Where do I find wholesale suppliers for a small business?
Small business owners often struggle to find reliable bulk vendors on major platforms like Walmart or navigate complex local taxes, tariffs, and shipping costs. This makes it difficult to scale production without dealing with unprofessional suppliers, misleading minimum order requirements, or poor communication.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Buying in large quantities directly from standard retail websites
- 2Looking for local options for supplies
- 3Cutting ties with unprofessional vendors and asking online communities for firsthand supplier recommendations
- 4Looking for suppliers on Facebook Marketplace
- 5Looking into Alibaba and other online stores
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Package costs are killing my small business.”source ↗
“I’ve looked into Alibaba and other online stores, but have not yet figured out how to take into account the true costs of shipping, plus the minimum order quantity (MOQ), and the possible variability in the quality of the product.”source ↗
“I have a small business in London, ON. Looking for mini perfume wholesale supplier.”source ↗
“Found some chinese supplier charging me $280 for 100 units of mini perfumes but I don't know how to trust someone like that.”source ↗
“If someone can help me found a reliable supplier, that would be really helpful.”source ↗
“I’m searching for a reputable company that sells completely blank or empty advent calendars that businesses can fill with their own products and customize using their own graphic designers and printing company.”source ↗
“I recently contacted one supplier, but the interaction became unnecessarily rude and unprofessional after they misunderstood my question.”source ↗
“Do not use StudioKaroleen through F@ire. They are extremely unprofessional and don’t know how to answer simple questions I have screenshots.”source ↗
“I just want to find a place I can get good consistent quality blank cotton socks.”source ↗
“I live near nyc but I don’t know anything about specific places for small just starting out businesses there.”source ↗
“I am a home-based candle maker and was wondering about bulk vendors that sell on Walmart and is there possibly a section of Walmart that is for wholesale sellers that I am not aware of?”source ↗
“I was just wondering if anyone knows about this because I am looking at local options for a few of my supplies keeping in mind the taxes and tariff’s on wholesale amounts.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3How to buy a small e-commerce business for under 20k
- 6Where to find cheap parts for an older car
- 2How to buy small quantities of roofing materials
- 6How to track business vendor contracts buried in email
- 2How to fund inventory for a growing physical product business
- 6Funding my business out of my own pocket