Wholesale affiliate programs aren’t the most obvious niche.

The buying process is a bit more complex than your standard B2C affiliate programs (for example, customers usually need to sign up as members to make purchases, sometimes even paying a fee). This inevitably leads to a smaller target audience.

Still, there’s lots to like about the wholesale industry — not least the earning potential. The market was valued at $46 billion in 2022 and is expected to exceed $65 billion by 2026.

Plus, a smaller audience can work in your favor. With fewer potential customers, there’s less competition, making it easier to rank high in search results and drive traffic to your site.

If that sounds appealing, read our data-backed roundup of the 10 best wholesale affiliate programs…

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1 BJs Wholesale Club

Got a big audience on the Eastern Seaboard? BJs Wholesale Club could be the perfect wholesale affiliate program for you.

The retailer operates 230+ membership warehouses in 17 eastern states from Maine to Florida, giving it terrific brand awareness throughout the region — making your job as an affiliate marketer a cinch.

BJs members enjoy benefits like exclusive discounts and competitive prices on brand-name products. So it’s hardly surprising the company has signed up six million members to date.

Talking of memberships, they present the most attractive opportunity for affiliate marketers: for each BJs Wholesale Club membership you sell, you receive a 16% commission.

BJs also pays 1% – 2% on “regular” sales, allowing you to earn multiple commissions from the same customer.

URL: BJs Wholesale Club affiliate program
Managed by: CJ Affiliate
Commission rate: 1% – 2% per sale, 16% per membership signup
Cookie duration: 14 days on memberships, 30 days on product sales
Products/Services sold: Groceries, furniture, electronics, books, jewelry, appliances, and more
Payment methods: Check, direct deposit, Payoneer
Market(s): US only
Additional resources: Dedicated affiliate management team, product feed

2 Wholesale2B

Dropshipping has quickly grown from a niche pursuit to an essential part of the global ecommerce industry. And sales are expected to double from $243 billion in 2023 to $476 billion in 2026.

Enter Wholesale2B, a platform that equips drop-shippers with over one million wholesale products — and the tools to sell them.

Drop-shippers can simply import Wholesale2B products to their store or marketplace. When a customer makes a purchase, Wholesale2B handles all the tricky stuff (like shipping), and the seller keeps the profits.

If you write about topics like entrepreneurship and how to earn money online, this affiliate program could be the ideal fit. Especially because the terms and conditions are so attractive: you get a lifetime cookie window and 30% recurring commissions for each customer you refer.

For context, if you send 500 signups to Wholesale2B with an average monthly fee of $39.99, you’ll pocket $4,000 in commissions every month.

There’s only one catch: ShareASale’s data shows the most recent transaction was back in 2021. Maybe Wholesale2B just isn’t working with the right affiliate marketers — or maybe the site has a major conversion rate problem.

URL: Wholesale2B affiliate program
Managed by: In-house, ShareASale, UpSalo
Commission rate: 30% recurring monthly commissions
Cookie duration: Lifetime
Products/Services sold: Dropshipping products and selling tools
Payment methods: PayPal
Market(s): Global
Additional resources: Banner ads, text links, coupons and deals, affiliate marketing newsletters

3 Global Industrial

Admittedly, Global Industrial sounds like a shadowy front for a comic book supervillain’s evil schemes. But it’s actually a major player in the world of industrial and commercial supplies, with a 70 year history and a catalog of over 1.7 million products across 21 categories.

Global Industrial memberships unlock a range of benefits, including the ability to create and manage multiple order lists, auto re-orders, and subscriptions.

Members also get a faster and more personalized checkout — a key selling point given that 61% of customers expect brands to tailor experiences based on their preferences.

Global Industrial pays 4% on wholesale purchases and offers a 60-day cookie window, which is longer than most wholesale affiliate programs we’ve seen.

The company boasts a high average order value of $300 — equivalent to an average commission of $12 per transaction.

