What is Faire Wholesale Marketplace?

If you're in the wholesale business, you may have heard of Faire Wholesale Marketplace, also called Faire Wholesale. Faire Wholesale is a platform designed to serve as a connection between independent boutiques and independent brands to make sure small businesses have a chance at competing against larger ones like Amazon and Walmart.

The Way the Wholesale Marketplace Works

To get a better feel for the landscape of the wholesale industry and how wholesale prices work, it's important to find out more about the dynamics.

Since sellers depend on making a profit to stay in business, the best wholesale strategy is to find a dependable wholesale supplier and that sells quality goods for a fair enough price that allows for a reasonable markup.

Retailers and Wholesalers

Wholesale providers can be found in physical locations, such as Sams Club and Costco. Online wholesale companies are popular, too, especially since dealing with them allows you to shop in faraway places to get the best deals.

There are three major suppliers in the worldwide geographic wholesale marketplace - the United States, Western Europe, and Asia Pacific. Within each region, you'll find scores of options where you can purchase with wholesale benefits to resell in your shop.

Picking a Wholesale Provider

Choosing the best wholesale supplier can be time-consuming. It's a task well worth spending time on because your future as a seller depends on finding the best wholesale provider possible.

Wholesale platforms are not created equally and, in fact, far from it. You must research wholesale sites to discover who provides the brand or brands you want, depending on what you sell.

You'll also want to secure a wholesale company whose prices allow you to sell to your customers at a good price but also enable you to make a profit.

There are other factors to consider, too, like which wholesalers have lower minimums, which will wholesalers will help you if items are missing, and which provides a full refund if the entire batch you receive is bad. Commission fees must also be accounted for in the mix.

Where Traditional Wholesale Lacks

Traditional wholesale provides common goods for a retailer to sell to customers. But what happens when a retailer wants to sell something off the grid?

How can makers of not-so-common goods get their brand in the wholesale market - regardless of if it's a popular item, like a different brand of toilet paper, or if it's a more obscure item that only some buyers would be interested in?

That's where Faire Wholesale comes into the picture.

What Is Faire Exactly?

Based in San Francisco, Faire (originally called Indigo Fair) was started by co-founder Max Rhodes. Marcelo Cortes, Daniele Perito, and Jeffrey Kolovson in 2017 with a simple vision in mind - to enable small businesses to untie to buy and sell from independent brands on a global level. Today, over 600,000 retailers are buying, and 85,000 brands selling on the platform. To date, 5 million independent connections have been introduced. Faire is now a 7-billion-dollar business.

Not all was peachy, though. Indigo Fair was sued by an established company called Fair Indigo. So, the name became simply Faire.

As it was designed to do, Faire works to provide wholesale products from brand owners who don't sell to the "big guys" to give everyone an equal chance, including makers and buyers. Judging by the outcome, Faire is considered to be a great platform to do business on.

Max Rhodes has guided the ship through its growth. While Faire started with just a few items, they added bags and other products and now have most anything one might want to purchase. The success of Faires is widely attributed to Rhodes and the rest of the founders because they perfected how the platform works.

Now Faires is a leading online wholesale provider and is the main wholesale marketplace for makers who are not mainstream and buyers who wish to purchase brands from independent makers.

Where is Faire Available?

Currently, Faire is available in the following countries:

• United States
• United Kingdom
• Canada
• Austria
• Denmark
• Belgium
• France
• Finland
• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Luxembourg
• Norway
• Portugal
• Sweden
• Spain
• Switzerland
• Australia

What is Faire Backorders?

If you are a creative seller on Faire and you receive an order for more merchandise than you have on hand, you're in luck. You can take advantage of the "backorder process," which is when you can fulfill a partial order and place the remainder of the order on backorder status. Especially with many products available on Faire being handmade or uniquely crafted, this feature is a wonderful option for sellers.

Faire Wholesale Fairs

One big bonus for selling on Faire is the online trade fairs which are like virtual tradeshows minus the travel and the hassle.

When a customer orders from you, Faire tends to the details with payment protection that covers the risk of the customer not paying. Faire also covers the customers on their end, too - refunding them if they don't receive their order or are displeased with it. What's different about customer protection on this platform is that you, the seller, still get paid - even if your customer is unhappy or doesn't receive their order.

While you might think Faire's protection plan might give way to fraudulent activity by sellers not sending orders or purposefully sending defective ones. A seller engaging in such activity wouldn't last long on Faire, so most transactions and sellers operate above board with the utmost integrity, following the honor code.

