The free guide to buying and selling wholesale
Source smarter. Price right. Sell with confidence.
Plain-English guides to finding suppliers, pricing products, and stocking your store, from your first wholesale order to your hundredth. Written by people who work in the trade.
50+ guides
from your first order to freight
7 topics
basics, suppliers, pricing, products, shipping, selling
100% free
no courses, no paywalls, no supplier pitches
Explore by topic
What do you need to figure out?
01
Wholesale Basics
How wholesale works, the terms you’ll hear, and what you need before your first order.
02
Finding Suppliers
Where to find good suppliers and manufacturers, and exactly what to say when you reach out.
03
Pricing & Margins
Wholesale price formulas, markup vs. margin, landed cost, and what a healthy margin looks like.
04
Sourcing by Product
Category guides for clothing, jewelry, candles, cosmetics, toys, snacks, home decor, and more.
05
Importing & Shipping
Pallets, LTL freight, Incoterms, bills of lading, and customs bonds in plain English.
06
Selling Wholesale
For makers and brands: price lists, buyer pitches, and payment terms that get you into stores.
Latest guides
-
Closeout vs. Liquidation vs. Overstock: What’s the Difference?
Closeout, liquidation, overstock, shelf pulls, customer returns, as-is: the terms get used loosely, but each one tells you something different about what’s…
-
How to Read a Liquidation Manifest (and Spot the Red Flags)
A manifest is the closest thing you get to seeing inside a pallet before you buy it. Here’s how to read one…
-
How Much Should You Pay for a Liquidation Pallet? A Worked Example
A percentage of retail sounds simple until you add freight, fees, and damaged units. Here’s a step-by-step way to figure out your…
-
How to Verify a Wholesale Supplier Is Legit: A 12-Point Checklist
Fake wholesale suppliers are common, especially for liquidation pallets and hot products. Use this 12-point checklist to check out a supplier before…
-
How Does Wholesale Work? A Plain-English Guide for New Buyers
How wholesale works, start to finish: who’s in the supply chain, how prices are set, what you need to buy, and the…
-
How to Find Wholesale Suppliers: 9 Places That Actually Work
Here’s how to find wholesale suppliers in 9 places that actually work, what each is best for, and how to vet a…
-
How to Calculate Wholesale Price: Formula and Examples
How to calculate wholesale price: the markup, margin, and retail-back formulas, a full worked example, hidden costs to include, and a break-even…
-
How to Buy Clothing Wholesale for Your Boutique
Buying clothing wholesale for a boutique comes down to budget, size runs, timing, and the right suppliers. Here’s a step-by-step plan with…
-
15 Wholesale Supplier Red Flags to Watch For
Fifteen wholesale supplier red flags to watch for, from too-good prices and wire-only payments to missing samples, with what to do instead.
Featured guide
Finding good suppliers is the hard part. Here’s where to look.
Nine places that actually turn up reliable wholesale suppliers, what to say when you reach out, and how to tell a real partner from a time-waster.
Quick glossary
Speak the language of the trade
MOQ
Minimum order quantity: the smallest order a supplier will accept, in units, cases, or dollars.
Case pack
How many units come in one shipping carton. Many suppliers only sell in full case packs.
Landed cost
Everything you pay to get goods to your door: price, freight, fees, and for imports, duties and customs costs.
Keystone
Pricing an item at double its wholesale cost. A common starting point for retail prices.
Net 30
Payment terms that give you 30 days after the invoice date to pay the supplier.
FOB
Free on Board. The seller loads the goods on the ship; from there, the risk and the remaining costs are yours.
Built by people who work in wholesale
No fluff, no course pitches. Just what we’ve learned from buying and selling products every day, backed by sources you can check.
