Selling wholesale is no longer reserved for mega brands with established retail relationships, thanks to the advent of online wholesale marketplaces that have democratized business-to-business ecommerce transactions.
Selling your product through the wholesale market—which in the US is estimated to be worth $10.4 trillion—helps you expand your brand footprint, identify trending products, and ultimately generate more revenue.
Unsure where to start? Here’s how to choose a wholesale marketplace for your business, with popular options depending on your location.
- Best wholesale marketplaces to list your products
- How to choose the right wholesale marketplace for your business
17 best wholesale marketplaces to list your products
Ready to start using wholesale marketplaces to buy or sell products in bulk? Consider these options.
Handshake
Handshake is a wholesale marketplace built for Shopify merchants based in the US. More than 1,500 independent brands use the platform to sell wholesale products in bulk, reaching other retailers who resell products through their brick-and-mortar or ecommerce stores.
Handshake is a great option for merchants selling accessories, beauty, lifestyle, and stationery products. There are no fees or commissions for items sold through the platform. You’ll increase your brand footprint and partner with other retailers for free.
- Location: US
- Payout: Instant
- Commission percentage: 0%
Tundra
Used by brands like Burt’s Bees and Moleskine, Tundra’s wholesale marketplace integrates with Shopify. Merchants can sync inventory from their Shopify back end and start selling through its wholesale marketplace.
Tundra also offers extra control over who you sell to. Retailers using the platform to purchase inventory aren’t allowed to resell on third-party marketplaces and are screened for fraud.
- Location: US
- Payout: 1 to 2 business days
- Commission percentage: 0%
Faire
Used by more than 60,000 brands, Faire enables retailers in Canada, the US, and Europe to sell products to wholesale partners.
One benefit of using its online wholesale marketplace is its order fulfillment and shipping options. Faire passes on discounted shipping rates and import duties to European retailers. Any item sold through its marketplace has a prepaid shipping label, ready to stick on a package prior to shipping.
“Faire started to offer an integration with Shopify that let me import my entire product catalog and current inventory levels over to the Faire platform. This allowed me to change my lead times from four weeks down to one to three days and provided retail customers with the most up to date picture of inventory I had available.”
—Tiffany Riffer, founder of Tiffany Riffer Soap
- Location: Canada, US and Europe
- Payout: Next day or 30 days
- Commission percentage: Free for existing customers; there’s a 25% commission on opening and 15% commission on repeat orders
Abound
Abound is a wholesale marketplace designed for small, independent brands. Industries range from accessories and apparel to stationery and home furnishings. It’s a good place to start if you’re entering the wholesale market for the first time, either as a buyer or seller.
- Location: US and UK
- Payout: Within 45 days of delivery
- Commission percentage: Starts at 8%
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Creoate
Reach 50,000 active buyers across the UK, the US, and Europe by listing items to sell on Creoate’s wholesale marketplace. The platform covers the price of shipping in exchange for a percentage commission on each order.
One of the biggest advantages of buying inventory through Creoate is that it handles returns. Should you purchase inventory from a supplier through the marketplace that you can’t resell, ship the items back to Creoate within 60 days for a refund.
- Location: US, UK, and Europe
- Payout: 3 to 5 business days
- Commission percentage: 20% on first orders, and 15% on reorders
Go Wholesale
Unlike other marketplaces, Go Wholesale offers a range of features for buyers selling goods through the marketplace. List inventory as private, allow items to be put on pre-order, and manage marketing campaigns through the platform.
With a special focus on clothing, retailers purchasing inventory through its wholesale marketplace are covered with buyer protection and 60-day payment terms. Get exactly what you ordered—or your money back.
- Location: UK
- Payout: Not specified
- Commission percentage: Not specified
Wholesale Clearance UK
Wholesale Clearance is another wholesale marketplace for retailers to buy products.
Alongside retailers selling trade inventory, the platform purchases stock from bankrupt or liquidated companies. You’re able to pick up stock at a low price and maximize profit margins when reselling through your own business.
- Location: Based in the UK, delivers stock globally
- Payout: Not specified
- Commission percentage: Not specified
Direct Liquidation
Unlike other wholesale marketplaces on this list, Direct Liquidation specializes in liquidized inventory. The platform purchases surplus inventory from retailers like Walmart and Lowe’s, and sells it through its platform. Wholesale buyers bid in auctions to win the inventory at a discounted price.
- Location: US
- Payout: Not specified
- Commission percentage: Not specified
Alibaba
Alibaba is one of the largest B2B marketplaces in the world. With more than 10 million buyers looking for products to resell through their own stores, opening a seller account gives you the opportunity to reach them—and generate more revenue.
From the buyer’s perspective, Alibaba suppliers stock almost everything you could imagine. And, with so many retailers sourcing inventory through the marketplace, it’s a great way to find trending products to stock your own store with.
- Location: Based in China, ships globally
- Payout: 2 to 10 business days
- Commission percentage: 0% commission
Made-in-China
Made-in-China is a marketplace designed to connect B2B buyers with Chinese suppliers and distributors. Source everything from consumer electronics to beauty products—all listed at trade price to ensure healthy profit margins when reselling to customers.
- Location: Based in China, ships globally
- Payout: Not specified
- Commission percentage: Not specified
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Global Sources
Global Sources is a wholesale marketplace located in Hong Kong. You can sell anything from electronics to fashion apparel through the platform. Buyers can take advantage of suppliers’ low minimum order quantities if you’re sourcing wholesale inventory for the first time.