Faire Categories

The categories on Faire are almost endless. You'll find women's, men's, and children's sections. Home decor, crafts, toys, jewelry, pet supplies, accessories, and so much more.

Faire Wholesale 101

Faire's platform is simple. It is user-friendly, so it's a cinch to buy and sell on Faire.

• Before placing wholesale orders, it's important to know and understand how Faire works.
• Before being able to sell of Faire or buy on Faire, makers and customers alike must apply and be approved, then create an account number as is required by most wholesale business entities.
• A routing number to a U.S. bank is required by sellers.
• Once the above is in order and you have an account number to sell on Faire, you create a shop page which Faire typically offers to set up for you if you agree to give them access to your images and product information.

• Faire is free of charge to join but does invoke a selling fee via a percentage of orders placed on the site. First-time orders are a whopping 25%, while reorders enjoy a 10% cut rate. A 3% credit card fee is also charged on all orders.
• Makers have the choice of being paid the day after a sale for a 3% fee or can opt to be paid in 30 days without the fee.
• Most communication between stores and makers is conducted through Faire, which means makers go through Faire's platform to make acquaintance or to offer incentives on their brands to new customers.
• Makers can, however, direct stores to their shop page via a personal link to avoid paying commission. This process is called Faire Direct, designed to encourage makers to acquire steady customers who will purchase their brands.
• Buyers enjoy free returns, a low markup, and a low minimum order requirement as well. The stipulations are laid out by Faire to the makers so that there is more control over keeping costs down for customers.
• When a buyer has been contacted by a seller about a sale, the buyer is not charged a commission on the sale if one occurs, providing the contact is made known.
• Faire's helpful guides walk buyers and sellers of brands through the process.

About Faire Pricing

If you are new to Faire, it will behoove you to learn all you can about Faire's pricing. While you do set your prices, the more you fall in line with other stores, especially on similar or like products, the better you'll come out.

There is no minimum order size, so you can transact on a lone item if you desire. You can set two different prices on each item - one for retail and one for wholesale.

You must follow Faire pricing guidelines. One stipulation is you have to be the same or lower on Faire as you are on other sites or places you list your wares which go for both retail and wholesale products. This ensures customers know they are getting the same or better deals on Faire as elsewhere. This policy is investigated frequently, and failure to comply can and will get your account suspended - but think of it this way, it is paving the path for Faire patrons to return to the site for purchase after purchase because they have faith they are getting the best deal there. Which...they are.

Faire Wholesale Reviews

Is Faire Wholesale legit? Are you wanting to find out if it is one of the best wholesale marketplaces...or not? Reviews on Faire offer insight into the quality of the Faire wholesale platform.

Faire has a 4.6 rating on the Faire online wholesale marketplace site. Makers and buyers alike can create a Faire Wholesale review.

Many makers sing Faire's praises in their Faire Wholesale review. While some of the existing customers have mentioned things such as the ease in which Faire works, the helpful insight given by Faire staff, and the fact that there are free returns without a hassle, they also rave about the availability of hard-to-find home decor products and unique items like small shell soaps, larger bar soaps, and handmade home decor.

When it comes to pros in Faire Wholesale reviews, a personal connection is another characteristic buyers love, along with appreciating doing business with an American company.

How do the makers' rate Faire? Some are delighted to be able to have venture capital with their products - like product designers with a new brand who would not have a chance without the retailers who buy through Faire.

Many makers on Faire greatly appreciate the steady stream of existing customers and new customers they get from Faire and are happy to connect with retailers to sell their brands for whatever commission fees they can.

Several makers on Faire, however, have complained that the Faire charges too much such as the price charged to new customers and the commission fees are unfair. Some have stated that the commission fees being preset by Faire are harming the makers while benefiting retailers.

Still, others don't like that they can't see what the seller marked directly without going through the Faire site and would rather have a closer relationship with the retailers.

A few of the reviews about Faire are not good at all, like a maker accusing Faire of failure to pay when their account was shut down due to an accusation the maker said was untrue.

It is important to say that Faire did not have any comments on the Faire review site, so they could not speak in their defense when questions were raised against Faire. That certainly doesn't clear Faire of wrongdoing, but it's only fair to mention.

Retailers also had some harsh words for Faire in various negative reviews, but overall, the verdict was that Faire is a great platform for many retailers to purchase on from makers who otherwise might not have a prayer to sell their wares on Faire.

Some sellers have discovered that a product originally meant to sell retail may become the very thing a brand chooses to sell in bulk on Faire for the potential of bringing in more money from sales on Faire.

