Dropshipping wholesalers can be found just about anywhere these days; for evidence of this, perform a google search on the term. Manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers from the United States and beyond have begun heavily promoting their product inventory to dropshipping businesses in recent years.
Even amid all of this opportunity, however, it can be very difficult for an eCommerce entrepreneur, especially a newcomer, to determine the legitimacy of such offers before investing valuable time and money into business relationships that may or may not turn out to be dropshipping scams. It is important the 'buyer beware' and learn to recognize both dropshipping red flags as well as identify trusted places online and offline to look for dropshipping wholesalers.
Dropshipping wholesaler directories have become very popular in the past decade, as dropshipping has become an accepted distributed channel in the marketplace. Service providers such as Worldwide Brands, Salehoo, DropshipDesign, Doba, Simplx and many others make it their goal to connect qualified dropshipping wholesalers with dropship business owners.
Such directories generally come at a cost to the dropship business owner, so consider the alternatives seriously before you buy. The following are important questions that you should ask a member of the customer service team on the phone (not being able to reach a company on the phone may be a 'red flag', in this case):
1.) How many dropshipping wholesalers are in your directory?
2.) How are the wholesalers pre-screened? (or are they pre-screened at all?)
3.) How many dropship products are in your catalog?
4.) Are any of these products brand name?
5.) Are there push-to-auction or push-to-cart functions in your administration console?
6.) What is your renewal rate?
7.) Can I please have the names of some of your existing clients to speak with about the service?
If you do choose to go it on your own - and search for dropshipping wholesalers directly, be even more vigilant. Understand that you will have to serve as your own pre-screening agent by asking many of the above questions - and more. Make sure that you understand what you're getting, where from, on what terms, etc. and feel comfortable with the transaction before proceeding.
However you decide to go about the search for dropshipping wholesalers, proceed with caution, but be positive and optimistic once you've made decisions. Prepare to make mistakes, learn from them, adjusting your strategy and simply hitting the pavement. Every successful dropship business owner started somewhere.
