Guidelines in contacting suppliers

Ever experienced a supplier not returning your emails or picking up your calls? Below are some general, but helpful tips in effectively contacting suppliers:

1. go over the suppliers' websites and all sections such as the FAQ, Shipping Policies, Terms & Conditions, Wholesale and Dropshipping Info, Reseller's Application, Dealer Program, Returns & Exchanges, Product Downloads, etc. - the answers to your questions might be there! Taking a few minutes to read these areas will save you a lot of time in the long run.

2. Give a brief introduction about your company/ business. Let them know how long you've been in the online selling business, your niche, and your monthly average sales. If you are a start up reseller, let them know as well!

3. Provide them your full contact details and the best time to reach you.

4. If a supplier has a section on their website for reseller's registration or to submit an application, do this first especially if there are no membership fees involved. Setting up an account with suppliers takes an average of 15- 20 minutes to complete. If your account gets approved, someone will get back to you in 2- 3 business days.

5. Give them the URL of your website, eBay, Amazon, Etsy, Facebook Store etc. whichever one you have. Suppliers want to see and verify that you are indeed a reseller and not just purchasing items at wholesale prices for personal means.

6. When calling suppliers, make sure you do so within their office hours. Leave them a message if no one was available to take your call.

7. If the supplier you'd like to work with requires a reseller's license or business registration, volunteer this information or give them a copy of it with your initial email.

8. Wholesale prices are tailored to your order requirements. If you are inquiring about product prices, state the products and the quantity you are looking for so they can give you a wholesale price quote. Most suppliers do NOT list their wholesale prices on their website and it's only available to registered or approved resellers.

9. Lastly, sending a follow- up email doesn't hurt either. If a supplier doesn't get back to you in a week, send them another email.

How to contact suppliers

There are various ways to contact the suppliers you want to work with

1. Via SaleHoo: Please refer to Link hidden: Login to view on how to contact our suppliers.

2. Through the suppliers' contact page: A good number of suppliers have an online contact form which you can use to send your inquiry.

3. By phone: Phone numbers are listed on their supplier's profile page here in the directory or you can visit the suppliers' websites to check it out.

4. Live chat: Some suppliers also offer this type of support and is generally a quick way to get your questions answered.

Hope this helps you out :)

that is helpful....thanks for sharing

Hello Shane,
I have a question based on this posting. Do I have to have an eBay store or something similar before I should contact suppliers? I'm still trying to figure out which things to do first.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.
TheGadgeteer

Hi Lola,

You can of course sell on eBay without having a store, but that aside. Supplier contact should most definitely be initiated prior to establishing any store front, eBay or other platform, simply because that will be costing you money before you're giving yourself a chance of making money. So you're already starting of behind going store front first.

Get your supplier/s lined up ready to go and then you take on a store if you wish and then you're in a position to start listing product/s straight away.

Hi Lola,

You can of course sell on eBay without having a store, but that aside. Supplier contact should most definitely be initiated prior to establishing any store front, eBay or other platform, simply because if you take a store front on first then that will be costing you money before you're giving yourself a chance of making money. So you're already starting of behind going store front first.

Get your supplier/s lined up ready to go and then you take on a store if you think a store front is what you want wish and then you're in a position to start listing product/s straight away.

Hi Everyone,

the above tips for contacting suppliers is quite good. But I am still struggling what way to use actually. Do you recommend me to contact the supplier via the Salehoo template or contact them directly via mail?


Best regards,

Mohammad

m-a-khan wrote:Hi Everyone,

the above tips for contacting suppliers is quite good. But I am still struggling what way to use actually. Do you recommend me to contact the supplier via the Salehoo template or contact them directly via mail?


Best regards,

Mohammad

You can use the SaleHoo template as a guide to know what questions to ask suppliers, and then add/modify as needed to make it personal. The best way to contact suppliers though is by phone so you are attended to immediately. Take note when calling international suppliers as they may have different time zones.

Hello All!

I am a supplier on Salehoo, I would love to share my experience from a supplier perspective of how we wish the distributor or drop shipper reach out to us.
Email:
The reason that email works the best for business communication is that we both have a record and can be easy to track. As for us, we usually respond within 2 business days if we need to confirm anything. If not, we would reply the same day. For the first time, we would really love to learn who and what business you are in so then we can have a general understanding what project we can work together.
Phone:
This might just for us. We do wish people call! If our potential cooperator want to get an answer right away. We appreciate your call and to help you right away. When the supplier left their phone number under contact. I assume they shouldn't reject any business opportunity, so please call when you think it is necessary
Chat:
As for chat online, I think it really depends it the company has someone taking care of that. If they do assign someone to respond the chat, they should get back to you quickly, if not, I would say, for more of a serious type of question. Email never goes wrong.

Above is just a bit of my sharing. Feel free to comment if you have any further question. I would love to help as much as I can.

Jenny @ Vitalarms