There are many different options when it comes to finding a wholesale supplier. One of the first sources that comes to mind is free wholesale directories. Knowing the benefits of Internet businesses, various well-meaning people have put together lists of wholesalers from around the world and have made those lists available for free. 

The first benefit of the free wholesale directories is that they are free. Most of the free directory sites have thousands of wholesalers for you to browse through, so your chances of finding somebody who has the niche product you want to sell are quite good. You also may find a company that other websites similar to yours do not use. This is because there are generally fewer competitors using these free wholesale directories. 

Free is good, but it can also mean cheap. Because these directories are free, their developers usually don’t spend a lot of time making them customer-friendly, so it can take more time for you to search through their listings trying to find a supplier for a particular product. And when you do find that supplier, you will need to contact them to see what kind of supplier they are because the free directory usually does not say. Now, if you find a manufacturer who does not dropship (most do not) that doesn’t mean the end of the road for that product. Instead, take a few minutes and talk to them to see if they are willing to give you a list of distributors they work with. Some of these distributors may be willing to dropship. 

On the flipside, you may want to consider paid directories. Virtually every company you find in paid directories either dropships or allows bulk purchasing. Paid directories allow you to find a supplier or dropshipper quicker than the free directories can. With their qualifying process, paid directories ensure that all the companies listed in them will either dropship or allow for bulk purchasing (some even allow small bulk purchases). Paid directories are also easy to use. Many have a keyword, category, and sub-category searches. 

The biggest drawback to paid directories is that you have to pay for them. This goes back to knowing your company resources. If you have the time to search free listings, you can choose that route, but many people who have full-time jobs or other obligations don’t have enough time to search free directories when they know that that can pay a small fee and do the same, or better, in a matter of minutes. Most paid directories only ask for a one-time lifetime membership fee, but there are also a few now that have month-to-month payment setups. 

Another drawback to paid directories is that because they are so fast and easy to use, you may face more competition for the suppliers listed there. Time is money, and most business owners agree that paying a small fee for quick information is better than saving the money and spending time searching. So more and more business owners are turning to paid directories, which means it will be harder for you to find a unique supplier with one of them. 

Search engines are another way to find suppliers. They can help you sift through billions of websites on the internet and can yield some small and less-publicized suppliers. In fact, some of the suppliers you can find through search engines may be newer and haven’t had time to get listed in the major directories. Newer suppliers will have less competition for them and can give you an edge on your already established competitors. 

The biggest advantage to using search engines is that they’re free. For businesses that have a lot of time but very little money, this can be a great way to find a supplier. Not only are they free, but you will have little competition for the suppliers you find. Not many people have the time to search through pages and pages of search engine results looking for a supplier (which is why directories have become so popular). But if you have the time and are willing to search, you can find some excellent suppliers. 

Of course, search engine research is not without its drawbacks, and the biggest is the time required. Think about the last time you searched for something on the internet. How many pages of results did you look at? Most people find what they are looking for after the first two or three pages and only rarely venture beyond five or six pages of results. But with search engine research for suppliers, you may need to go to page 10 or further to get a few good candidates. The reason you need to go so deep in the results is that some of the results will be unreliable or irrelevant. Additionally, you should take extra time to check the background of companies you find through search engines because the engines themselves don’t screen results. See if the Better Business Bureau has any information on the companies, search in forums and chat rooms, and even check other online business rating services. Understand that there will never be a company that has 100% customer satisfaction and that you will see some negative reviews, but look at those reviews carefully and try to determine if their claims are substantiated.