Is Faires a Fit?

If you are unsure about Faire being a fit for you, you always have the option to try it without putting all your money or all your eggs in one basket - regardless of it, you are a small business wanting to buy or a small business wanting to sell on Faire.

Who Benefits from Faire Wholesale Sales and Purchases?

The dynamics of Faire Wholesale are designed to benefit the company, the makers, and the retailers who purchase on the Faire wholesale platform. But does it?

Whether Faire Wholesale would be advantageous to you or not would depend on what you are buying or selling.

Retailers who seek to purchase something unique that are hard to find will no doubt feel Faire is a lifesaver because it will enable them to find those brands.

Retailers who can get a better deal elsewhere may not find Faire the best for their business due to the extra money charged for dealing with independent sellers.

From a Company Standpoint

If your company is a specialty company that makes a specialty item or items, you may find that despite the money charged by Faire, your brand benefits as a business on the Faire site.

It's difficult to determine what company can benefit from doing business with Faires and what company would not.

The situation must be figured from a business-to-business and company-to-company standpoint to assess sales profit and liabilities.

Is the Faire Marketplace for You?

If your sales depend on selling on Faire, you can rest assured the platform is for you. If you have other alternatives that work better, Faire may not be in your favor. The same is true for retailers buying on Faire.

If you have better options, take them. If not, Faire is the best place to purchase.

Doing business with Faire is a personal choice. Sure, it's a risk at first, but you won't know unless you try it.

Why Do Retailers Purchase from Faire?

If you ask a retailer why they purchase from Faire, you'll hear a variety of answers.

"I couldn't find the product elsewhere" is one of the most popular reasons people buy from Faire.

"I wanted something unique," is another common reply.

The platform is easy to order from. Assistance is available as well.

There's little risk to the buyers. Satisfaction is guaranteed. Returns are not an issue.

The Hidden Value in Faire

Faire is beloved for a multitude of reasons. One of the most overlooked though, is the fact that it supports independents. Faire is awesome about giving small companies wings they never had before. It allows them to experience selling power. It enables buyers to access craftspeople they would not otherwise be able to do business with.

Faire is a powerful platform - with sales of over 25 million products under its belt thus far. It has given many mom-and-pop shops their start and has taken the risk out of the equation for the retailer buying the goods from them.

Faire lets small stores leverage their buying power and get access to more craftspeople and small manufacturers, with Faire facilitating the ordering, payments, and returns.

There's another thing Faire does. It takes the monopoly away from huge retailers. It levels the playing field making the economy fairer for all involved, and everyone everywhere benefits from that.

Accommodations for All

The company thrives on accommodating both the seller and the buyer. They seem to realize that without pleasing one, you cannot please the other. It takes both buyers and sellers to make Faire work properly, so you'll find perks for all.

The strategy also works between buyers and sellers. This means that makers and retailers try to work things out because if they don't, they both lose.

The main problem comes in when one or the other, buyer or seller, feel they are slighted, and mostly, money is the issue. But some have the problem solved by raising their rates a bit to even the score.

Retailers who purchase Faire may have to go up a small amount on their pricing to cover what they paid on Faire. Sellers may do the same.

Somewhere in the midst of it all, you'll find everyone working together or at least attempting to, and that is the beauty of Faire.

How are Retailers and Makers Faring from Faire?

There is a slew of designers who are impressed by the visibility they get on Faire. Some were in a bad place before coming to Faire. Others were going nowhere.

What's in it for Them?

What do they like about Faire?

They find the application is easy and that it is a blessing the team at Faire takes on the logistics and that oftentimes, makers enjoy an immediate sale or two.

No Fees

There's no upfront fee for makers, so there's no risk involved.

No Exhaustive Soliciting

From trade shows to soliciting their wares on their own, many makers are exhausted by the alternatives by the time they come to Faire and are happy to be there.

Nothing is Required but to List

It's not unusual for creative entrepreneurs to spend a large amount of time working on selling their products only to be disappointed. Money is spent as well.

That is why the Faire site is a godsend for many.

Accessing Faire Fairness

Retailers who love doing business with Faire think Faire is fair. The same is true for the makers on the Faire platform. Those who feel they have been wronged by Faire or don't agree with their practices or fees are free to not do business with them.

Making the Call

The only real way to find out if Faire is a good fit for you and if Faire would be beneficial is to try it, and who knows...you may find Faire is the best thing that ever happened to your business. Or...you may not.