Buying goods at wholesale prices instead of retail prices can help you make a lot of money.
However, sourcing wholesale products for resale can be a rather challenging process. Even more so when you first start your business and don’t know any wholesale suppliers or the terms and steps for buying wholesale.
In this guide, we explain all the important steps you may need to take when buying wholesale products and reselling them. We also tell you how to get through the steps like a pro.
Ready? Let’s begin.
How Does Buying Wholesale Products For Resale Work?
When you buy something wholesale, you buy a lot of it and then sell it in smaller amounts for a profit.
Say, for example, you are looking for t-shirts. Buying 5 cartons of t-shirts at once is called a wholesale purchase, while selling a single t-shirt or a 3-pack of t-shirts is called reselling.
Because wholesale orders are usually for a lot of items, they are usually filled by wholesale distributors or the companies that make the items. They are more likely to have enough stock to fill your bulk order than stores.
Is Buying Wholesale Products For Resale Legal?
Certainly. Reselling helps companies get their products closer to the people who buy them.
However, you may only be breaking the law if you:
Buy products in bulk for resale that are only available from certain authorized dealers.
Without the right licenses, resell things like medicine.
What Are the Advantages of Buying Wholesale Products For Resale?
Sounds a little hard to find a wholesale distributor or manufacturer, doesn’t it? Why not just buy from stores that are easy to get to?
The short answer is that as a reseller, buying from other retailers would mean you wouldn’t get the big benefits of buying wholesale. Some of these benefits are:
Business-Friendly Prices
If you buy wholesale products directly from distributors and manufacturers, you don’t need a retail middleman who would mark up the price and sell them to you.
Also, distributors and manufacturers often give additional discounts based on the size of your bulk order, and they are more willing to negotiate prices.
Direct Contact With Wholesale Distributors and Manufacturers
Having direct contact with wholesale distributors gives you more than just lower prices.
A more regular supply of goods
Access to extra services that a manufacturer might offer, like customizing a product
A guarantee that the item you are buying is the real deal
How to Find a Wholesale Supplier
As a reseller or dropshipper, you have full control over which wholesale distributors you work with.
Better still, there are numerous methods you can use to pick a suitable wholesaler. It all depends on the needs of your business and the type of products you are sourcing.
Here are some good ways for your business to find a wholesale supplier.
Online Marketplaces
No matter where you are in the world, it’s easy to get to an online market. They have tens of thousands of wholesale suppliers who sell a wide range of goods at low prices. Some examples of these platforms are:
Alibaba CJ Dropshipping Made-in-China TradeIndia
eBay
When looking at online marketplaces, you need to be careful. Use reviews and platform ratings to carefully evaluate potential suppliers to make sure they are reliable. Also, make sure to follow the rules of the market so you don’t fall for scammers.
Online Forums
Online forums are great places to find tips and information on how to find good wholesale suppliers. Conversation threads or message boards are likely to have a lot of suggestions.
The only tricky part is that you have to find forums that are related to either the products you are looking for or the way you run your business.
For example, dropshipping forums would be a good place to look for a wholesale supplier that offers dropshipping. Also, if you want to find car care products, you should look for active auto forums.
Use a Trusted Dropshipping or Sourcing Agent
Agents who help with dropshipping or sourcing do all the hard work for you. They are especially helpful if you are looking for products in a country like China, where there is a huge manufacturing industry.
This is how it works to find wholesale suppliers through an agent:
You find a dropshipping or sourcing agent and hire them.
You give the agent a list of the things you want to buy.
The agent uses their connections in the business world to find possible suppliers and get price quotes from them.
You get the information from the agent, and you can choose a provider.
The agent buys, stores, and ships or dropships the products on your behalf. The good thing about this method is that once you find a trustworthy agent, all you have to do is approve purchases and other procedures. If your agent knows the right people, they might also be able to get you good deals.
Factors to Consider When Selecting a Wholesale Supplier
The good news is that you won’t have trouble finding a wholesale supplier. But not all of them might work for what your business needs. Think about important things like:
Price vs. Profit Margins
Your profit margin for reselling or dropshipping will depend on the prices that your wholesale suppliers offer. So, it would be best to get price quotes from several different suppliers and figure out how much money you would make based on their prices.
As you compare prices to profit margins, don’t forget to take into account other costs you may have, such as:
Costs of storing
Costs of dropshipping fulfillment
Shipping and other fees and taxes
A Supplier’s Scope of Services
What do you want to accomplish? Would you like to rebrand your wholesale items for resale? Or maybe repackaged with your company’s name on it? Would you rather have them sent to you, or would you rather your customers get them?
If you answer these questions, you should be able to figure out what kind of wholesale supplier you need. You could try making a list of your goals and then comparing it to the services that suppliers offer to see which ones can meet your needs.
