Salehoo Review

What Is Salehoo?

I think the easiest way to describe Salehoo these days would be a wholesale list provider and education platform. They have grown beyond the original 'wholesale list directory' that I first wrote about back in 2017 and have expanded their reach and influence into other areas. 

When Salehoo first launched back in 2005, they were primarily focused on providing it's customers with a list of wholesalers, growing this list in 2018 to 2.5 million products and 8,000+ manufacturers, DropShippers, liquidators and wholesalers.

The 8,000+ suppliers list is made of companies from around the world, with many of them being found in; USA, UK, parts of Europe, Australia, obviously China and their home country New Zealand. That’s a pretty diverse set of countries, and means you can essentially find a UK Dropshipper using the UK Salehoo list.

As mentioned, these days, Salehoo has expanded beyond that list, and they have split it into 3 main product areas. 

Salehoo Directory

The Salehoo Directory part of the platform is made up of the directory lists (both wholesale and Dropshippers) and a product they called Salehoo Labs, which has been designed to allow you to find hot or up and coming products (essentially allowing you to potentially get ahead of the curve). 

Salehoo also added their own training and unlimited support network into Salehoo Directory, essentially allowing you to get unlimited 1-1 support, or the ability to go through around 50 or so videos and guides that they have written and filmed over the years. 

This part also includes access to the forum, which I will talk about a bit more below when we dive into each area bit more. 

Salehoo Droship

A product, or part of the platform that really came into it's own in around 2019/2020 the Salehoo drop shipping tool is designed to help you find and then even add hot or trending products onto a Shopify store in a few minutes. 

It works like platforms such as eCom Hunt or DropShip Spy, whereby you get access to AliExpress data, telling you about products that are starting to become popular (lots of sales) or are potentially quite lucrative (nice profit margin). 

Salehoo DropShip works much the same as the other, they hand pick the products for you, and then add it to their database (a bit like their dropshipping lists), which you can then import into your store. What makes this a little different is that these products and suppliers have been vetted. 

Salehoo Educate

The newest part of the Salehoo platform, Educate, was created to provide a step by step course on creating an eCommerce store. 

It is split into two distinct courses, Drop Shipping and Private Labelling, giving you the choice of which path you would want to take. Each course has been created with a different multiple seven figure store owner, with roughly 6.5 hours of content in each section. 

The courses are sold separately, so you would have to choose which course you would want to investigate, or purchase both I guess. 

How Does Salehoo Directory Work & Salehoo Features

The directory part of Salehoo is focused on the supplier lists, and also offering some training and support. The directory can be split into a number of different areas, I will try to explain each one in a bit more detail as well, to give you an idea of how it might help you.  

Salehoo Directory is split up into the following;

For the other areas, I will provide separate reviews, especially Salehoo DropShip and Salehoo Educate, because they contain a huge amount of information, plus Salehoo Directories is still the main thing that comes to mind when people think of 'Salehoo'.

For this, you can use the Salehoo Suppliers list to find yourself a DropShip supplier, who then provide you with a  product, you then decide on a price that you want to sell that product for.

• You list that item on your chosen platform of choice, popular choices include Salehoo, AliDropShip or even sites such as Amazon & eBay.
• Once the item has been sold (for say $10), you log in to Salehoo, find the supplier you have chosen and purchase the item from them.
• The supplier will then charge you $2.50 and ship it straight to your customer.
• After fees, you make a profit of $5.

One of the good things about the Salehoo Supplier list is that it allows you to find suppliers, not only that may be cheaper, but also might be in the same country. One of the problems faced by DropShippers is the long wait times from China, typically you face 20+ days for an item to appear from China. This is because customers live in the world of next day delivery, so even if the price is 30 - 70% cheaper, they still expect it fast.

So Salehoo actually giving you the details of companies in the US or Europe who can ship products straight away is a huge bonus. Using Salehoo you could get an item shipped out of the UK and onto a doormat within 5 days or so.

Their pricing can little higher, around 5 - 10% than their counterparts in China, but I could get items sent to customers in a matter of days, maybe a week at most. Again, a huge bonus when it comes to customer satisfaction.

The Salehoo Drop Shipping Suppliers list has around 1,000 hand picked companies who you can work with, all of whom have been vetted and reviewed to ensure they are of a high quality. 

The list is of course split into different key categories, allowing you to focus on say 'Sporting Goods' or 'Home & Garden' without having to trawl through the pages and pages of AliExpress listings (many of them listed multiple times to get your attention).

As mentioned before, Salehoo do also list both domestic and international suppliers, so if you are trying to find someone in the UK or USA then you can start to filter these down. You can also focus on a single market, rather than growing to be international when you start out. 

Salehoo for eBay, Amazon or local selling pages (Wholesale Suppliers)

The second, but possibly oldest part of Salehoo (or now Salehoo Directory) is the 8,000+ wholesale suppliers list. Designed for those looking for genuine wholesale suppliers of a wide range of products. 

The list is made up of not just wholesalers or manufacturers, but also liquidators or companies who deal with bankrupt or potential discontinued items. This allows you to pick up stock from closing down sales, or bankruptcy proceeding, dropping it lower than wholesale might have been. 

