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6 Things to Know Before You Buy a Wholesaler / Liquidator List

6 Things to Know Before You Buy a Wholesaler / Liquidator List

Posted by Big Brand Wholesale.com on 12th Jul 2020

If you have been looking to buy wholesale I’m sure you have come across people (or companies) selling lists. Some lists are cheap, others are expensive, but should you pay for them? Are they worth it? There’s a couple things you should know before you spend a single cent on wholesale vendor lists:

First, people who sell vendor lists DO NOT spend any time on RESEARCHING any wholesaler they put on their list. In fact, the list seller wants to put together the biggest list possible, because who is going to pay $29.99 for a list with only 5 total companies on it? However, a list with 5 VETTED, GREAT companies is actually far superior to a list of 100 bullsh*t “companies”.

Second, not only do they not research but they haven’t purchased through the companies they are suggesting you buy through. Could you imagine if you paid someone $10 to tell you what kind of car you should buy and they said “Jeep!” but they have never owned a jeep, have never done actual research on Jeeps and all they did to come up with this suggestion was Google search “Types of Vehicles” and it happened to be the first search result…. How is that opinion worth $10?? How is that worth anything?

Third, these lists are rarely ever “updated”. Once the list seller makes a list, they sell it… pretty much indefinitely. We (BigBrandWholesale), have been in business since 2005 and I have seen most “competitors” come and go during this time. Heck, we have seen businesses open and close within 12 months.

Fourth, there’s a million different kinds of wholesalers; tool, clothing, cars, auto parts, ink pens, baby accessories, food, body care, lumber, tile, rocks, plants, dry ice, paper… a general wholesaler list is utterly useless unless it’s a niche list that only provides companies that sell in the categories you WANT to buy; chances are you don’t plan to sell camping tents as well as yarn, ice cream scoops and lingerie (although that does sound like the title of a highly interesting documentary or at least a highly memorable weekend)

Fifth, the location of the wholesaler is a huge deal. If you are located in the USA you absolutely want to order through a wholesaler located inside the USA because ordering wholesale from China can be a complete nightmare for 3 main reasons:

  • The transit time is insane. It can seriously take 2 months or more to arrive. During COVID-19 it can take 4 or more months. It’s seriously crazy, When we ship wholesale to China it typically arrives within 3 weeks, but when China ships to the USA it is terrible unless the parcel is super tiny (like 4x6”).
  • The sizing is nothing like USA sizing. China sizing is equivalent to USA XXS through Small, even if the merchandise is sold to you as “Large” or XL. If you order “womens XL” you will likely have to sell it as “Older Kids” merchandise or “Womens Small”. Some of the stuff is so super tiny that it won’t even fit a USA 13 year old kid. For real.
  • There is a language barrier. This is completely our fault because it is amazing that almost all other countries CAN speak English but here in the USA most of us only have been taught English (and maybe some high school secondary language classes). The language barrier isn’t a huge deal because the seller can speak enough English that you can get the gist of what they’re saying BUT the terminology is different. For example, China sellers refer to womens tops as “vests”; this can make it difficult to communicate, especially if you have a problem.
  • There is usually a strong factory odor that requires a LOT of time to “air out”

Wholesale Lists usually include a large amount of outside-of-the-USA companies. 

And lastly, there’s several things you need to know before you buy wholesale lists. I will briefly lay out a few:

  • Many companies require you to have an EIN and Resale Certificate before you can purchase. This means you will need an LLC. (BigBrandWholesale.com does NOT require any of this.)
  • Many companies require a “MOQ”, which means “Minimum Order Quantity”. This means you may be forced to purchase 200 - 500 pieces, which is fine if you have money, but is really crappy if you’re a new seller just trying to get your foot in the door and all you want is a small or medium quantity, such as 10, 20 or 40 items with no further commitment (BigBrandWholesale.com does NOT have a minimum purchase amount and offers small and medium quantities)
  • Many companies only sell “pallets” - which is fine, however the shipping cost is $270 - $800+, depending on the distance between you and the seller. This is a really large additional expense. If you are located in a residential area (a house, apartment, condo… a residence that is not an actual business building) you will also have to pay additional fees for delivery. (BigBrandWholesale.com SHIPS FOR FREE inside the USA! We ship through standard mail, so you have absolutely no additional fees! You only pay for the merchandise)

The reason I am explaining this to you is because, like I stated earlier, a “list of wholesalers” is further useless if you can’t even order through 90% of the companies.  

SOLUTION:  There's plenty of 100% free lists and databases!  You don't need to pay for what is free.  Of course we want you to first check out all of our awesome wholesale liquidation listings.  But if we don't have what you're looking for, we have several free lists available for you:

Wholesale Womens Clothing Companies NOT IN CALIFORNIA!

90+ Womens Clothing Wholesalers & Liquidators IN THE USA (FREE List)!

30+ Menswear Wholesale and Liquidation Companies inside the USA

20+ Baby and Children Wholesale / Liquidation Companies to Buy Inventory From

If you don't like our lists, WholesaleCentral and TopTenWholesale are 100% FREE for buyers to use.  The companies listed on these two sites have to PAY for listings, so you are weeding out a lot of bad companies however, have caution because there are indeed some knockoff sellers who peddle fake products.  With that being said, both of these companies do try to weed out scammers.

Where to Next?  Popular Topics:

Amazon

eBay

Other Selling Sites

Inventory Buying

Starting an Online Biz

How to Pack & Ship

Store Returns

Biz Supplies (Online Sellers)

Wholesale Pallets Guide

Upselling Guides

Save Money on Everything

Motivation & Inspiration

Advice & How To Guides

Humor for Online Sellers

Drop Shipping 101

Item Name Cheat Sheets

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