Contents
At a glance
Four common ways for a UK shop to source stock it does not make. None is best in general; each suits a different stage and a different kind of shop.
Method
Up front
Payment risk
Automation
Direct from a supplier
Usually a minimum order
On you (pro-forma) or on them (credit terms)
Depends on the supplier — often email and spreadsheets
Cash and carry
Pay at the till, take it away
None — you leave with the goods
None — you collect in person
Dropshipping services
Nothing — you order per sale
Depends on the service
Usually built around shop integrations
Wholesale marketplaces
Varies by marketplace
Depends on how the marketplace takes payment
Varies — some have integrations or an API
Direct from a supplier
You open a trade account with a manufacturer or distributor and order from their price list — by email, phone, a PDF line sheet or their own trade portal.
- Good for: the best price on the lines you sell most, and a direct relationship with the people who make or import them.
- Watch for: minimum orders, stock information that is only as current as the last email, and payment terms that put the risk on one side — you pay first on pro-forma, the supplier waits on credit terms.
Cash and carry
A trade warehouse you visit in person: you pick stock off the shelves, pay at the till, and take it with you.
- Good for: topping up fast-moving stock the same day, and seeing exactly what you are buying.
- Watch for: it only covers what the warehouse carries, and none of it can be automated — every order is a trip.
Dropshipping services
Services that connect your shop to suppliers who ship each order straight to your customer, so you hold no stock at all. The wholesale vs dropshipping guide covers the model in full.
- Good for: launching or testing products without buying stock.
- Watch for:where the goods ship from and how long they take, whether stock counts are live, and whether the parcel arrives with someone else's branding on it.
Wholesale marketplaces
Online platforms where many suppliers list their catalogues and you order from any of them through one account.
- Good for: finding and comparing suppliers in one place, and ordering from several without opening several trade accounts.
- Watch for: they differ most in exactly the places that matter — whether stock is live, who holds your payment and until when, what the fees are and who pays them, and whether you can drive it from your own systems.
Where Feed API fits
Feed API is a UK B2B wholesale marketplace. On the points above, this is how it works:
On Feed API
Suppliers
Every active supplier is open to order from — no connection request, nothing to wait for.
Stock
Live counts, reserved the moment an order is created. Every stock change is recorded.
Payment
Held by the platform, through Stripe, until the order is delivered and the 14-day return window has closed.
Fees
6% of the order value plus 25p, paid by the supplier, only on completed orders. No listing or monthly fee.
Delivery
Each order carries its own UK delivery address — yours, or your customer's — and parcels carry no supplier branding or pricing.
Automation
A REST API with 23 endpoints and 19 signed webhook events.
Where it is not the right fit
How to choose
- Starting out or testing lines? Avoid tying cash up in stock: order per sale, and buy in quantity only once a product has proved itself.
- Selling a few proven lines in volume? Direct trade accounts usually give the best unit price.
- Want a wide range from several suppliers? A marketplace saves opening an account with each one — check how it holds your payment and how current its stock is.
- Running on your own systems? Choose a source with an API, so orders are placed by your shop rather than by hand.
The details of how Feed API does it are on the resellers page, the fees on pricing, and the common questions in the FAQ.