# Wholesale Central Supplier Directory Scraper (`nimbryxo-studio/wholesale-central-supplier-directory-scraper`) Actor

Browse or search wholesale supplier and dropshipper listings on WholesaleCentral.com by product category, keyword, location, or minimum order, with company name, category, location, and contact details per supplier.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/nimbryxo-studio/wholesale-central-supplier-directory-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Nimbryxo-studio](https://apify.com/nimbryxo-studio) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce, Lead generation, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.49 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Wholesale Central Supplier Directory Scraper

Scrape wholesale supplier and dropshipper listings from [WholesaleCentral.com](https://www.wholesalecentral.com), the B2B directory where retailers look up wholesalers, dropshippers and closeout sellers. Browse by product category or run a keyword search across the catalog. Get company name, category, location, minimum order, and contact info (phone, address, website, social media), with no registration or login.

### What this actor does

- **Browse by category**: 56 departments in the dropdown (Apparel, Electronics, Health & Beauty, Toys & Games, Jewelry, and more), plus a free-text override for any narrower sub-category slug
- **Keyword search**: search the catalog by product or company keyword
- **Pagination**: walks the numbered result pages of a category or search until `maxItems` is reached, a page brings no new suppliers, or 40 pages have been read
- **Supplier type** (category mode only): switch to the site's Dropshippers or Closeout Suppliers department
- **Filters** (both modes): location text match, maximum minimum-order amount, keyword, featured listings only
- **Contact details**: optionally visits each supplier's page for phone number, mailing address, website URL, company description, and social media links
- **Empty fields are omitted** — no null/blank noise in the output

### Output per supplier

From the listing card (every run):

- `recordType`: always `"supplier"`
- `name`: company name
- `slug`: the supplier's identifier in its WholesaleCentral URL
- `detailUrl`, `sourceUrl`: the supplier's WholesaleCentral page (both hold the same link)
- `category`: readable name of the category page the supplier was found on (category mode only; absent in search mode)
- `supplierType`: echoes the `supplierType` you picked (`Wholesaler`, `Manufacturer`, `Importer`, `Dropshipper` or `Liquidator`); it is your selection, not a label the site gives the supplier, and it is absent for `all` and in search mode
- `location`, `city`, `state`: "City, State" as shown on the card, and its two parts
- `memberSince`: year the supplier joined the directory
- `minimumOrderUSD`: minimum order in USD (`0` means the listing says "No minimum order")
- `isFeaturedListing`: `true` when the card carries a "Featured" badge
- `websiteUrl`: the supplier's own website, when the card links to it
- `scrapedAt`: ISO 8601 UTC time the record was built

Added from the supplier's page when `fetchSupplierDetails` is on:

- `phone`: contact phone number
- `address`: mailing address as one line
- `websiteUrl`: website link from the contact panel
- `companyDescription`: the supplier's own description
- `socialMediaLinks`: links to Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X/Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube or LinkedIn

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `mode` | string | `byCategory` | `byCategory` (browse) or `search` (keyword) |
| `category` | string | `Apparel` | Category to browse (mode=byCategory) |
| `customCategorySlug` | string | – | Advanced: override `category` with any wholesalecentral.com category slug |
| `searchQuery` | string | `bluetooth speakers` | Keyword search (mode=search); required in that mode |
| `supplierType` | string | `all` | `all` / `wholesaler` / `manufacturer` / `importer` / `dropshipper` / `liquidator`; category mode only. `dropshipper` switches to the category's Dropshippers page (or the general Dropshippers department if none exists), `liquidator` switches to Closeout Suppliers regardless of `category`, and the other three browse the category unchanged |
| `state` | string | – | Only suppliers whose location contains this text; suppliers that show no location are kept |
| `maxMinimumOrderUSD` | int | – | Only suppliers with minimum order ≤ this amount; suppliers that don't state a minimum are kept |
| `keyword` | string | – | Only suppliers whose name (or description, when details are fetched) contains this text; works in both modes |
| `featuredOnly` | bool | `false` | Only suppliers WholesaleCentral.com badges as a "Featured" (premium/paid) listing |
| `fetchSupplierDetails` | bool | `true` | Visit each supplier's detail page for phone/address/website |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | off | Optional Apify proxy; off by default since a direct connection is faster and more reliable against this site |
| `maxItems` | int | `20` | Hard cap on emitted records (1–500) |

#### Example: apparel wholesalers in California

```json
{
  "mode": "byCategory",
  "category": "Apparel",
  "state": "California",
  "maxItems": 30
}
```

#### Example: dropshippers for pet supplies

```json
{
  "mode": "byCategory",
  "category": "Pet-Supplies",
  "supplierType": "dropshipper",
  "maxItems": 20
}
```

