Our Story

Built by Resellers,
for Resellers

Manufacture Direct started in 2005 as a scrappy supplier list on a personal homepage. Today it's the most trusted wholesale sourcing directory on the web — helping 12,000+ resellers find factory-direct products every month.

2005
Year founded
12k+
Active resellers
500+
Verified suppliers
Free
Always, forever

The Story Behind Manufacture Direct

It started with a bad order. In 2004, our founder was reselling electronics on eBay and got burned by a sketchy supplier — $400 down the drain on a batch of broken MP3 players from an unverified source.

Instead of quitting, he built a spreadsheet of every supplier he'd personally tested, verified, and found reliable. He put it on a website. Within a year, 500 people were visiting it daily. They had the same problem: finding trustworthy sources is hard.

"The whole point was simple — I wanted a list I wished existed when I was starting out."

Twenty years later, that list has grown into a comprehensive directory of 500+ verified suppliers, a weekly newsletter read by 12,000+ resellers, and a suite of free tools that help real people build real product businesses.

We make money through affiliate commissions when you click through to suppliers and make a purchase — which means we're incentivized to only recommend suppliers that actually deliver. If they're bad, you don't buy, we don't earn. Our interests are fully aligned.

What We Stand For

Our Values

🔒

Honest Verification

Every supplier on this site has been reviewed. We don't accept paid placements that override our quality standards. If a supplier is questionable, they're not listed.

💸

Always Free

The core directory is free. Always. We make money through affiliate commissions — not subscription fees, not paywalls, not selling your data.

📚

Education First

We write the guides we wished existed. Practical, actionable content that teaches real reselling skills — not vague advice designed to upsell a course.

The People Behind It

Our Team

DL
David L.
Founder & Editor

Former eBay PowerSeller turned sourcing obsessive. Has personally tested 200+ suppliers across 15 years of reselling.

SR
Sarah R.
Head of Content

Ex-boutique owner who sourced from Faire, DHgate, and domestic wholesalers. Writes our weekly newsletter and supplier reviews.

KP
Kevin P.
Supplier Relations

Vets every supplier before listing. Former international trade agent with 10 years of factory auditing experience.

Ready to Start Sourcing?

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