Middleman suspicions

I just joined Salehoo and was excited to try things out. I searched for pet supplies as an item I wanted to look at. I found a bunch of listing and one of the wholesalers reviews were horrible and kind of jumped out at me. They were not good reviews. Being the curious person that I am, I checked out that wholesaler's site. I'm not new to finding wholesale companies to deal with and have already worked with a couple of different companies before joining SaleHoo.

I am curious to know if this company may simply be a middleman selling items from a different real wholesale company. What makes me suspicious is that this wholesaler in the directory sells the exact same items as another wholesaler I do business with (same variety of brands and everything). And while that isn't enough to generate much suspicion, I looked further because I found it curious. I then discovered that this SaleHoo wholesaler's prices are ALWAYS a bit more than my wholesale source's prices per each item and this SaleHoo wholesaler ONLY offers the quantity of items that my wholesaler gives buyers the best discounts on. That makes me a little more suspicious. Finally, the photos the SaleHoo wholesaler uses are exactly the same as the one MY wholesaler uses.

As an example, the SaleHoo wholesaler was selling 144 dog leashes for over $1.00 (a dollar and change) each. My wholesale source sells those exact same dog leash (pictures and everything) at 144 leashes for 65 cents each. (My actual numbers may be off, but the concept is accurate).

In addition, I know (and have used) my wholesale source's data feed and I know how easy it is to simply list my wholesalers products including photos, to a website and add a small markup. Maybe I'm just too suspicious but I thought I read that SaleHoo tries to keep the middlemen out of the directory. How well are the business listing here vetted by SaleHoo? And are things like this anything I should be concerned about as a SaleHoo member?

Thanks!

Hi Michael,

It does sound suspicious on the face of it and quite possible. Salehoo verifies that suppliers are legitimate and safe to trade to with, but we have no way of verifying where they in fact source their products from. Middlemen type of suppliers like this have become and continue to become more and more popular, but it's almost impossible to pick them, unless as in this case, you have knowledge from your supplier that rings the bells.

Now of course we don't want to mention names here because there is only anecdotal evidence suggesting that's what is going on. Of course, even if true, it's not illegal at all, in fact very legitimate. Some would even call it enterprising, where others would consider it sneaky.

It really comes down to research, are you 100% sure that your supplier is sourcing direct from a manufacturer or are they just another link in the chain, just one step us from the other supplier and there isn't an even cheaper supplier out there? .

This is the problem sometimes, once you start peeling an onion, you quite often find more layers than you expect. All comes down to research, making sure you have the best possible source.

Kind of what I figured. Just suspicions at this point. Frankly, I have no plans to investigate further as I will simply avoid them. And I certainly won't mention any names. Thanks.

Makes sense since you've already got a cheaper supplier, no need to even consider them.

In relation to their name, on second thoughts it might be a good idea to let other members know that they aren't the cheapest option around. Nothing wrong with highlighting that, that's what the feedback is all about, the good and the bad, so then others can make up their own minds, so feel free to make mention of them if you want to.

Cheers