The most common question I get from new Amazon wholesale sellers is some version of: "How do I actually get brands to work with me?" It is a fair question, and the honest answer is more nuanced than most coaches will admit. The short version is that supplier relationships are not just about sending the right email — they are about building the right foundation first, then approaching brands in a way that makes them want to say yes.
I have seen students close their first brand-direct deal within 30 days. I have also seen students send hundreds of emails and get nowhere. The difference is almost never effort. It is almost always sequence and positioning.
One of the most common mistakes beginners make is approaching brands before their Amazon account is properly set up. Brands and distributors evaluate potential wholesale partners based on the credibility of their Amazon presence. An account with no sales history, no category approvals, and no professional storefront is not a compelling partner — regardless of how well-written the outreach email is.
Before you send a single outreach email, your account needs to be ready. That means having a professional seller profile, completing the ungating process for the categories you intend to sell in, and having at least some transaction history that demonstrates you are an active, legitimate seller. This is the foundation that makes everything else possible.
"A brand does not want to work with someone who looks like they are just starting out. They want to work with someone who looks like they have already arrived."
At Abuv The Par, we teach a three-stage approach to supplier outreach that has consistently produced results for our students across different categories and account sizes.
Before approaching brands directly, start with distributors. Distributors are intermediaries who carry products from multiple brands and are generally more willing to work with newer accounts. Closing a distributor deal gives you sales history, invoice documentation, and the account credibility that makes brand-direct conversations much easier.
Once your account has momentum, begin approaching brands directly. Your outreach should be concise, professional, and focused on what you can offer the brand — not just what you want from them. Brands receive dozens of generic wholesale inquiries every week. The ones that stand out demonstrate knowledge of the brand's products, awareness of their Amazon presence, and a clear value proposition.
Closing the first deal is not the end — it is the beginning. The brands that become your most valuable long-term partners are the ones you invest in beyond the transaction. Regular communication, consistent order volume, and proactive problem-solving build the kind of trust that leads to exclusive arrangements and preferential pricing.
The best outreach emails I have seen from our students share three qualities: they are short, they are specific, and they lead with value. A typical winning email is four to six sentences. It names the brand, references a specific product or product line, mentions your Amazon sales volume or account metrics, and ends with a clear, low-friction ask — usually a request for a wholesale application or a brief call.
What kills most outreach emails is vagueness. "I am interested in selling your products on Amazon" tells a brand nothing about why they should work with you. "I currently sell in your category with $X in monthly revenue and would like to discuss adding your line to my catalog" is a different conversation entirely.
The sellers who build the most durable wholesale businesses are not the ones who send the most emails. They are the ones who build the best reputations. In wholesale, your reputation travels. Brands talk to each other. Distributors refer sellers they trust. The investment you make in being a reliable, professional, easy-to-work-with partner compounds over time in ways that are impossible to replicate with volume alone.
This is the philosophy at the core of Abuv The Par. We are not teaching people to game a system. We are teaching people to build real businesses with real relationships that last. If that resonates with you, watch our free training and see what the full framework looks like.
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