid funny looking email addresses from a free provider or just a cellphone number provided.
4. Call them. See if they answer professionally and if they don't lie about their products just to get your business.
5. Take a close look at the site. Sometimes from the site alone, you know that it's a scam.

Hope that helps! Good luck!

Haydee

[SmallVolume]

So many words, and if you just wanna find good supplier of you goods you can find some good here I believe.