Supplier Reliability
If your wholesale supplier isn’t reliable, it could mess up your supply chain and make you let down your customers. Do your research to make sure that they deliver orders on time to avoid this.
Product Quality
Quality is king. Products that aren’t of good quality or that vary in quality can hurt your brand and drive customers away.
Because of this, whether you’re looking at a wholesale distributor or a product maker, you should insist on high quality standards. It’s true that high-quality products may cost a bit more than low-quality ones. Even so, they are worth the extra money.
Customer Service Standards
Poor customer service is a warning sign. It could make it much harder to run your business than it needs to be. Worse, if you run a dropshipping store, your suppliers’ bad service could spread to your customers and hurt them.
So, keep an eye out for and stay away from suppliers who:
Response times that are too long: If it takes your supplier more than 24 hours to get back to you after you ask a question or make a complaint, it may be hard to solve urgent problems in the future.
Aren’t helpful when it comes to solving problems or complaints. A supplier who doesn’t have any solutions for bad products or late deliveries will be hard to work with.
If you don’t communicate well, mistakes can happen in production or delivery, and there may be delays. But it’s only fair that your supplier tells you what’s going on. If you can’t communicate well, it could really hurt your business.
When you first talk to potential suppliers, it’s often easy to see if they have any of these problems. But if they come up a long time after that, don’t be afraid to rethink your relationship with the supplier.
Minimum Order Quantities
A minimum order quantity (MOQ) is the smallest number of units of a product that a supplier will sell to you in a single order. Suppliers have minimum order quantities (MOQs) so they don’t lose money when they sell or make goods in very small amounts.
The MOQ terms are different for each supplier. The goal is to find one whose minimum order quantity (MOQ) policy works well for your business.
For example, if you are just starting your business, look for suppliers with a low MOQ or none at all. It will keep you from having to worry about buying more products than you can sell in a reasonable amount of time.
Returns and Refund Policy
If you or one of your dropshipping customers gets a broken product or the wrong order, you will probably need to send it back to get a replacement or a refund. This, however, will depend on whether or not your supplier accepts returns or gives refunds.
It is best to choose a wholesale supplier that lets you return and get a refund in a fair way. It is the only way to get your money back if something goes wrong with an order.
It’s true that some products, like intimate clothing, can’t be returned for health reasons, but others, like a broken TV, should be taken back.
Dropshipping Services
If you are a dropshipper, you will need a wholesale supplier that also dropships. It is important to be clear about this requirement because not all wholesale distributors or product manufacturers offer dropshipping fulfillment services.
Make sure to ask about any other dropshipping services you might need, such as private labeling or white labeling.
Delivery
It is very important that deliveries go smoothly and reliably. Here are some questions you can use to figure out if a possible supplier is a good fit.
How far is the wholesaler you’re thinking about willing or able to deliver?
What kinds of shipping do they use? Are they reliable and easy to keep track of?
How long will it take to send the package?
How much will it cost you to do delivery or dropshipping fulfillment?
Tips on Sourcing Wholesale Products For Resale
So far, we’ve talked about how, why, and what to think about when buying products in bulk to resell. To top it all off, here are a few tips from experts that could make your life a lot easier.
Choose Your Products Wisely
Some products may look profitable on paper, but they can be a logistical nightmare.
Goods that go bad quickly or are fragile, for example, are very sensitive and could easily get damaged while in transit. They may also cost more to ship because they have to be handled with extra care or kept in a certain way.
On the other hand, it’s easier to carry things like phone cases or shoes. Your costs might be easier to handle, and people might be less likely to ask to send things back.
Keep an Eye on Auxiliary Expenses
It can be exciting to find a supplier who sells items at prices you can afford. But extra costs like order processing, storage, or dropshipping fees could easily add up to make the prices much higher.
Based on this, you should look at the price in a more complete way to get a better idea of the deal you are getting.
Negotiate
Manufacturers and wholesale distributors often have more say over the prices they offer you than retailers do. So, there is always room to talk about things.
Keep in mind that there are other things besides price that you can negotiate. They include options for credit, minimum order quantities, customization, and even dropshipping.
Establish Compatible Operating Systems
Having management or dropshipping systems that work well with your suppliers could help your business run more smoothly.
Automated systems, in particular, could make your job easier and reduce the number of mistakes that happen when you share orders and manage inventory.
In conclusion
Your business will do well if you can find and choose the right wholesale products to sell. The fairer prices completely change the game. Working directly with manufacturers could also make it easier to find ways to grow, like putting your own name on your products.
Still, if you’d rather delegate or just need a product-sourcing partner to help you through these steps, we’d be happy to help. We’ll use our knowledge and large network of contacts to find all the products you need.
