wholesale distributers?

da1jewfish · #1 12/25/2007, 10:42 PM

what places do you know of for bulk supplies?
The only "TRUE" wholesaler that I know is globalpets.com, but they don't have much of a selection.

thanks all

da1jewfish · #2 12/26/2007, 12:04 AM

anyone?

Andrew · #3 12/26/2007, 12:11 AM

This thread isn't going to last long. unless you are going to start a lfs or online store, support the local business or online stores such as the sponsors here on RC.

da1jewfish · #4 12/26/2007, 12:13 AM

ok, are any of the sponsors wholesalers?

Andrew · #5 12/26/2007, 12:15 AM

Nope. Even if you did find a whole seller, they won't sell to you unless you have a business license and buy in bulk. I know a couple whole seller but I'm not going to name them and some require minimum ordered of at least a couple hundred.

Chevrontang25 · #6 12/26/2007, 12:26 AM

Yes I know a couple wholesalers but they have a minimum order and its several hundred dollars and you need to have a business license. Yes you would save a lot of money buying stuff from them but the minimum order is usually too much money

da1jewfish · #7 12/26/2007, 12:30 AM

my friend and I are are in the process of captive breeding clown fish and cardinal fish. In doing this we are going to need a lot of supplies pretty much from the ground up. wholesale prices would help us a lot b/c we don't have much money to start.
you have to start somewhere.
thanks

Andrew · #8 12/26/2007, 12:40 AM

Do a google search or something. Most retailers won't share their whole sellers anyways so you'll not going to find much on here.

uscharalph · #9 12/26/2007, 02:02 AM

How big an operation are you planning?

fcw · #10 12/26/2007, 03:51 AM

get a business licence and buy some hobby industrie magazines (pet age is a good one) wholesalers will have adds in there. some wholesalers have adds in larger hobbyist magazines

hahnmeister · #11 12/26/2007, 04:21 AM

are you talking wholesellers for livestock or equipment? these are two very different categories...

Proline does equipment, and they are a sponsor here.

Sea Dwelling Creatures, Quality Marine, ORA, Fish Heads... are all wholesale shippers of fish. You can even go one step beyond that and order from where they order from, the collector... like surya marine center, but you need to order something like 16 boxes or more at a time, but if you want a huge brood stock of cardinals right away, thats the way to go. For many other people, the idea of getting just one box of 75 bangii cardinals is a bit daunting, even if they are only $1.90 a pop + shipping (usually about $100 a box). So having to come up with 16 boxes worth of such huge lot quantities is a bit much, even for a fish store.

da1jewfish · #12 12/26/2007, 08:13 AM

alright,hmmm.
Were going to start off slow, with 3-5 pairs of fish. But as most of you know 3-5 pairs of fish equals 5-9 tanks. So we wil need a lot of dry supplies.

Most of the buying will be dry goods; all the livestock will be bought at different LFS.

hahnmeister · #13 12/26/2007, 01:11 PM

Well, I wouldnt suggest buying your brood stock from LFS's first of all... unless you know they are wild, you might be buying captive bred ones already, and they will all be F1 brothers and sisters. You want FO/wild caught for breeding. With those amounts you mention, you might consider trying to get special pricing from a LFS, or maybe somebody you know can just order from a wholeseller. You could get 6 pairs wholesale for 1/2 what you pay retail... the only problem is that many wholesellers wont sell to you unless you have an actual storefront... but not all.

So it seems like you are mostly looking for a dry-goods connection. Good luck. Wholesale accounts are there for retailers to buy ALOT per order. If you dont, the additional shipping charges may exceed the discount (I know is the case with custom aquatic... cheaper to just buy regular).

If all you really want is tanks and such anyways, figure out who is the local wholeseller (Milwaukee has a few for instance, where all the LFS's can shop at), and just buy from there. General Pet for instance, is a large one, and you can get custom AGA tanks through (with holes already drilled in, etc... and for a great price). The catch is, General may only sell to you if you have a storefront.

My advice... just shop around and get the lowest price you can. You may find yourself just getting custom build enclosures anyways considering what you are doing.