Working with wholesalers: tools for online retailers

OZOlga Zagorodnik·Updated 1 October 2026·2 min read

Buying from wholesalers lets a store offer a wide range without manufacturing anything. The trade-off is data: every wholesaler sends its own price list, in its own format, on its own schedule. The more wholesalers you work with, the more time goes into turning their data into products in your store. The right tools change that balance.

Typical problems with wholesaler data

• Price lists in different formats: Excel from one, XML from another, a web portal from a third.
• Purchase prices in different currencies, with or without VAT.
• Recommended retail prices that some brands require you to follow.
• Stock as a number, a range or just "available".
• Product names written for buyers, not for customers.
• The same product from several wholesalers at different prices.

What a wholesaler tool should do

1. Collect price lists automatically from every wholesaler.
2. Read each format and map it to your product fields.
3. Link products across wholesalers and pick the best offer.
4. Calculate retail prices with your markups and the wholesalers' recommended prices.
5. Add images and descriptions where the wholesaler's data is thin.
6. Update the store and other channels on a schedule.

Choosing which wholesaler to use

When several wholesalers offer the same product, the cheapest is not always the best choice. Consider stock reliability, delivery time and how accurate their data has been. Set a priority: use the preferred wholesaler while it has stock, and switch to the next one when it runs out.

Selling to wholesale customers yourself

Some stores are wholesalers too, selling to smaller shops or business clients. Then you need separate price lists with different prices and terms, generated from the same catalog.

How YfiFX helps

YfiFX collects wholesaler price lists in any common format, from a link, e-mail, FTP, cloud storage or API, and can gather data from a wholesaler's website if no price list is available. Products are linked across wholesalers in one Master price list, and prices are calculated with your markups, exchange rates, recommended retail prices and supplier priority. Separate price types let you sell at retail on your website and marketplaces and at wholesale to business clients, all from the same data, updated on a schedule.