Can consumers buy from wholesalers?

In the UK, consumers can only buy from wholesalers if the wholesalers are set up to collect VAT. Non-VAT-registered businesses can, in principle, buy from any wholesaler and handle their own taxes.

In practice, this will depend on the wholesaler’s policy. With that said, many wholesalers can sell to consumers. This raises the question of whether or not you should buy from them.

Pros of buying from wholesalers

Here, Claire Shaw from SOS Wholesale, shares her insight into the main pros of buying from wholesalers.

You can get very low prices

Wholesaling essentially means piling goods high and selling them low. As with most sales transactions, the more you buy, the lower the price tends to go. With that said, even if you’re buying relatively small quantities, you’re still likely to get a lower price than you would if you went to a standard retailer.

You can get everything you need in one place

In terms of product range, wholesalers effectively function as supercharged hypermarkets. They might not literally have everything under one roof. They will, however, probably have everything any consumer or small business could possibly need. Because of this, using wholesalers can save a lot of time and administration.

You can really stock up

The bulk-purchase options at supermarkets just do not compare to buying wholesale. If you use a lot of an item, then getting it in trade-sized packages can be by far your best option. Just one trip to a wholesaler can save you multiple trips to a supermarket.

You can still order online

Many wholesalers now support ecommerce in much the same way as retailers. As with retailers, you can usually choose from delivery or click and collect.

Be aware, however, that your range of delivery options is likely to be more limited than with retail and delivery speeds are likely to be slower. This is because you’ll be ordering much larger quantities than you would if you were buying from a retailer.

Cons of buying from wholesalers

Here is a quick guide to the main cons of buying from wholesalers.

Customer service has a very different meaning

It would be unfair to say that wholesalers just ignore customer service. In fact, many wholesalers take it very seriously. Some actively compete on it. Customer service in wholesale, however, looks very different from customer service in most retail stores.

Essentially, wholesalers operate on the assumption that their customers typically know what they’re doing. This manifests itself in all kinds of ways, many of them small. For example, wholesalers are unlikely to have sample products for your to try before you buy.

You’re less likely to get niche brands/products

Wholesaling is basically about volume. To a certain extent, it’s also about speed. This means that wholesalers are effectively obliged to stick with mainstream products from mainstream brands. If you’re looking for more niche brands/products then you’ll need to look elsewhere.

You often need to be preapproved

Wholesalers typically aim to have a relatively small number of customers buying relatively large quantities. It’s therefore very common for them to have a preapproval process. In fact, you may even need to wait to be accepted as a customer. If you want credit, even for small amounts, then you should expect to be credit-checked.

You may have limited payment options

Wholesalers have moved on from cash, cheques and bank transfers (although there’s still a good chance they’ll accept all of these). You can now expect to be able to pay by debit card, credit card and maybe direct debit. Be aware, however, that wholesalers are very likely to surcharge credit cards.

Currently, it’s fairly unusual for wholesalers to accept e-wallets. It’s practically unheard of for them to accept mobile payments. This may change in future. For the present, expect to stick to mainstream payment methods.