Supplier asking for deposit to access wholesale rates?

I found a supplier called Goto Baby through the supplier list here at Salehoo. They had some products I would like to consider. I sent in a wholesale inquiry and received a link to an application. I went through the whole thing and at the end it said I needed to make a $50 deposit for my application to be considered. If I receive access the $50 is a credit towards my first purchase. If not, they say they will refund the deposit. Is this common practice? I'm new at this and want to make sure I'm not getting scammed. The site seemed well-made and the products were nice...I just tend to be suspicious.

That is complete BS!!!

Tell them you are willing to send a copy of you reseller cert but are not comfortable paying money to see prices.

Better yet. Tell them to shove it. Really! Send them an email telling them to shove it.

Hi clcort,

GoToBaby.com is also a dropshipper, so it could be that the $50 is an account set-up fee. While by no means ideal, a small account set-up fee is fairly common practice among drop shippers. In most cases we can understand the charge because it costs the drop shipper time and money to process a new account.

That said, not all drop shippers in SaleHoo charge a fee. And even if an account set-up fee is charged, you can often get around it by purchasing through the wholesale area of the site rather than the drop shipping area.

Try clarifying with them which service you would want to use.

Cheers :)

In my opinion charging a fee to see prices is scammy. I know many might disagree but any company should be willing to show prices before one has to pay any money.
What if the prices aren't any good? They just made money for free.