Salehoo allows you to contact and connect with suppliers who may or may not have a large online presence, or who simply prefer to focus on building and creating whatever it is they create. This can sometimes mean you get special pricing or Minimal Orders on these items, which can be useful when you are just starting. 

No Fakes, Full Guarantee

Something that is relevat to both suppliers list, but possibly more focused on the wholesale list, is the guarantee you are getting real, branded products and genuine prices. 

Not knockoffs, fakes or poor quality imitations, the real deal. This is great for those who like to run general stores, or run limited time offer stores, whereby your customers can get a great deal, for a limited time.

If you tried to do the same with unbranded, or even fake products you would start to face all kinds of trouble, including possible takedowns from legitimate brands who don't want knock-offs or fakes being sold online.

Contact & Negotiate Pricing

Again, this is relevant to both of the suppliers lists, the ability to speak and put in offers to these suppliers. 

All of this can be done from within the dashboard, which I will touch on later within this review. 

Salehoo Suppliers Conclusion 

There is a lot to unpack within this seemingly small section, the Salehoo Suppliers lists are huge and comer with a lot of similar features and tools. 

The lists are extensive, with a lot of information and years worth of data and relationships there. You can pick up pretty much any category or niche you want too and find suppliers who can fulfil what you are after, be it a Drop shipper, manufacturer, wholesaler or liquidator. 

The filtering across the suppliers and products then allows you to start coming up with a game plan, deciding if you want to try and conquer the world, of simply see success in your home country, picking up real branded products, without worrying if you are about to be ripped off. 

I like the Salehoo Suppliers lists, I think they are still the core offering and it's main offering that people expect when they hear the name Salehoo. 

The Market Research Lab

Salehoo Labs, or the Market Research section of Salehoo Directory used to be a separate product, which was eventually bought into the suppliers list area a little while ago.

The Research Lab is similar to what other sites or platforms like to call 'Hot Products' and can be seen as a competitor to stand-alone services such as Drop Ship Spy or Ecom Hunt. Though it's worth noting the Market Research part of Salehoo is designed solely for finding new suppliers and products, it's not a curated list of products that someone else thinks you should sell, that can be found in the new 'Salehoo DropShip' product, which is a direct competitor. 

The Market Research area of Salehoo Directory is great for those who love to scope out or find trends and products before others, giving them a little edge on the competition. Allowing you to track sales data and trends, such as seasonal or market trends (even seeing when they drop off or stop being popular) allowing you to plan your year out in advance. 

You have the ability to pick different products or niches, then delve into them. Finding out the costs, how many people are currently listing these products, average prices and even if it's currently just having a trendy moment or if it's a real long term viable product. 

Market Research Conclusion

Anyone looking at getting into DropShipping or eCommerce, be it an online store or offline, should have this information available to read and study. 

Considering it's given to you are part of the membership price for Salehoo Directories, I think it's well worth having and there is no 'downside' to having this data provided to you. 

It's in-depth, useful and could potentially save you from buying a ton of stock on an item that may only be 'Hot' for 3 months of the year. 

They also provide you with a really useful webinar on how to scale and build an Amazon private label store, that I would recommend checking out - Watch it here.

Forums

With around 135,000 members, and 60,000 posts inside of it, I would say the Salehoo forum is still worthy of visiting and browsing. Most forums are dead these days, long forgotten or simply not cared about, with many moving into paid membership sites, Facebook groups and even group chats (somehow). 

The Salehoo forum still seems to have some activity and fairly up-to-date posts, but they also have a huge archive of past questions, so you can do some searches through them and see what others asked, and see if it answers the questions you might have asked.

You should still be able to get some kind of customer support from either a fellow drop shipper or a member of the support staff. 

Support Conclusion

The unlimited support, access to around 50 free additional resources and the ability to ask questions inside of a forum that includes seasoned professionals I feel is a great additional bonus. 

Not everyone will use the support or the documentation, or they may feel they need more (such as Educate) but I think it's a great place to grow and learn, especially at no extra cost. 

Salehoo Stores

Salehoo stores are no longer available, and instead look to have been replaced by Salehoo DropShipping that plugs straight into Shopify.

The latest edition to their arsenal is the new Salehoo Stores feature.

This is Salehoo's own way of trying to fight the big boys such as Shopify, WooCommerce or even BigCommerce.

The Salehoo stores currently come in 15 different flavours and require zero coding or technical skills, which can be a relief for a lot of online store owners.

Especially those who don't have the time or the skills to do this.

Each store comes with its own professional logo, and an AdWords voucher, as well as being Search Engine optimized to get you off to a flying start, massively useful for when you are trying to rank for product keywords.

They can also be set up in just a few minutes and if you are currently an eBay turbo lister, than you can actually import the eBay listings.

At the moment, the stores are currently lacking the many tools and features that other platforms offer.

I'd stick to the core features of Salehoo for now!

How Much Does Salehoo Cost?

 When compared to other wholesale list providers or competitors, I would say Salehoo comes in at one of the cheaper options. Some of these other services nearly cost $67 a month!

