Wholesale for Dropshippers: Health, Household and Beauty

Short answer: we are a wholesale distributor, not a dropship service. We do not ship single units to your customers. If you are running a health, household or beauty store online and the single-unit model has stopped working, this page explains the model most sellers move to, and what it costs you.

American General Distributors holds health and household, beauty and personal care, perfume, pet and grocery stock in the United States and sells it by the case pack to businesses that resell.

Why dropshipping breaks first in this category

Consumables fail differently from toys or electronics, and the failures land on your account:

  • Expiry dating. You cannot check the date on a bottle you never touched. A customer receiving something with four months left will say so publicly, and on a marketplace that becomes a metric.
  • Seals and leakage. Liquids, creams and supplements arrive damaged more often than boxed goods. Somebody has to inspect them, and in a dropship arrangement nobody does.
  • Sourcing questions. Health and beauty are the categories where marketplaces most often ask a seller to prove where stock came from. A forwarded order rarely produces an invoice that satisfies that request.
  • Batch and recall. If a batch is withdrawn you need to know what you sold and to whom. Without stock in your own hands you are guessing.

What we are, and what we are not

We are not: an order-forwarding service, and we will not ship one unit to your customer with your packing slip.

We are: a distributor holding stock in the USA, selling by the case pack, with a commercial invoice showing exactly what you bought and from whom — the document a marketplace asks for.

The model that works instead

  1. Buy a case of something you have already sold. Not twelve untested items.
  2. Land it where it can be checked and picked — your own unit, a prep partner, or a fulfilment centre. This is the step that catches short dating and damaged seals before your customer does.
  3. Ship from your own stock, so delivery time, condition and paperwork are yours to control.

Dating: the number to ask for every time

In health and household, remaining shelf life is part of the price. Ask what dating a product is arriving with before you commit, not after. Short-dated stock can still be a good buy at the right price and the right quantity — it is only a bad buy when nobody told you.

We will tell you what we are holding. If a product is close-dated we would rather say so and let you decide than have it come back at you in a review.

What holding stock costs you

Cash tied up until it sells, somewhere to keep it, and the risk you picked wrong. What you get back is control of delivery, control of condition, a real invoice, and a materially better margin because you removed a layer from the chain. Make the move when your sell-through on one product is steady enough to forecast a case — earlier than that and you are just buying storage.

What we carry that suits this

The $5,000 minimum, and how an online seller reaches it

Our minimum is $5,000 across the whole order, never per product. You mix freely at whatever quantities suit you — typically depth on two or three proven items plus small quantities of several you want to test. If your order will fall below $5,000, contact our team by email or WhatsApp chat first.

Paperwork

Wholesale accounts are for businesses buying for resale. Before your first order we will ask for your EIN and a valid resale certificate for your state. Keep our commercial invoices — in health and beauty you will be asked for them sooner or later.

Ordering, payment and despatch

Orders are settled by ACH bank transfer, which is our recommended method. Wire transfer and card payment through Plastiq are available on request. Stock is despatched 3–5 business days after payment clears, with tracking.

Questions sellers ask

Will you ship directly to my customer?
No. We ship to you or to your fulfilment partner.

Will you blind-ship?
Ask us. What is possible depends on the product and the destination, and we would rather answer before you order than after.

Can I start with one case?
Yes, provided the whole order reaches $5,000. Mix it with other stock to get there.

Do you sell single units?
No. Never retail, never single quantities.

Do you ship internationally?
Yes. Across the USA and internationally, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, Europe, Singapore, Korea and Japan.

Talk to our team

See also: choosing a health and household distributor, Amazon FBA sellers, eBay, Walmart and TikTok Shop sellers, and how the minimum order works.

Who we supply

Wholesale categories

Factory-sealed case packs with a minimum order quantity on every listing. ACH bank transfer, despatch 3–5 business days after payment clears. We ship across the USA and worldwide.