Hi, I volunteer with Bikes del Pueblo, a volunteer-run non-profit bike collective in San Diego, CA. We teach bike mechanics and offer very low priced, free, or donation based used bikes and parts.
We want to find a bike supply distributor (such as JBI, QBP, etc) to work with to start ordering bike supplies, tubes, and parts at their wholesale prices. I've been finding that these companies ask for an application to be completed first with required documents like a state sales tax certificate, license for selling and repairing bikes, and other stuff that bike shops would have but we don't have any of.
We have insurance, 501c3 non-profit status, and a space to operate out of, but don't do sales tax, don't have licenses, and don't have a formal sales floor vs repair areas.
Would other bike coops/collectives have recommendations of wholesale bike distributors to get in touch with for ordering that would accept collectives like ours without needing to be a standard style bike shop or have all those official documents?
Thank you!
Leslie