Hi all,

I'm usually more of a lurker than poster, and I love all the great advice I see here!

 I know that for many this is "secret" information, but I wondered if any of you could give me a good place to start in how to find my own good wholesale bead suppliers. I have no idea really where to start except maybe the internet, which has turned up a few, but I know there just have to be other sources out there!

I see so many wonderful unusual beads for sale out there, but all are at retail prices. Are the gem and beadshows a good source? Are there some trade magazines I should be looking at, are there lists that need to be purchased?

 Thanks for any and all advice! 

 Hi, you didn't indicate if you were in the  business of reselling beads or not.  Most wholesale places require the purchasing of a fairly large quantity of any one product.  I do not sell any one style of bead less than one mass at a time. Lots have a minimum $$$ amount. You might tell us what you are looking for. The gem shows are a good place, and Rings & Things trunk shows are excellent as well. Go to his site add on the right side here and see where his trunk shows are.

 I have recently become involved in the re-selling of supplies. I am first a jewelry designer, but have found with the over saturation of this market, it has become necessary to find another way to subsidise my business. I have a valid resale license and biz lic as well. I have been seriously considering changing my priorities until I can get my jewelry biz in better shape. Supplies seemed to be the way to go. I am very much prepared to buy in bulk.

 I just don't know where to start as a beginner.

 Thanks!

 As Shanks said, real 'wholesale' buying will generally require larger investment in specific items, whether they be a mass of one style, a kilo of one style, 5-10 strands of one style, etc.  As Russ Nobbs from R&T posted in another nearby thread, the differentiation between wholesale and retail can be vague and confusing.  Many companies (like both of ours) do both wholesale and retail trade.  For example, the prices offered on our website are generally retail-oriented, though we do have a wholesale division that gives significant discounts, but requires larger purchases (usually $300+ at a time), larger volume, and a wholesale application.  Most of our wholesale customers are bead stores, rather than designers.

There are also many online companies who I would consider retail (such as FMG, Artbeads, Blue Mud, and others) that straddle the line between wholesale and retail, because their prices are often lower than other retail companies, but higher than true wholesale companies (even after their volume discounting).  Still, this is often a good way for designers to go.

There are also dozens of other true wholesale companies such as Helby/The Bead Smith, Halstead,  Foreign Source, Beadalon, and others that sell exclusively to stores or retail companies.  To buy from these companies will also require much larger volume and/or proof that you have some sort of existing structure. 

 So, where you buy will really depend upon the volume that you can do.  If you are primarily doing design, you may want to start with those online discounters, gem shows, or R&T trunk shows.  As you grow you may want to consider wholesale programs such as our company offers, or other true wholesale opportunities.  Hopefully that helps in some way.
 

 Batel; I have reread Nathan's post, and don't read it the same as you. Maybe I do  not understand what term wholesale means, but I thought wholesalers sell to retailers and or jobbers. I as a wholesaler, I purchase directly from factories in the required quantities for a factory order, like 20 kilo of a fire polished bead, repackage into a mass for a bead store and sell it  to the retailer. As long as I keep the retailers tax info on file I do not collect sales tax on such sales. I am in the business of reselling my merchandise, but according to your statement, I can't be a wholesaler. (  Unless you are in the business of reselling your merchandise, be it finished items or the raw material, you are not in the wholesale business.)

  I do believe a company can be a wholesale and retail company at the same time, but the books need to reflect the retail sales separately from the wholesale sales, so as you say, the proper taxes can be paid. I do agree that wholesale to the public is not right, but I am not aware of any law that states that I could not sell directly to the public as long as taxes are collected for the sale. If I were to purchase in the factory's required amounts I could sell directly to the public at wholesale prices.

Shanks 

The bead industry is pretty young in a lot of ways. Wholesale and Retail don't have hard definitions in this new industry. Requiring a resale number is no longer an indication that a business is selling at the very best wholesale price.

As the bead industry grew the findings and costume jewelry trade centered in Providence and NY was fading because of competition from Asia. Bead importers, particularly in NYC, were part of that trade.

Here's how it worked for many years:

Manufacturers and Importers made/sold raw parts.
Very large costume jewelry manufacturers bought direct from them.
Distributors sold the raw parts to medium & small sized costume jewelry manufacturers and to bead stores.
The costume jewelry makers (of all sizes) sold to boutiques, gift shops and dept stores direct or through reps. The public bought from them at retail.

The book industry was similar.
Publishers printed books and sold direct to a few large booksellers at 40 and 50% off
Distributors sold most books to retail book stores at 40 and 20% off
The public bought from retailers.
Some books were sold direct from publishers but with only a token 10% discount.

Somewhere in the '90's the bead industry took off at the same time as the internet was developing.

The clear divisions and trade patterns of manufacturers and importers selling to distributors who sold to retailers never developed in the "Bead Boom" of the last 15 years. The internet allows manufacturers in Asia to sell to end users and production craftspeople almost as easily as a distributor like RIngs & Things sells to production craftspeople. The lines between wholesale, distributor, jobber and retail are very blurred today in the bead business.

When R&T started back in the '70's we manufactured bead and filigree earrings. We bought from findings manufacturers and bead importers We were a small manufacturer and a findings distributor when we started. We sold the filigree & bead earrings our retail customers at retail price. We sold the same earrings wholesale to gift shops, boutiques and stores for 1/2 the retail price (keystone pricing). We sold the parts to make them wholesale to other craftspeople.
When we opened a bead store we sold at one price to retail customers and at 1/2 of retail to folks buying (for resale) with a tax number.

Rings & Things closed our  retail jewelry and bead stores in 2000. While we had the stores we sold our products at retail in the store. Our wholesale catalog, our early website and our sales to stores were at 1/2 the retail price. We had quantity for beads and findings even then. A finding might be 10 cents each, 1.00 a dozen, 10.00 a gross and 80.00 for 10 gross retail. Wholesale was .50 a dozen, 5.00 a gross and 40.00 for 10 gross.

After we closed our retail stores we only sold at wholesale, both in terms of quantities and  prices. We discouraged small retail or end user customers. (Although we do sell to individuals without tax numbers as long as they can meet our minimums and our put-up quantities.)

A few distributors will only sell to volume buyers and bead stores. Helby and Eurotool are good examples. Others like Indian Jewelers Supply and  Thunderbird supply are "wholesale to the public"  although they  charge sales tax if  you don't have a resale number. Oregon based Fire Mountain Gems does not have to deal with sales tax because Oregon does not have a sales tax. It's easier today to directly import from Asian manufacturers and brokers.

Some wholesalers and distributors have volume pricing for large customers or special discounts for brick and mortar bead stores. These may not be published or may require negotiation.

Some very small importers specialize in a particular item and may have much better pricing for that item than event the largest "wholesale only" distributor.

The internet, e-bay, home parties and many other marketing methods have blurred the distinctions between manufacturer, importers, jobbers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers even  more.

The bottom line is that in the bead business there are no hard and fast rules about who has "true" wholesale pricing.

Try  http://www.dibeads.com/