The appeal of buying in bulk is paying less per unit and reducing the number of trips made to the store. But when buying in bulk meant borrowing your cousin’s pickup truck, driving across town or even to the next town over, dragging heavy items onto an awkward, flat cart, heaving everything through the checkout and into the truck, just to turn around and unload it at home, the cost savings became much less attractive.
Now, however, with the options that exist to buy in bulk online, bulk shopping is as easy as opening your laptop and clicking “add to cart.” Whether you are determined to stock up on food supplies, gifts, décor items, candles, pet food or the dozens of other products you’ll find on these sites, you can reduce the amount you’ll pay per unit when you buy in bulk. Plus, you’ll make fewer trips to the store — or none at all — and do the environment a solid by purchasing items that come with less packaging.
These are the nine best places for bulk shopping online where you can find just about anything you can dream of and avoid having to borrow that truck.
Temu
Temu is a relative newcomer. And while quality may vary, it has quickly established itself as THE place to buy everything from $1 dresses to party favors.
In some cases, if you buy more of something, you get a bulk discount.
What It Sells: Everything. And we do mean everything. Tech, spatulas, pet costumes, stickers, sensory toys, fans, jewelry, shoes and an absolutely mind-blowing array of wares.
Savings Tips: Consider buying more (aka buying in bulk) to save per item. For example, we recently spotted a 30-cent discount per tote bag if you bought the largest size bundle (20 bags).
Other Important Things to Know: Shipping with Temu might take a few weeks. Spend $129 to get free express shipping. Also, quality varies a LOT. Sometimes the size descriptions for products aren’t accurate. It’s still a good destination for bulk items that don’t need to last, however, like party favors and party decor.
Sam’s Club
What It Sells: Everything from bananas to iPads and sofas to tires can be found at a Sam’s Club near you or by hitting up the Sam’s Club website. You might not need to buy a dozen Samsung QLED TVs, but if you want to buy each of your 20 bridesmaids a 14K yellow gold bangle, for example, buying in bulk online at Sam’s Club is undeniably the place. There’s almost nothing you could want that you can’t find at Sam’s Club, including cheap photo prints.
Savings Tips: The $45-per-year standard Sam’s Club membership comes with some great perks, including same-day delivery, discounted fuel and add-on memberships. But upgrading to the Plus membership, for $100 per year, snags these and more. You’ll get free shipping, free curbside pickup, extra savings in the pharmacy and optical centers, cash rewards (up to $500 per year) of 2% back on qualifying purchases and access to early, beat-the-crowd shopping hours.
Other Important Things to Know: With the exception of purchases from the cafe, eye exams in the optical department and prescription drugs, Sam’s Club requires a membership to shop at its retail warehouse club; however, non-members may buy in bulk online at Samsclub.com. Non-members will need to factor in a 10% add-on fee when doing price comparisons. Sam’s Club is owned and operated by Walmart and does not require its members to purchase a minimum amount.
Costco
What It Sells: Like Sam’s Club, Costco is a membership-only retail warehouse club, and while it offers similar products, Costco is the preferred store for buying choice and prime beef, organic foods, rotisserie chicken and wine, as well as items from Costco’s private label, Kirkland Signature. (And if you’re thinking about ordering a real Christmas tree online, Costco is a wonderful place to check out). If you need to stock a classroom full of children’s books, load up on appliances, mattresses, Google Nest thermostats and furniture for your rental properties, outfit new offices with computers, office supplies and desk chairs, start your bulk shopping online at Costco.
Savings Tips: Costco has three levels of membership. The Gold Star and Business memberships are $60 per year. The Executive membership is $120 per year and rewards 2% back annually on qualified purchases. If your bulk shopping online is focused on groceries and household essentials, you should know that Costco has a generous delivery fee program: There is no separate delivery fee with two-day orders of $75 or more and perishable foods that are cold or frozen will not have a separate delivery fee if your order is $100 or more. For non-grocery items, shipping is item dependent. However, most items we put in our online cart came up with free two-day delivery.
Other Important Things to Know: Like Sam’s Club, Costco must comply with federal laws which require that non-members have access to the cafe, eye exams in the optical department and prescription drugs. For a 5% add-on fee, non-members may also buy in bulk online at Costco.com. No minimum purchase amount is required when shopping bulk online at Costco.
BJ’s Wholesale Club
What It Sells: At BJ’s Wholesale Club, you’ll find appliances and housewares, groceries, computer and electronic items, baby supplies and toys, healthcare and beauty products, home goods, furniture, jewelry, pet care products and more. Bulk shopping online is easy and if groceries, pantry items, pet food, cleaning supplies and such are on your shopping list, you may want to take advantage of its same-day delivery perk.
Savings Tips: To avoid shipping costs, which are calculated based on location and item, BJ’s offers free, same-day curbside pickup for orders placed online. BJ’s also has its own Perks® Mastercard® credit card with benefits such as 3% to 5% cashback on purchases, $0.10 savings on gas, 15% cashback on tires, 2% cashback on gas and restaurant purchases and 1% on everything else. If you are a veteran, active military member or family member, or a teacher, mention your status when you sign up for your membership and score a 25% discount on the membership fee and either a $10 off BJ’s coupon or $20 in cash rewards. Make sure to bring your manufacturers’ coupons with you to BJ’s. Not only do they accept them, but also you can stack them on top of in-club coupons.
