On the eve of the new millennium, a wholesale directory was born. And that wholesale directory was Worldwide Brands. But now it’s 2024, and we want to know whether Worldwide Brands still stacks up. So we’ve conducted an in-depth review of it.
If you’ve made your way here, you’re either selling online already or looking to do so and exploring your options.
Maybe you’re simply looking to find good deals and avoid scams. Maybe you’re looking to switch over into wholesale selling from another avenue such as affiliate marketing. Maybe you’re interested in wholesale sourcing, or dropshipping, or even both.
Whatever the reason, you need to know if Worldwide Brands will work for you. This review has everything you need to make an informed decision.
What You’ll Get in This Review
To help you figure out whether or not Worldwide Brands is for you, we’ll be looking at:
What exactly Worldwide Brands is
How it works
The pros and cons of Worldwide Brands
A collection of other sellers’ experiences and opinions about it, compiled from online communities and forums
An outline of who Worldwide Brands is best suited to
Advice for using Worldwide Brands if you decide to go ahead
So let’s get started!
What is Worldwide Brands?
Worldwide Brands is an upper-market wholesale directory for sellers looking to find suppliers. A high-quality but high-cost option.
Basically, if you’re looking to sell products on platforms the likes of eCommerce giants, Amazon or eBay, or other online stores, then it goes without saying that you’ll need some inventory to sell. Finding suppliers for this is the hard part, as there are a lot of scams or over-priced options out there.
This is where wholesale directories like Worldwide Brands come in. Worldwide Brands is forever adding to its expansive list of suppliers, and sellers can search within the directory to find products without the risks found elsewhere.
You might think, that sounds great! What’s the catch? Well, nothing good comes for free, and that’s definitely the case with Worldwide Brands. The directory charges $299 for a lifetime membership, which is definitely up there as far as wholesale directory pricing goes. It is possible to get lifetime access for $199 on their discount offer, but the website states that this is a limited time offer and so it may be wiser to consider the directory at its regular full price.
This, of course, isn’t actually a problem if the return is going to be worth it, but the question has to be asked: is Worldwide Brands worth the steep fees? We will explore this in more detail throughout the review.
How does Worldwide Brands work?
Worldwide Brands makes it easy to browse a comprehensive directory for viable supplier options.
Once you’ve logged into the Worldwide Brands site, you’ll search for suppliers in the directory by entering a brand name, the type of product you’re after, or a state or city for finding local options. You’ll then be able to see wholesale providers that match your search.
The results are pulled from a regularly updated and strictly monitored database of genuine suppliers. Suppliers who make it through this tough application process are awarded a Worldwide Brands certification seal. Most of their suppliers are located in the United States, which may mean that these wholesalers may offer prices that are not as competitive as other wholesalers located around the globe.
In the directory, if you click on any of those suppliers, you’ll get the company name, full address, website, contact details, and any details about doing business with the firm, such as payment terms or ordering methods. Please be aware that what the directory does not do is provide you with a list of products that each supplier sells or any pricing information.
The Pros and Cons of Worldwide Brands
Worldwide Brands has a great directory with a lot of wholesale suppliers to choose from, but it’s somewhat lacking in other features, especially for the price.
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Opinions on Worldwide Brands vary by where you look. Some love it, while others find it to be much too expensive and not worth it.
When I went to discover some user opinions on Worldwide Brands, I was surprised at how few recent reviews I could find. Most of the ones I was finding were from way back in 2016, if not earlier. There were no reviews left for Worldwide Brands on popular review sites such as g2.com and the Better Business Bureau site. But, I did manage to gather some to help paint a better picture about what customers think of the company.
General Opinion #1: Worldwide Brands has helpful and timely customer support
The Trustpilot site appears to be the most common platform for customers to leave their reviews for Worldwide Brands, and indeed one of the only platforms where reviews are left for the company at all!
Michael said on his Trustpilot review, “Customer service gets right back to you. Very professional.” Kader echoed Micheal’s comment in his review, saying “I am very satisfied with the experience and customer service provided. You were very helpful, always replying in a timely manner.
It can be safely concluded that Worldwide Brands treats their customers well, which is great to see, however, what about the actual product they offer? Read on for some more customer findings.
General Opinion #2: The suppliers that are listed on Worldwide Brands tend to have high prices
Summer, in her 2020 review on WebRetailer stated that “Over all, Worldwide Brands failed to live up to its promise. Many of the vendors are not wholesale. Their prices are too high. Clicking through to a vendor website, I found far too many vendors did not offer wholesale or they did not allow online sales. It seems like the vendor offerings are just put up without any thought to how a Worldwide Brand user would access the vendor. Too many vendors just linked to their website with no indication of wholesale buying. It is a good idea that fails to deliver on its promise.
Another customer, in their review on WebRetailer mentioned that “the wholesalers’ prices are not competitive nor are they in-demand items. The very few items that had some potential were priced higher than the listings on ebay. Save your money, and find product resources elsewhere!