- Location: Based in Hong Kong, ships globally
- Payout: Not specified
- Commission percentage: Not specified
Niche wholesale marketplaces
Many of the wholesale marketplaces we’ve listed so far are designed for any retailer, regardless of the types of products you buy and sell. But if you’re only operating in one industry, it can be difficult to source and sell inventory through a crowded platform.
Here are six niche wholesale marketplaces to consider:
- RangeMe. Big-name retailers. Source products from big-name retailers like Walmart and CVS through the RangeMe wholesale marketplace. Identify trending products across Instagram and Nielsen category sales so your inventory is always positioned to capture trend-savvy shoppers.
- IndieMe. Handmade products. From artisan food to fine crafts, IndieMe is a wholesale marketplace for exchanging handcrafted goods. Source over 250,000 wholesale products crafted in the US and Canada. You’ll be buying high-quality inventory at trade prices directly from the artisans who make them.
- Mable. Food based. Mable is a B2B wholesale marketplace created for food and beverage brands. With a special focus on helping local brands thrive, you’re able to buy and sell inventory via the marketplace and support other store owners in local communities. Mable takes 12.5% commission on any new wholesale accounts.
- FashionGO. Apparel. Consider adding FashionGO as a wholesale channel if you’re selling fashion, apparel, and accessories through your store. Established in 2002, it’s a marketplace for buyers and sellers to exchange fashion-related items at trade prices.
- Joor. Luxury fashion. Selling luxury fashion goods? Retailers like Farfetch and Harrods source items from Joor’s wholesale marketplace. Designer brands like Balmain, Alexander McQueen, and Valentino sell wholesale products through the platform.
- TradeIndia. India. Buy and sell wholesale products in India through this B2B marketplace. As an added benefit, the marketplace regularly hosts and attends trade shows. Reach the 95% of B2B buyers who still prefer this in-person sales channel to purchase inventory.
How to choose the right wholesale marketplace for your business
The benefits of selling and buying through wholesale marketplaces are clear. But not all platforms are created equal. Here’s how to find the right one for your business.
Align your marketplace to your audience
Expanding into wholesale marketplaces is made easier if you know why you’re doing it.
Tie your new strategy in with overarching business goals. If that’s to expand your brand footprint, for example, look for wholesale platforms with a large existing customer base. Allbirds, a DTC-only brand, had a goal of increasing its brand footprint—so it decided to sell products through Nordstrom’s wholesale marketplace in order to reach new customers that didn’t directly overlap with their existing audience.
Similarly, look to sell on marketplaces within close proximity to both your business’s warehouse and target market, which will ensure that buyers get their products within as little time as possible.
Finally, choose wholesale marketplaces aligned with your industry. Mabel, for example, is for food and beverage retailers. Cross it off your list if you sell apparel.
This hold true for owned retail, partnerships/marketplaces and wholesale as well. There’s an art to deciding which channel is right at which times but ultimately—go where your customers are.
— Rebekah Kondrat (@rdkondrat) February 22, 2021
Ease of use and integration
It’s easier to scale an ecommerce business if systems are in place to handle repetitive, time-consuming tasks. Automation not only saves time, but improves accuracy. Human error can’t wreak havoc with customer orders.
Look for a wholesale marketplace with systems to take the following tasks off your plate:
- Inventory management. Combine inventory levels across all sales channels, wholesale marketplaces included, so you never sell an out-of-stock product.
- Payment processing. Most marketplaces take payment from wholesale customers, take their cut, and send the money to your bank account. Look for a marketplace that can sync these payments with purchase orders, invoices, and order confirmations.
- Order fulfillment. Handshake allows automatic integration to Shopify stores to easily manage your order fulfillment process. Easily spot which orders need to be fulfilled, and send tracking information to your wholesale customers.
Quality of suppliers and buyers
Wholesale suppliers and buyers are critical to your success with this B2B sales channel. Poor communication on either side, or simply partnering with a high-risk buyer, can cause problems.
When vetting buyers on a wholesale marketplace, ask how the buyer intends to resell your product. Some retailers place strict rules on where their inventory can be sold, with a minimum advertised price (MAP) to maintain a positive brand image.
Getting your first sale might be easy, but following up and building a nurturing relationship with each customer will go a long way. Look for wholesale marketplaces that allow open lines of communication.
“Being on multiple platforms helps expand my reach, and some of my buyers purchase on multiple sites too, so I’m there wherever they are buying. The key is to develop a relationship with your retailers. You want them to know you and come back for more.”
—Donna Johnson, owner of Whyte Quartz
Payment terms and commission
The end goal of selling wholesale is to generate more money. So, when looking for new online marketplaces to sell through, consider:
- Payment methods and terms. How long will it take to receive your money? Will the money be sent by cheque, bank transfer, or something else? This impacts how you’ll manage cash flow.
- Currency exchanges. If you’re selling through international marketplaces, platforms may charge fees to exchange currencies prior to payout.
- Sales commission. Some wholesale marketplaces get paid by taking a commission on every product sold through its platform. This can range from 0% to 25%, and is usually taken prior to payout.
Shipping methods
Positive customer experiences are no longer defined by the price or quality of a product. How fast the item arrives, and whether it’s free to receive, is a major factor in purchasing decisions.
Consider the role shipping plays in your wholesale marketplace selling. Does the platform print shipping labels on your behalf? Is the price of shipping baked into your wholesale price?
Returns management
Unfortunately, not every product you sell through a wholesale marketplace will be resold by your buyer. The total retail return rate has increased by 33% over the last decade, with reasons for returns ranging from items looking different in the flesh to goods arriving damaged.
Look at whether your wholesale marketplace handles this returns process for you. Some allow buyers to ship inventory back to the marketplace’s warehouse and process returns on your behalf. Others insist vendors themselves handle returns outside of the marketplace.
