Hi. Yes, some wholesalers and expecially dropshippers will try to get you to pay a membership fee. These are the ones that you want to stay away from. A true wholesaler will not charge you to set up an account...
Also please keep in mind that most of the items that sell on ebay, are selling at 'below wholesale' prices..
The people you see selling the products as such low prices are people who either have large amounts of money to buy their items in bulk so that they get much lower prices, and/or are getting the items through liquidation and closeout sales..
So just keep in mind to be sure and look at the ebay items that you are wanting to sell and make sure that you can get them at a price cheaper than what they are selling for on ebay BEFORE you go and make a purchase..
And ESPECIALLY don't fork out any money to any wholesaler or dropshipper for a membership fee. Its a good indication that someone asking you to pay a fee to buy from them is not going to have products that you can make a profit on. These are usually just middle-men posing as wholesalers. THEY are buying from TRUE wholesalers...
Another thing, don't try to sell what everyone else on ebay is selling. By that I mean that most new sellers try to jump in and start selling popular electronics such as xboxes, playstation 3's, ipods, designer jeans and handbags, things like that.
You would be much better off trying to find products where the market is not going to be so saturated..Just browse through the ebay catagories and see what all is actually sold on ebay, then try to find something that actually interests you and that you have some knowledge about..Nitche markets are much more profitable and stable than the more popular items....