Finding and sourcing qualified sellers and buyers can be the biggest – and initially the most prohibitive – obstacle for first-timers who want to break into the wholesale and retail game. It helps to remember that Toptenwholesale.com and Manufacturer.com are the leading wholesale directories and search engines connecting thousands of buyers and sellers daily. These B2B directories and platforms were designed to connect buyers  directly with domestic and international wholesalers and manufactures. There are over 100 different product categories to search from including: general merchandise, apparel, accessories, gifts, electronics, handbags, jewelry, toys, and more. Toptenwholesale.com and its network of sites (manufacturer.com, wholesaleu.com, offpricenetwork.com) can get you started down the path quickly and efficiently, because aside from technical issues that require specialized knowledge, and other major points that should be handled rather carefully (like taxes and import / export regulations), there is clearly one important thing that must be addressed, in order to really get going with those goals of making an online business or small store a reality:

With the US Dollar shrinking rapidly, and a seemingly never-ending series of contradictions regarding the instability of the economy hitting all of the news feeds… it’s easy to see that this holiday season will present some interesting challenges to the wholesale and retail specialists that are trying to tie it all together in time for the major shopping wrap-up of 2009. General merchandise has always been a market with its upswings and downturns, but this time the numbers to focus upon are the forecasts for what kind of money will be spent by the consumer this season in specific areas like Christmas and party supplies… and how you can apply some smart spending of your own towards meeting their specialized demands, without resorting to too much guesswork.

Calgary, Canada — Sept. 11, 2009

Since being released in July of this year, the new Shopster Merchant Network is experiencing exponential growth, in terms of increasing numbers of online wholesale and retail sellers joining its ranks. In the first two months since its inception, the new Shopster Merchant Network has attracted over 8,000 registered users, and current estimates predict that it will host over 20,000 merchants by the end of the year!

The Shopster Merchant Network is only a part of the entire Shopster platform (which is free to join) and  it enables entrepreneurs to make money online. Shopster members sell products from other merchants or list their own products to be sold by Network merchants. It’s worth noting that Shopster is the first e-Commerce solution to come with a built-in sales force for its customers’ products, along with instant inventory for businesses to sell.