URL: Global Industrial affiliate program
Managed by: CJ Affiliate
Commission rate: 4% per sale
Cookie duration: 60 days
Products/Services sold: Industrial & commercial supplies, medical equipment
Payment methods: Check, direct deposit, Payoneer
Market(s): US, CA
Additional resources: Quarterly affiliate incentive promotions

4 Wholesale Chess

Okay, we’ll admit that promoting wholesale chess club supplies isn’t for everyone. But hear us out, because interest in chess has surged since The Queen’s Gambit hit Netflix back in October 2020:

And with UN figures showing that 605 million adults play chess regularly, there’s clearly an opportunity here.

That brings us neatly to Wholesale Chess, which sells a giddying array of chess-related products, from pieces and boards to clocks and books. The company accepts purchase orders, making it an excellent fit for any affiliates targeting chess clubs, government entities, and other organizations.

The Wholesale Chess affiliate program pays a solid 10% commission on all sales originating from your affiliate link that convert within the 30-day cookie window.

URL: Wholesale Chess affiliate program
Managed by: Ascend by Partnerize
Commission rate: 10% per sale
Cookie duration: 30 days
Products/Services sold: Chess boards, chess pieces, chess club supplies, other chess products
Payment methods: PayPal
Market(s): Various
Additional resources: Banners, text links, coupons

5 FiftyFlowers

Flowers are big business, with Americans splurging $2 billion on them just for Valentine’s Day.

There are also signs that it’s becoming more popular with younger consumers. One survey found that 14% of 18 to 29-year-olds in the US had purchased flowers from an online retailer in the previous 12 months.

FiftyFlowers is one such online retailer, shipping flowers direct from farms to the customer’s door (or to the object of their affection). It prides itself on delighting customers, helping the company be ranked by Newsweek as one of America’s top brands for customer service.

ShareASale’s 30-day figures show an average sale of $278+, a strong conversion rate of 3.75%, and an EPC of $23.40 — higher than any other flower affiliate program on the network.

URL: Fifty Flowers affiliate program
Managed by: ShareASale
Commission rate: 2.5% – 5% per sale
Cookie duration: 60 days
Products/Services sold: Flower delivery
Payment methods: Check, direct deposit, international direct deposit, wire transfer, Payoneer
Market(s): US only
Additional resources: Banner ads, text links, videos, product data feed, bonus campaigns, coupons & deals, affiliate marketing newsletters

6 Wholesale4Fashion

At first glance, Wholesale4Fashion doesn’t look too promising. Most glaringly, it hasn’t converted its website to HTTPS — what is this, 2015? And its homepage is riddled with typos.

But hear us out, because there’s still plenty for wholesale affiliates to like here.

As an online store selling wholesale fashion products, the company stocks thousands of items and caters to a wide range of customers, including personal buyers, store owners, resellers, and B2B wholesalers looking for suppliers. It also claims to be up to 90% cheaper than regular retailers.

Create an affiliate account through Wholesale4Fashion’s simple online form to earn a 5% commission on all referred sales.

URL: Wholesale4Fashion affiliate program
Managed by: In-house
Commission rate: 5% per sale
Cookie duration: Unlisted
Products/Services sold: Wholesale apparel, shoes, accessories, home textiles
Payment methods: PayPal, check, bank transfer
Market(s): Global
Additional resources: Unlisted

7 Microfiber Wholesale

Finally, a cheaper way to buy microfibers!

I’ll level with you: I didn’t know what microfibers were until five minutes ago. Turns out they’re incredibly fine synthetic fibers with various characteristics (softness, strength, absorption) that make them superb cleaning products.

It also turns out that microfibers are a massive industry, with global sales expected to reach almost $750 million by the end of 2026. Who knew?

Microfiber Wholesale is the answer to all your microfiber needs, stocking professional-quality microfibers for everyday cleaning.

The family-owned business works hard to build relationships with pro cleaners, even offering limited free product samples to verified companies. So if your target audience includes a lot of cleaners (or you write about cleaning-related topics), this affiliate program is a great fit.

Microfibers Wholesale pays an attractive 10% commission rate on all sales. It offers discounts of up to 40% on bulk orders, so there’s plenty of upsell potential here.

