Hi Jill, let me just welcome you to SaleHoo firstly,
In regards to finding better prices online that from listed suppliers, I will assume you are talking about eBay when you refer to online resource. That's not uncommon as eBay is actually considered a Wholesale marketplace, not Retail, therefore most prices there will reflect Wholesale or very close to it.
What you do have to take into mind when looking at supplier prices is that Wholesale pricing works on volume buying. A Wholesaler won't be able to give you an accurate price until they actually know what sort of volume you want to purchase.
Most Wholesalers will have a set structure in place, purchase X, and pay X per unit type of thing, but not all do. It's always best to talk with a Wholesale supplier when wanting prices, tell them what your requirements are in regards to purchasing volume and they will happy to provide you with pricing based on those requirements, so long as they meet minimum order quantities that are set by the supplier.
Now what you shouldn't do is confuse Wholesale with Drop Shipping. Where some Wholesalers may offer a Drop Shipping service, the price for Drop Shipping will never match that of Wholesale because you aren't buying in volume, rather just single units, and the Drop Ship price will always reflect that.
Cheers