It’s easy enough to find a wholesaler to sell almost any product that you want at a cheaper rate than the RRP, particularly if you are able to buy in bulk. The difficulty is finding a wholesaler who is reliable enough to trust with your stock requirements. Leaving a customer hanging while you try to chase down a wholesaler to find out what’s happened to all of your products reflects badly on you as the middle man and not them, so it’s important to search around to find a supplier that you’re happy to work with and that you know will be reliable in providing you with products when you really need them.
One of the very best places for information about wholesale supplies is on the variety of forums available online today. These communities of sellers are often happy to divulge their secrets and to post reviews of various suppliers to help out their fellow man, so you should aim to spend a bit of time gleaning the information contained within.
Let’s consider how you can make the most of these fantastic online resources now.
How to Find a Forum
There are many forums out there relating to wholesalers, some specific to an individual market and some that are more general. Running a search for ‘Wholesale Forum UK’ within Google produces many millions of results, so I’ve picked out a few of my own favourites here:
UK Business Forum – (this one’s not just about wholesale selling but there a few useful threads, and also some great general business advice)
You can always find additional resources by searching around, but these are good forums to start with packed full of useful information for you.
Finding the Information You Need
Wholesale forums offer a wealth of different information for those that need it. The Wholesale Forums has areas dealing with general queries, suppliers, import & export and much, much more. No matter what information you’re looking for it’s a great place to start.
You may already have some questions to post on the forum, perhaps related to a specific supplier or a query as to how to get started with finding a partner to work with. If that’s the case it’s worth doing a quick search through the existing posts on the website before starting your own thread as there’s a good chance your question might already have been answered.
On this particular forum you can easily access a comprehensive forum searching tool by selecting the Search option beneath the Forums heading.
The search form that opens allows you to input keywords, search for posts by specific members, restrict the results based on date and even select specific categories in which you expect the answer might lie. It’s a great way to dig around the website to find a load of information before you even start asking your own questions.
When entering into any online community it’s always a good idea to search first and then ask your question if you can’t find an answer. This stops several threads from containing the same conversation at the same time and makes it easier for other new sellers to search for what they need in the future.
In this instance we’re specifically interested in finding reliable wholesale suppliers, so we’d do well to look within the specific Suppliers forum thread. A quick browse around this section of the forum is likely to provide you with numerous potential wholesalers for your own business, complete with reviews as to those companies that others have been involved with.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for through searching then you can start by creating your own thread in the appropriate location to ask any questions that you might have. Before you can add a new conversation however you will need to sign up to be a member of the forum. This is common to most online communities and the registration will only take a couple of minutes. Once registered you’ll be able to click the ‘Start a New Discussion’ button at any time to create a new thread on the forum for other people to answer.
Giving Something Back
It’s easy just to take from an online community such as The Wholesale Forums. There’s plenty of useful knowledge that you can apply to your own business, and you’re sure to receive lots of useful answers to your own questions. Once you’ve had a bit of experience with wholesalers yourself however, it’s always good practice to return to the forum to give something back by sharing your own new found expertise. Your advice could be just what another new seller needs to get off the ground and succeed with their online selling business.
You don’t need to spend hours every day refreshing the website to find new threads to post in, but a quick visit every now and then could both help you to find new information that could go on to improve your own business, and also help out some newcomers.
Other Useful Sources of Information
While wholesale forums are certainly one of the most useful resources in the quest to find a reliable wholesale supplier, there are other avenues that you might wish to consider as well. For example, the internet also contains many directories filled to the brim with wholesale suppliers operating in various different niche markets. These directories don’t commonly give much information as to the reliability of a supplier, instead concentrating on passing on their contact details, but they’re still useful as a source of inspiration.
Alternatively why not consider digging a bit deeper and trying to get in contact with the manufacturers of the products that you want to sell directly? Occasionally the wholesaler will be the manufacturer, but more often than not they’ve sourced their products from another location and you might be able to secure even better deals by going direct. Sometimes this means expanding your operation by importing goods from overseas, but that can be an incredible way to make additional money.
There are plenty of places for you to look to find wholesalers to help your online selling business grow, so take some time out this week to have a look around a few forums and directories.