As my baby’s first birthday approaches, another anniversary approaches as well — my anniversary of becoming a mom, experiencing birth, and stepping into this new phase.

For me, becoming a mom has felt like riding a mountain bike down a steep hill: exhilarating, joyful, demanding of my strength and skill, and only partially in my control. I’ve learned a lot over the past year. And most of what I’ve learned feels viscerally true to me across both my personal life and my work life.

As new wholesale marketplaces pop up, it can be hard to sort out the real opportunities from the time-wasters. As you know, we’ve done profiles of all the key marketplaces (starting with Faire of course.) But JuniperMarket LINK, one of the newest entrants to the space holds real promise. JuniperMarket’s key differences are its focus on home goods and furniture, certainly – but they also have an interesting showroom component that may just prove to be a truly new offering.

It’s so exciting to get an order from a new stockist. But the thing that is most satisfying and ultimately transformative to your business is to have long-term relationships with stockists that order from you repeatedly over the span of years. Here’s what we recommend in terms of communication with your stockists, including those who buy from you on Faire.

In this article, we’re talking about the power and opportunity of email newsletters: using email to engage with your community and build relationships.

When considering wholesale marketplaces there is no shortage of options these days. Many of the marketplaces are similar but small differences can mean large impacts on makers and independent brands. In this article we review a newer wholesale marketplace, Creoate, and give you the information you need to decide if it’s a good fit for your wholesale strategy.

If you’re working to grow wholesale, your wholesale line sheet (or wholesale catalog) is one of your most important tools. It’s a single, cohesive way to present your line, products, pricing, and wholesale terms in a format that lets you tell your story to store owners, exactly how you want to.

Our guide to making quick, affordable changes to your wholesale line sheet — for makers and small product lines.

Editor’s note: Originally, Candid started at well under $100/month with unlimited users. But as of March, 2024, Candid’s price increased to a minimum of $179/month. For many small makers and brands this may be well out of range as a fee that makes sense. This article was originally written when the tool was more affordable, but at that higher price, think carefully about whether it makes sense for you before proceeding.

For years, Abound was a major player in the wholesale marketplace world – and a major competitor to Faire. So for many small brands, Abound was a marketplace they had considered selling with.

In 2023 and 2024, though, Abound made an abrupt business model transition and then (effectively) closed altogether. In this article we wrangled all the details of that evolution – and we’ll give you the details you need for Abound, Droply, and their Droply’s parent company, Carro.

Reviews and tips about Bulletin wholesale marketplace from makers and small product companies, pros and cons of using Bulletin, and an interview with the co-founder getting her thoughts and how to decide if it is for you.

Honest reviews of Handshake from makers and small product companies, the key things you need know to decide if Handshake is for you and how to use Handshake to grow wholesale.