" How to Use /"<br > This Book //<br > /"<br > /<br > The aim of Wholesale by Mail N~nd%lin_~2000 is to help consumers find gre，<br > deals on products when buying by ma~fphcne， fax， or on the Internet. The terr<br > wholesale refers to discounts of 30% or more on list or comparable retail on som<br > of a firm s products or services， which is how they qualify to be in this book<br > Many of the companies here sell at even deeper discounts. If you re interested iz<br > buying in quantity， some of the firms here will negotiate with individuals or smal<br > businesses to sell to you on a wholesale basis， often involving a minimum order<br > and sometimes but not always requiring you to have a resale number. Those firms<br > are denoted with a star in the icon line in their listings. For details， see "The<br > Wholesale Star，" page xix.<br > There are other icons that will help you get the most from the information，<br > so before sending for a catalog or placing an order， please read the key to the<br > symbols in "How to Read the Listings，" pages xviii-xix. For more detailed infor-<br > mation on mail-order shopping， see "A Guide to Buying by Mail，" beginning on<br > page 625.<br > Following is a guide to several of this book s features that will help you make<br > the best use of the material.<br > Table of Contents<br >I have sympathy for retailers who must find the right aisle and shelf in their store<br >for oddball items. If you were searching for table pads， for instance， would you<br >automatically think to look in the household furnishings department? Think of<br >this book as a print version of a mall. Each chapter comprises a group of compa-<br >nies that make up a wing of the mall selling similar or related goods. Sometimes<br >within a wing (chapter) where there are companies selling very general goods in<br >that product category， there will also be three or more companies that specialize<br >in one particular aspect of that category. When this occurs， I ve further divided<br >the chapter into themed subsections (for example， "Ceramics，" "Jewelry-mak-<br >ing，" and "Textile Arts" in the "Crafts and Hobbies" chapter).<br > The Table of Contents is designed to help you narrow your product<br > IIO<br > "YI||<br >