Wholesalers

[Plesoine]

I am trying to start an online business for coral at home. Does anyone have any wholesalers contacts?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Thats a tough one, it kind of translates into "can you tell me who your business partner is so I can compete with you for the products and then compete with you for sales", know what I mean

 

[Reefer Matt]

I did a search for “coral wholesalers” on Google, then applied through their application forms. Some will sell to home businesses, some won’t. You’ll need your sales tax certificate, exemption form, and meet minimum purchase requirements. There’s usually no free shipping as well. Good luck!

 

[Plesoine]

Thats a tough one, it kind of translates into "can you tell me who your business partner is so I can compete with you for the products and then compete with you for sales", know what I mean

I was told to post on hear , but hey whatever. I assume you just stumbled into your own.. I appreciate it !!

 

[Krux]

Not sure why someone would tell you to post this in the SPS forum?

 

[Biokabe]

As a wholesaler myself (completely different industry, I can't sell you corals) - yes, retailers keep their wholesalers VERY close to their chests. They don't like sharing where they buy products from, and they often get very salty when we sell to someone too close to them. They really don't like sharing them on an open forum where any Tom, Dick or Harry can see them. Wholesalers also don't want to make it too easy for you to find us. We already get plenty of yahoos who try to trick us so that they can buy their retail orders for cheap while trying to bully us into giving away the farm. Making it a little hard to find us is an important pre-filter so that we can be a little bit more sure that the person doing business with us is an actual business that will turn into regular repeat business, not just someone who wants to buy cheap Christmas presents.

If you can't figure out how to find wholesalers you're not ready to run a business.

But for some tips: If you can see pricing without an account, they're not a wholesaler. If you can sign up to buy without going through an application process, they're not a wholesaler. If they don't enforce order minimums and ask you to verify yourself in some way, they're not a wholesaler. They may or may not require a reseller certification from you - depends on where you're located relative to them. My business, for example, only actually needs them for businesses in the states of Washington, Arkansas, Georgia and California.

 

[braaap]

As a wholesaler myself (completely different industry, I can't sell you corals) - yes, retailers keep their wholesalers VERY close to their chests. They don't like sharing where they buy products from, and they often get very salty when we sell to someone too close to them. They really don't like sharing them on an open forum where any Tom, Dick or Harry can see them. Wholesalers also don't want to make it too easy for you to find us. We already get plenty of yahoos who try to trick us so that they can buy their retail orders for cheap while trying to bully us into giving away the farm. Making it a little hard to find us is an important pre-filter so that we can be a little bit more sure that the person doing business with us is an actual business that will turn into regular repeat business, not just someone who wants to buy cheap Christmas presents.

If you can't figure out how to find wholesalers you're not ready to run a business.

But for some tips: If you can see pricing without an account, they're not a wholesaler. If you can sign up to buy without going through an application process, they're not a wholesaler. If they don't enforce order minimums and ask you to verify yourself in some way, they're not a wholesaler. They may or may not require a reseller certification from you - depends on where you're located relative to them. My business, for example, only actually needs them for businesses in the states of Washington, Arkansas, Georgia and California.

Ya. That isn't a thing in the reef hobby. There aren't very many wholesalers anymore so basically anyone that is anyone gets their stuff from the same place. Before COVID there were DOZENS of them. Lots of them out of country. Now most of it is brought into 4 or 5 in the States and then sold off. You used to be able to talk directly with the harvesters and get 20+ boxes of premium stuff all for yourself. You can still do that but it is few and far between.