Question
Can anyone tell me where to contact these wholesalers?? I sell mens polo shirts and some Hawaiian shirts, but looking at the internet by google, I just get lost!! Any help would be appreciated, thank you! Cat in the Cat Box
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People who already HAVE wholesalers don't share them. They'd be crazy to. It's a LOT of work finding good ones & I'm still looking. Jim from this board helped me by steering me toward the Thomas Register of manufacturers. They have one for U.S. goods & one for foreign goods. Look to your local main library to find them. You can find them online, but it is easier if you have book in hand & browse it. That way you see it all not just keyword searches. As far as who's best, that's legwork & trial & error. I'm still going through it myself! There is no shortcut... you just keep at it until you find good ones & then keep them to yourself. I'm still at it. Good luck!
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What ^^^^he^^^^ said
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try the "garment district " in a large city I know NY and LA have them
a freind of mine used to do clothes at the flea market and she made buying trips to NY every few months
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I found my suppliers years ago on a now-defunct B2B auction site.
However, I will give you a hint that rarely gets posted in these "How do I find goods at wholesale?" threads.
Factories often don't like to deal with people who are new to the supply chain. They also don't want to have the task of brokering their own goods. They pay brokers to do this for them.
You need to identify the brokers for the kind of goods you're looking for and contact them.
How?
That is your assignment, Grasshopper.
Your other option is to research and identify the trade shows that potential manufacturers attend. Try to get an idea of what their price points might be; they may not be interested in having their goods dumped onto eBay. I went to a specialty trade show this year and while the advance material and theme of the show certainly seemed to indicate these were off-price manufacturers, 99% of the vendors attending had their "wholesale" goods priced so high it could not possibly be eBayed at a profit. I believe that was deliberate. It was all gorgeous and I would have loved to have purchased a ton of it, but it would have sat on my shelves forever.
Understand what your things will sell for so that you know what your limit is when buying. If you can't buy within that limit, you need to move on and find something else to do, as I have done.
fLufF
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Thanks everyone! I guess I will look, but I do pretty good with used polos from the stores around here. Being that this is a part time hobby, I guess I will just do what I have been doing. Not to give up my Pet Sitting Business, not that I would WANT to!!!!
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Here is a link to a wholesaler search engine:
http://www.wholesalegopher.com/
Not sure how effective it is, but there you go - best I can do for now.
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When we were starting out I asked EVERYONE if they wholesaled. If I was at a craft show and saw something I thought we could sell at a cat show, I'd ask. If I saw something on ebay I thought we could sell at a cat show, I'd ask (promising of course we'd never sell on ebay). Flea markets, I'd ask. I even went through cat magazines and wrote or called everyone who advertised and asked. NOwadays you could probably email. Getting to a working relationship with anyone who said yes took time.
Now we're getting into pet expos and I'll be working on expanding out of solely cats into dog stuff and it will be the same trial and error.
You're right, it's not easy and people don't share - nor should they. Anyone with good sources, and a good relationship with those sources, has worked hard at getting there. And I'm sure a lot depends on what you are looking to sell. But I imagine anyone who stops to think about it could figure out a lot of places to ask with respect to the kinds of things they want to sell.
We've got some smaller suppliers who never thought about wholesaling until I asked! I have to say 95% of the folks I"ve asked have been great about it even if their ultimate answer is no can do.
Maryanne