SaleHoo Review
Many of our guides to earning a passive income have covered eCommerce and each one has stressed the importance of good research. With the right pick of products, you can make a considerable income with next to no work through dropshipping and various other means. However, finding those perfect products is the tricky part.
SaleHoo is here to help. A New Zealand-based company founded in 2005, it markets itself as a “wholesale directory”, connecting its users with over 8,000 suppliers stocking 2.5 million different products. It’s important to note that they are not suppliers themselves – SaleHoo is a research tool through which you can find and compare products and suppliers, helping you to get the best deal to maximise your dropshipping earnings.
Important features of SaleHoo
The most remarkable feature of SaleHoo is undoubtedly its extensive selection of suppliers, each of which undergoes an extensive verification process to confirm that they are not frauds or counterfeiters. They have options in their native New Zealand as well as the US, UK, Canada, Australia and China. This means you have a wide range of choices when it comes to cost, quality and shipping times and you will need to balance these three factors (and others) when choosing the right supplier for you. Fortunately, about 80% of the listed suppliers are willing and able to ship internationally, so you can still use SaleHoo is you do not live in one of the above-listed countries.
It’s worth mentioning that, while their selection of products and suppliers is extensive, it is not exhaustive – by which we mean that there is the potential that you might not find exactly the right product at exactly the price you want it. However, few other services offer the degree of convenience you get from using SaleHoo. Between searching through a single site and being able to tick off 8,000 potential suppliers at a stroke or searching for each of them individually, only one of these options is a practical and effective use of your time.
SaleHoo is also more than just a glorified phonebook, too. Their customer support services are exemplary and can be contacted directly by phone, email, Twitter and live chat. They’re not just there for troubleshooting, either. They can recommend specific suppliers and give you tips for increasing sales. The market research lab, seller training centre and eCommerce blog all offer further advice on how to choose products and sell them successfully while the community forum allows you to learn from other users.
How does SaleHoo work?
The process of using SaleHoo is staggeringly simple. It is, as we said in the opening paragraphs, a wholesale directory, so you use it exactly as you would any directory. Once you have signed up and set up your account with SaleHoo, you can start searching for the sorts of product that you’re thinking of selling. You can compare subtly different products from different suppliers and pick the one that you think is the best deal, just as you would if you were buying the product from an online store.
Once you have found the right balance of quality and cost, you can contact the supplier directly and place an order. You’ll find the contact details on the product listing, along with other essential information like estimated shipping times, minimum order quantities and so on. You can chose to either drop-ship the product and get it shipped directly from your chosen supplier to you customer or, if you’ve got the storage space, you can buy the product in bulk. Naturally, the purchase price is lower for the latter, meaning the profits are greater, but handling storage and shipping yourself adds significant complexity, cost and risk to the endeavour.
SaleHoo vs Worldwide Brands
Worldwide Brands is the granddaddy of wholesale supplier directories. It was founded in 1999 and, quite frankly, you could tell that without looking at the about page. The website has a distinctly retro, ‘not-been-upgraded-for-a-while’ look to it. However, say what you like about the site design, their selection of suppliers and products is extremely extensive – more so even than SaleHoo’s, by quite a considerable margin.
Of course, a greater selection of suppliers comes at a considerably greater cost. Most importantly, while SaleHoo offers an annual membership first and foremost, Worldwide Brands only has a very costly lifetime membership. While you can try a free preview, there is no option to temporarily join just to get what you need, as there is with SaleHoo.
SaleHoo vs Inventory Source
If it’s price you’re worried about, there are plenty of cheaper options than SaleHoo. Inventory Source is entirely free if you just want to look at the list of suppliers, though the price ramps up if you want to include dropship automation. They even offer 24/7 customer support while SaleHoo’s support takes some time off (admittedly, not very much).
However, as we just said, a greater selection of suppliers comes at a greater cost so, unsurprisingly, a significantly lower price inevitably means a smaller selection of suppliers. In contrast to SaleHoo, Inventory Source offers barely 3% of the options and they are mostly US-centric, making it an inconvenient option for those hoping to sell to a global market.
Some final thoughts
At $67 for a one-year membership and $127 for lifetime access, SaleHoo is fairly and very reasonably priced for the service they are offering. While it has its limits, so does every tool in this particular space. In theory, you could get the same service for free by googling for suppliers, but the results will be disorganised, you will need to check each one out individually and you is no screening process to ensure that the supplier you choose is entirely on the level. SaleHoo does a lot of the time-consuming and tedious work for you, connecting you with great suppliers and products quicker.
Additionally, SaleHoo founder and CEO Simon Slade has so much faith in his product that, to quote him directly: “If you’re unhappy with SaleHoo for any reason whatsoever, we’ll give you a full refund. Just email your receipt to [email protected]”. So, there is absolutely zero risk in signing up – either you’ll find what you’re looking for or the whole endeavour will have cost you nothing but time.