Selling Through Wholesale Agents and Resellers
The direct answer: an agent sells your stock to their buyers for a commission, which gives you volume without your own sales effort. The model works when you have depth and consistency, and it fails when you cannot guarantee supply, because agents remember a supplier who runs dry.
Part of the buyer journey: Selling Channels: Markets, Online Platforms, Bins and Chains — stage 6 of 8, with the other guides for this stage.
What the model actually looks like
You supply stock on an agreed payment terms, the agent lists and sells it to their own customers, and you receive the balance less a commission. Some agents work on a percentage, some on a fixed rate per unit, and some on a margin split.
The trade-off is volume and reach against margin and control. You lose the customer relationship, and you inherit whatever payment discipline the agent has.
Terms that protect you
Clear payment terms with a stated settlement schedule and a late consequence. An agreed definition of what happens to unsold goods at the end of the term, including who pays to return them.
Also agree how pricing is set, so the agent cannot undercut you into a market where your own customers shop. This is the most common source of conflict in the model and it is entirely preventable in writing.
Choosing an agent
Ask what categories they already sell to and who their existing buyers are. An agent with an existing customer base in your category is worth far more than a larger agent with no presence in it.
Start with one agent on a small quantity, and expand only after they have settled reliably. Trust in this model is built over settlements, not over conversations.
What stocklots are available right now?
Reading is step one. Send your requirement and we will check the factory network for current options.
Buyer questions, answered
What commission should I expect to pay an agent?
It varies by category and by whether the agent carries the sales risk. The right question is what remains for you after the commission and after the unsellable units, compared with selling direct. Work the arithmetic on real numbers rather than accepting a percentage as an answer.
What if the agent does not pay on time?
Then you stop supplying, which is the only enforcement that matters. Set short initial terms, verify the first settlement before increasing exposure, and never extend terms on the strength of a good story rather than a good payment history.
Is it better to have several agents or one?
Several, for the same reason you keep several suppliers. One agent is a single point of failure, and losing them takes the channel with it. Start with one to learn the model, then add a second before you depend on it.