With all the information that you get access too, including the tools, up and coming products, trends and even the training, it's worth more than the $67 they charge for this service. 

You can also get a 60-day money back guarantee, that means if you try it for 2 months and don't get on with it, they will refund you your payment. That means they are that confident you will love Salehoo they are willing to wait 2 months to prove it. 

Salehoo have recently updated their pricing, they now offer lifetime access for just $127. Other platforms charge 2 - 4 x that price for 'lifetime' access 

Are There Any Salehoo Discounts Or Salehoo Trials?

Currently, there are no known discounts or trials on offer.

Salehoo Review Conclusion

With over 2.5 million products and 8,000 suppliers, I would definitely say using Salehoo is worth it if you are really serious about finding high quality and valuable products.

With all the data and information that they provide, as well as access to all those suppliers, you would be pretty unlucky not to find a great product to add to your store.

The Good (Salehoo Pros)

The Bad (Salehoo Cons)

There will always be cons to any business or platform, I struggle to find any that don't have at least one or two. 

Is Salehoo Worth It?

The simple answer is Yes, if you are in the market for finding new products or want to find higher quality ones.

Salehoo is great for those who might be starting out in the world of Drop Shipping or eCommerce, or for those who want to find new lines or products, without having to go down more traditional routes.

If you fall into one of these categories, then I would consider looking into Salehoo;

• You are new too the scene and want to find your first product to sell online
• You are not accustomed to finding suppliers or products and do not know where to find them
• You are finding it difficult to find a new item to sell, and may be struggling to find a 'best seller'
• You want to get into DropShipping without the hassle of being scammed or getting low quality product
• You want to buy genuine products from genuine suppliers

It's worth noting, you will need to have a level of knowledge on how to do market research and product research to get the full experience from this platform.

Now that DropShipping has become the number one fun thing to try and do in 2018 / 2019 many of the markets are becoming a bit saturated, or flooded with poor quality or fake items. Salehoo reduces and at points eliminates this risk by offering you new trending products, vetted suppliers and genuine products for you to sell.

If you are someone who falls into the below categories, then this may not be for you;

• You have a successful business with contacts and suppliers already
• You want to sell more niche products, that only specialist sellers may stock
• You are not comfortable doing market research
• You are not comfortable running an eCommerce store

If you are someone who already has contacts in China, or have already gone through the process of setting up a wholesale business, then something like Salehoo may not be for you, though for such a low price a year, it could always open up new opportunities and relationships. With a 60 day money back guarantee, it may be worth exploring to see if Salehoo can expand or help your business.

Are There Any Salehoo Alternatives?

Yes, there are a number of alternatives on the market today, offering similar services.

One of the most popular is one called WorldWide Brands, and has quite a cult following these days, due to just how long it's been around and the other is Doba.

Salehoo VS WorldWideBrands

This is actually a difficult one to determine, as they cater for slightly different crowds.

But for the people I deal with and talk too, usually startups or young entrepreneurs looking to dip their toes in the water, Salehoo still wins this round and here's why;

Affordable Membership

The $299 upfront cost is a huge hit for someone who is trying to find a niche they can work with, or who are finding the products that they can start to supply.

$67 a year is much more entrepreneur friendly and you can easily find your feet or niche with such a low price. If you haven't paid back that $67 in a year, then Drop Shipping might not be for you!

Tools / Extras

WorldWideBrands really only provides you with a VERY large list of suppliers, they don't provide you with extras such as Hot Products, up and coming trends, eBay Top Sellers or anything in that realm. They do offer training and ways to stop yourself from being scammed online, but Salehoo also provides free articles or training on similar issues.

Ready Built Stores

Again, you are given the option of just purchasing a store, filled with products within your niche.

Salehoo VS Doba

If I am honest, the fight between Salehoo VS Doba is pretty one-sided. Here are some of the reasons why I believe Salehoo is just the better out of the two;

Competitive Pricing

The base cost for Doba is $29 a month, Salehoo offers you a number of tools, a huge database of products and all at essentially $6 a month!

You also don't have to pay per transaction, as you aren't really doing transactions here.

Similar Tools / Offerings

Both Doba and Salehoo both offer the same tools when it comes to offering Drop Shipping 'Hot Products', 'Seller Ratings' and even the ability to see trends. With the number of 'high quality' on items on Doba, but no guarantee other than a seller rating that they will be legitimate, makes me a little worried about Doba and it's offerings.

Doba does offer you the ability to export to other platforms, but if you are using DropShipping fulfilment tools such as Oberlo or AliDropShip then you don't need to export, as you can import from the store situated on AliExpress already.

Number of products/database side

For this, it's a bit of a tiebreaker. Doba has a really impressive list of products available, with over 2 million product listings and growing, compared with Salehoo’s 2.5 million products, so really there is not much in it!

For this, I would suggest reading the full comparison. Salehoo vs WorldWide Brands Vs Doba - The true Mexican standoff!

 For those who want a more in-depth look at how to make money with Salehoo, I would recommend checking out this article. 

And that's it, I hope you enjoyed this quite long Review, there will be a few others looking at the Drop Ship product and the Educate courses to get an idea of what they contain at a later date, watch this space.