General Opinion #3: Worldwide Brands may not be worth the price as there are less expensive alternatives available that have more features
“I have a Worldwide Brands account and for the most part can’t say it’s been worth it for me. Besides the fact that the database is horribly programmed, a lot of the information is either outdated or inaccurate,” said DukPep, in his comment on Reddit. “All Worldwide Brands does is make it clearer who you can get certain parts from.
Brian, in his review on WebRetailer said “Very outdated system. Hard to navigate. They send you soooo many emails trying to get you to purchase more things. Not personable at all. Waste of time and money.
Based on this feedback, some customers believe the price may be too high for what the Worldwide Brand directory offers, when there are alternatives, such as SaleHoo, which has more membership options, research tools included, product catalogues, specific product pricing, shipping filters, more supplier types, and features at a notably lower price than the Worldwide Brand Directory. Scott, in his review on Trustpilot mentioned SaleHoo, saying “I haven’t purchased it yet, but after seeing the price. I have decided to in the future. It’s a fair price for the value they are providing.
Who is Worldwide Brands For?
Worldwide Brands is for experienced sellers who know what they’re looking for and are sure of their ongoing directory needs.
The way I see it, Worldwide Brands is like a gym membership. Is it worth it? It can be, but you’ve really got to be sure you’ll continue to use it. Otherwise, it’ll just become something you spent a lot of money on that collects dust.
Worldwide Brands is for you if you’re looking for a way to cut out the scams and find suppliers with low prices, and that’s basically all you need. It probably also helps if you have a bit of experience under your belt already, and don’t need much in the way of market research. Worldwide Brands does have market research options, but they’re limited and there are better tools out there, like SaleHoo Research Labs, which tracks trending products and monitors competition levels for a huge range of products.
Their directory is their main offering and big winner!
On the other hand, Worldwide Brands is probably not for you if you’re fairly new to online selling and you don’t know if you’re ready to commit to the big fee. Paying $299 for a lifetime membership really is a long-term option and you have to feel confident that you will be able to find the right wholesalers for your business. Perhaps it’d be an option to try after you’ve found your feet (and some money to spare!) and connected with a few suppliers through cheaper options.
But if you do have the time, effort, experience, and money to spare to justify the Worldwide Brands fee, then it’s well worth considering.
What Do I Do Now?
Decide whether or not Worldwide Brands appeals to you, and act accordingly!
You’ve got 2 options here. If you’d like to go forward with Worldwide Brands, I’m going to share the best way to succeed with the directory. If you decide otherwise, there are plenty of other options out there. Keep doing your research.
Keep in mind that if you like, you can even use a variety of directories to find suppliers and build your e-commerce empire. You’re not limited to just one! If you’d like to see how two (or more) stack up against each other at the same time by purchasing a membership from two different companies, there’s nothing stopping you — except maybe the cost.
SaleHoo also offers an extensive supplier directory product, which features a range of 8,000+ vetted suppliers from around the globe. At a lower price point to the Worldwide Brands directory membership, with both annual and lifetime membership options, this may be an alternative that is worth checking out – at least for the sake of comparison.
How to Succeed if You Choose Worldwide Brands
If you go ahead with Worldwide Brands, don’t let your investment go to waste. Get involved in the forum, make use of the support team and research the products you’d like to sell to make sure you’re choosing the best options.
Once you’ve found a promising market, get some listings up quickly to start bringing that money back in.
You can sell on eBay or Amazon (great for the huge amount of buyer traffic it brings in, but also quite competitive), or any of the many promising alternatives.
The best way to get yourself a solid profit margin is via your own online store. That way you eliminate the competition you’d typically find on mega platforms such as Amazon. You can learn about the pros and cons of setting up your own online store here.
What to Do if You Don’t Choose Worldwide Brands
If you find the price a little steep or you’ve decided that Worldwide Brands is not for you, there are definitely other options out there. Some say that you can find the best dropshippers and wholesalers with simple Google searches, and perhaps if you’re very search-savvy then you can find the gems between the scams, but it’s definitely not the safest option.
If you want to find suppliers safely but are looking for a cheaper option, then most other directories you’ll find online will be cheaper than Worldwide Brands. You can check out SaleHoo reviews on Trustpilot from our customers and determine if it is worth your investment. It’s just about finding the best quality for the best value.
I’d do a Google search for “wholesale directories” and take a look at all the options available before settling on one or another. Look at what others are saying about each option, and decide for yourself where the best value lies.
If you’re hesitant because you’re new or only have a little experience, I suggest you get some experience by selling some stuff from around the house before you launch into bigger strategies. This will just give you a better feel for the process of listing items and selling, and then you can find the best directory to go forward with when you’re ready.
Let us know your comments or reviews on Worldwide Brands by posting below. You can also ask us questions on Worldwide Brands, SaleHoo, eCommerce, wholesaling, directories, or anything related to starting your online business! Directly reach out to our SaleHoo Experts for a chat at any time, 24/7.