#### Example: keyword search

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "bluetooth speakers",
  "maxMinimumOrderUSD": 200,
  "maxItems": 25
}
```

### Use cases

- **Retail/e-commerce sourcing** — find wholesale suppliers for a specific product category
- **Dropshipping** — build a shortlist of dropshipping-ready suppliers by niche
- **Liquidation buying** — find closeout/liquidation suppliers for discount resale
- **Market research** — analyze supplier density, minimum order thresholds, and geographic distribution by category
- **Lead generation** — build a contact list of wholesale suppliers for B2B outreach

### FAQ

**Does WholesaleCentral separately label suppliers as "wholesaler", "manufacturer", or "importer"?** No — the site doesn't expose that distinction as a filter. Only "Dropshippers" and "Closeout Suppliers" are structurally separate departments on the site, so those two `supplierType` values switch to a genuinely different listing set; `wholesaler`/`manufacturer`/`importer` browse the selected category unrestricted and only change the `supplierType` value written on each record. In search mode `supplierType` is ignored.

**Why do some suppliers have no `phone` or `websiteUrl`?** Not every supplier discloses a phone number or website publicly, and some detail pages only show a website link (no phone) or vice versa. The field is simply omitted rather than shown as empty.

**Why is `minimumOrderUSD` sometimes `0`?** `0` means the supplier explicitly advertises "No minimum order" — a real, meaningful value, not a placeholder. If minimum order isn't disclosed at all, the field is omitted instead.

**Does this need a login or proxy?** No login: supplier listings on WholesaleCentral.com are public. No proxy is needed either, and `proxyConfiguration` defaults to off because a direct connection has proven faster and more dependable on this site. Only enable it if you're running very high volumes and want to spread requests across IPs.

**What if a category has very few suppliers?** Some niche categories or location combinations genuinely have few listings on WholesaleCentral. The actor returns what it finds within `maxItems` and the 40-page limit. An empty dataset means nothing matched your filters, or the category or search page couldn't be loaded; the run's status message says which.

**Why does a run occasionally return suppliers without `phone`/`address`/`companyDescription`/`socialMediaLinks` even with `fetchSupplierDetails` on?** Some suppliers simply don't publish them. Ads on WholesaleCentral.com also sometimes interfere with loading a supplier's contact panel. When that keeps failing across many suppliers, the actor stops visiting supplier pages for the rest of the run, so the remaining suppliers arrive with listing-card fields only (name, category, location, minimum order). That also means a `keyword` can then only match supplier names. Re-running later usually restores full details.

**Is this affiliated with WholesaleCentral.com?** No. This is an independent tool that reads the directory's public supplier pages; it is not run or endorsed by WholesaleCentral.com.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

What to fetch.

## `category` (type: `string`):

Product category to browse (mode=byCategory). Use `customCategorySlug` to target a narrower sub-category not listed here.

## `customCategorySlug` (type: `string`):

Override `category` with any WholesaleCentral.com category slug, e.g. `Mens-Apparel` or `CBD-gummies-edibles`. Find slugs by browsing wholesalecentral.com/category/\*.

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Free-text keyword search (mode=search), e.g. `bluetooth speakers`.

## `supplierType` (type: `string`):

Restrict results to a supplier taxonomy WholesaleCentral.com distinguishes structurally. `wholesaler`/`manufacturer`/`importer` are not separately tagged by the source, so they browse the category unrestricted (same as `all`).

## `state` (type: `string`):

Only include suppliers whose listed location contains this text, e.g. `California` or `Texas`.

## `maxMinimumOrderUSD` (type: `integer`):

Only include suppliers whose minimum order is at most this amount. Suppliers with no disclosed minimum are always included.

## `keyword` (type: `string`):

Only include suppliers whose name or description contains this text (case-insensitive). Applies on top of `category` (mode=byCategory).

## `featuredOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Only include suppliers WholesaleCentral.com badges as a "Featured" (premium/paid) listing.

## `fetchSupplierDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Visit each supplier's detail page to enrich records with phone, full address, website URL, and social media links. Slower but more complete.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

WholesaleCentral.com's bot-detection challenge is passed automatically by a real headless browser on a direct connection. Apify's shared/AUTO datacenter proxy is observed to be significantly slower and less reliable against this specific site's WAF, so proxy defaults to off; only enable it if you need to spread a very high-volume run across multiple IPs.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on emitted records.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "byCategory",
  "category": "Apparel",
  "searchQuery": "bluetooth speakers",
  "supplierType": "all",
  "featuredOnly": false,
  "fetchSupplierDetails": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  },
  "maxItems": 20
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `suppliers` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing all scraped supplier records.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "mode": "byCategory",
    "category": "Apparel",
    "searchQuery": "bluetooth speakers",
    "supplierType": "all",
    "featuredOnly": false,
    "fetchSupplierDetails": false,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    },
    "maxItems": 20
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("nimbryxo-studio/wholesale-central-supplier-directory-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "mode": "byCategory",
    "category": "Apparel",
    "searchQuery": "bluetooth speakers",
    "supplierType": "all",
    "featuredOnly": False,
    "fetchSupplierDetails": False,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
    "maxItems": 20,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("nimbryxo-studio/wholesale-central-supplier-directory-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "mode": "byCategory",
  "category": "Apparel",
  "searchQuery": "bluetooth speakers",
  "supplierType": "all",
  "featuredOnly": false,
  "fetchSupplierDetails": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  },
  "maxItems": 20
}' |
apify call nimbryxo-studio/wholesale-central-supplier-directory-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,nimbryxo-studio/wholesale-central-supplier-directory-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/0DBfCnh9xJK5PP48C/builds/EHXac140tOoQo0fJG/openapi.json