Other Important Things to Know: Like Sam’s Club and Costco, BJ’s is a membership club. Unlike its counterparts, however, shopping online at BJ’s if you are a non-member is only allowed after signing up for a one-day online pass. This pass will allow a non-member access to the benefits of bulk shopping online at BJ’s for 24 hours only, and those items must be shipped.
BJ’s has three levels of membership. The Inner Circle membership is $55 per year with one complimentary membership. This level receives exclusive BJ’s member coupons. The Perks Rewards membership is $110 per year and at this level, members earn 2% cashback. It has the same benefits as Inner Circle plus travel benefits, double and triple cashback events and receives invitations to exclusive events throughout the year. The Business membership can be attained at either the Inner Circle or Perks Rewards level and secures tax-exempt and resale privileges. No minimum purchase amount is required when shopping bulk online.
WebstaurantStore
What It Sells: According to the search bar on the WebstaurantStore site, it sells over 340,000 products. And while we aren’t going to count them for you, we can say that the WebstaurantStore is much more than a bulk online store for restaurant owners. This is the place to shop for bulk items if you are planning a large function at your home, for your employer, church, school, etc.
You can find a vast selection of tableware, glassware, flatware, platters, trays, decanters, carafes, pitchers and more. Need to load up on plastic and paper plates, utensils, cups, glasses, etc.? How about cookware, food storage or baking supplies? Again, the bulk shopping on this site is impressive.
Savings Tips: If you plan on ordering frequently, for a fee of $99 per month, signing up for WebstaurantPlus will access free unlimited shipping for purchases of at least $29. If not on WebstaurantPlus, all regular shipping costs will be calculated per item and based on shipping location. Webstaurant has its own Webstaurant Rewards Visa® card which will earn its holder 3% back per $1 spent at WebstaurantStore, 2% back on dining and grocery purchases and 1% back on all other purchases, as well as 50% off a WebstaurantPlus membership ($600 savings).
Other Important Things to Know: Fast shipping is a priority for the WebstaurantStore and to ensure that its customers get their products as fast as possible, they have warehouse locations in six states across the U.S. WebstaurantStore boasts that it can get an order to 96% of the U.S. within two days.
Amazon “Bulk”
What It Sells: Most people know that you can shop for just about anything on Amazon, including gift baskets. But if you are looking for a specific item to buy in bulk, try typing the word “bulk” in the search bar after the product name. We tried typing “paper plates bulk,” and were rewarded with an ad for bulk supplies from Georgia-Pacific. A lot of the traditional bulk items, like candy, come up when doing a search on Amazon this way, so try bulk food online shopping on Amazon.
Savings Tips: One of the best ways to save when shopping on Amazon is by signing up to be a member of Amazon Prime, which includes free fast delivery.
Other Important Things to Know: While you don’t need a membership to shop on Amazon and there are no minimum orders, you can benefit the most by having a Prime membership and combining shipments, if possible.
The Dollar Tree
When you shop The Dollar Tree Online, you can buy cases of items for dirt cheap. In fact, some items in The Dollar Tree’s online store are bulk ONLY.
What it sells: Everything from home decor, to office supplies, to seasonal decor, to cleaning supplies.
Savings tips: If there’s a Dollar Tree location near you, you can save the shipping charges by using their free ship-to-store service.
Other Important Things to Know: Keep quality and volume in mind. For example, that bulk case of sunglasses might be very cheap, but make sure you actually need them all — and don’t need high-quality frames.
WholesaleMart
What It Sells: Let’s start with what you can’t buy at WholesaleMart: perishables. Oh, but there is so much you CAN buy. From umbrellas, candles, collectibles, garden decor, seasonal decor, kitchen tools and storage, luggage, camping and fishing products, apparel, business products, electronics, jewelry, toys and more, this is an immensely fun online bulk store to shop.
Savings Tips: WholesaleMart has a tiered volume pricing structure. When you purchase $250 or more, your total will be discounted by 5%. If your order totals $500 or more, you’ll receive 10% off and if you purchase $1,000 or more from WholesaleMart, you can expect a discount of 15%.
Other Important Things to Know: At WholesaleMart, there are no minimum dollar amount requirements, no membership fees and no handling charges. This is a stellar place to shop for resale gift items and promotional products.
AllBulkFoods.com
What It Sells: If you can eat it or drink it, there is a good chance AllBulkFoods sells it. With thousands of food products from pasta to nuts, this is the place to shop for special occasions, especially if you are interested in bulk candy, organics, all-natural foods and bulk party packs. Bulk food online shoppers should start at AllBulkFoods.
Savings Tips: Because of their shipping volume, AllBulkFoods passes along the discounts it receives from UPS to the customer. AllBulkFoods also offers a discounted flat rate shipping of $249 on orders over $1,499.
Other Important Things to Know: AllBulkFoods sells its products by the inner-pack, case, pallet and truckload.
What Happened to Boxed?
Launched in 2013, Boxed shipped bulk essentials and offered a subscription option. It marketed itself as a membership-free alternative to the big guys, like Costco and Sam’s. However, it filed for bankruptcy in April 2023.
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