URL: Microfiber Wholesale affiliate program
Managed by: Refersion
Commission rate: 10% per sale
Cookie duration: 14 days
Products/Services sold: Microfiber products
Payment methods: PayPal, Trolley, gift card
Market(s): US only
Additional resources: Discount codes, free product samples

8 SaleHoo

We’ve already spoken about the immense size of the dropshipping industry. But it’s hardly a license to print money. Drop-shippers face any number of headaches — including the perpetual struggle to find high-quality products and reliable suppliers.

SaleHoo strives to tackle those problems by pre-vetting 8,000+ suppliers and more than 2.5 million products, giving would-be drop-shippers all the tools they need to succeed. And the message seems to be getting through, with over 137,000 entrepreneurs using SaleHoo to source suppliers and products.

The platform’s affiliate program pays a base recurring commission rate of 50%, although top-performing affiliates can earn up to 70% by hitting specific sales targets. That’s more than double the commissions of Wholesale2B, one of SaleHoo’s biggest competitors.

According to SaleHoo, it’s possible to make $500+ per year from a single sale, making this one of the highest-paying affiliate programs in the wholesale niche out there.

URL: SaleHoo affiliate program
Managed by: ClickBank
Commission rate: 50% – 70% recurring commissions
Cookie duration: 60 days
Products/Services sold:
Payment methods: Check, direct deposit, wire transfer, Payoneer
Market(s): Global
Additional resources: Custom marketing materials, email swipes, example reviews, autoresponder sequence, PPC keyword list, dedicated affiliate manager

9 Global Crafts

In a world where three in four consumers have split up with brands over a conflict in values, it pays to work with ethical wholesalers.

Global Crafts is one such business, working directly with village artisans in countries like Haiti, India, and Kenya to source beautiful, handmade products for the wholesale market.

The company operates on the principles of Fair Trade, ensuring its artisan partners benefit from good working conditions, fair wages, and the opportunity to build a sustainable income. Purchases through the platform ultimately support a wealth of community projects, from schools to healthcare facilities.

Global Crafts pays commissions of 5% per sale and offers a generous 90-day cookie window. With typical wholesale orders totaling around $500, affiliates can expect to earn around $25 per transaction.

Before creating your Global Crafts affiliate account, be aware this is strictly a wholesale program, so you won’t get paid for retail orders. Commissions are also limited to one sale per customer, so there’s no opportunity for repeat purchases here.

URL: Global Crafts affiliate program
Managed by: In-house
Commission rate: 5% per sale
Cookie duration: 90 days
Products/Services sold: Wholesale handmade products & gifts
Payment methods: Unlisted
Market(s): Global
Additional resources: Branded assets

10 NutriCargo

The wholesale food ingredients market was worth nearly $809 billion in 2021 and is expected to surpass an eye-watering $1 trillion by 2026.

One of the niche’s many players is NutriCargo, which supplies a wealth of weird-and-wonderful natural ingredients and extracts, from bladderwrack to winged kelp.

Offering discounts of up to 10% on bulk purchases and free US shipping on transactions over $100, the retailer provides plenty of scope for affiliates to drive substantial orders. It also boasts a coveted A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau — a major trust factor to help you close the deal.

Speaking of which, NutriCargo’s affiliate program pays 5% per sale, which isn’t particularly inspiring. However, the website describes this as its “standard” rate, suggesting higher commissions may be available to top performers.

URL: NutriCargo affiliate program
Managed by: In-house
Commission rate: 5% per sale
Cookie duration: Unlisted
Products/Services sold:
Payment methods: PayPal, check, bank transfer
Market(s): US only
Additional resources: Unlisted

Conclusion

Want to know our favorite thing about wholesale affiliate programs?

Because products are typically cheaper than regular retail prices, customers are encouraged to buy in bulk, which translates to higher average order values — and higher commissions.

But if you’re going to make it as an affiliate marketer in the wholesale space, you need a reliable traffic source. In short, you need a website.

That’s where AuthorityHacker comes in. We’ve built affiliate sites in countless niches, and we’re happy to pass on our learnings.

Sign up for our free training to learn seven secrets for launching high-performing websites — including one sneaky tip for stealing your competitors’ best keywords.

See you there!