Buying Wholesale to Sell Online: A UK Guide (2026)

In this guide

• Finding suppliers — trade shows, Faire and directories
• Vetting a supplier — samples, terms and the first order
• MOQs — what minimum orders really cost you
• Pricing & markup maths — from wholesale cost to shelf price
• VAT — registration, reclaim and thresholds
• Reselling online — eBay, Amazon and your own store

The wholesale maths at a glance

Illustrative figures only — your own fees, postage and VAT position will differ. Always run your real numbers.

1. Finding UK wholesale suppliers

There are three dependable routes to good suppliers. Trade shows are the classic option — events like Spring Fair and Autumn Fair at the NEC, plus category-specific shows, let you handle products, meet brands and negotiate terms face to face. Wholesale marketplaces such as Faire and Ankorstore have moved much of this online, with net-60 payment terms and free returns on opening orders that dramatically lower the risk of trying a new brand. Directories and direct approaches round it out: trade directories, wholesale sections on brand websites, and simply emailing a brand you admire to ask for their stockist or trade terms.

Whichever route you use, don't confuse a wholesaler with a random dropshipping reseller. A genuine wholesale supplier sells you stock you own and hold, at trade prices, with clear terms.

2. Vetting a supplier before you commit

Before any significant payment, do the basics: check the company is registered and trading, read the trade terms in full, and ask for samples so you can judge quality and packaging yourself. Start with a small first ordereven if the unit price is higher, and treat the first purchase as a test of the supplier as much as the product — how they communicate, how accurate the order is, and how fast they ship all tell you whether they're worth scaling with. Keep every order as a proper purchase order so you have a paper trail on quantities, prices and dates.

3. Understanding MOQs

The minimum order quantity (MOQ) is the smallest amount a supplier will sell in one order — either a number of units or a minimum spend. It exists because small orders aren't worth a supplier's handling costs, and it's the single biggest driver of how much cash you tie up up front. A lower per-unit price on a big MOQ looks appealing, but it only helps if you can actually sell through the stock in a reasonable time; otherwise you've converted cash into boxes in a spare room. Match MOQs to realistic sell-through, not to the lowest possible unit cost — our guide to what MOQ means and how to manage it goes deeper on the trade-offs.

4. Wholesale pricing and markup maths

The best-known rule is keystone pricing — doubling the wholesale cost, which gives a 50% margin. It's a useful starting point, but online it's rarely enough on its own, because your retail price has to absorb a stack of other costs: marketplace commission, payment-processing fees, postage, packaging, returns, and VAT if you're registered. The reliable method is to work backwards: start from your selling price, subtract every fee and cost, and see what margin is actually left. If a £5 wholesale item only clears a few pounds after eBay or Amazon fees and postage, you need either a higher price, a lower cost, or a different product. Don't forget the difference between margin (profit as a percentage of the selling price) and markup (profit as a percentage of the cost) — mixing them up is how sellers accidentally price at a loss.

5. VAT: the part people underestimate

VAT changes the maths as soon as it applies. Once your taxable turnover passes the UK registration threshold you must register; you can also register voluntarily earlier. Once registered, you charge VAT on your sales, but you can generally reclaim the VAT you paidon your wholesale stock and business costs, so it isn't simply a 20% haircut. Marketplaces may also collect or account for VAT in certain cross-border or platform situations. The key point is to build VAT into your pricing model from the start rather than discovering it after a busy quarter. This is general information, not tax advice — check current HMRC guidance or speak to an accountant about your situation.

6. Reselling online: eBay, Amazon and your own store

With stock in hand, the reselling channels are the familiar ones. eBay is the easiest place to test demand and shift a first batch, with a broad audience and low barriers to entry. Amazon suits branded, barcoded products at volume, particularly if you use FBA — but its fees and rules are stricter, so your margin maths has to be tight. Your own Shopify or WooCommerce store keeps the most margin and builds a brand you own, at the cost of having to drive your own traffic. Most wholesale resellers run several of these at once to sell through stock faster and spread risk across channels.

Managing supplier POs and stock across channels

Buying wholesale creates two operational jobs that quickly outgrow a spreadsheet. The first is purchase order management: tracking what you've ordered, at what price, when it's due and whether it arrived complete, so you always know your true landed cost and incoming stock. Our guides on purchase order management and dedicated purchase order software for UK sellers cover how to keep that tidy as order volumes grow.

The second job is keeping stock accurate across every channel you resell on. When the same wholesale batch is listed on eBay, Amazon and your own store at once, each listing shows the full quantity as available — so two buyers on two channels can purchase your last unit at the same time. This is where Salync helps: it holds one central stock figure and updates every connected channel with an open API — eBay, Shopify, Amazon, Etsy and TikTok Shop — the instant a unit sells, so you can't oversell the batch you paid to bring in. Combined with clean purchase orders on the way in, that gives you an accurate picture from supplier to sale. Free for up to 50 SKUs.