The Truth about "Wholesale"...
The biggest thing that's constantly misunderstood by people trying to start a home business on the Internet is the word Wholesale.

Other people think that working with real wholesale suppliers means that they will magically be able to sell products for less than anybody else on the planet, for ever and ever. They'll be the only one who ever gets such good prices, and they'll earn millions because no competition can touch them. They retire, and buy a big house in Beverly Hills, complete with a butler, and the whole works!

Then they realize they may actually have to compete with companies who have more buying power and get better prices, and suddenly the dream's over. They run around crying that the supplier is not a real wholesaler, and is a cheat. The sky is falling, and  all their dreams are being blown away by BAD people who 'falsely' claimed to be wholesalers. The fact is that they've realized a perfectly normal aspect of retail sales that they had not anticipated, and need to learn.

Again, wholesale is a relative term. Yes, genuine wholesalers DO sell at significant discounts below Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. However, you have to watch what you sell. Electronics, for example, are a very tough market, because EVERYBODY is trying to sell electronics on the Net right now. Everyone's so busy trying to undercut each other that they have driven the "market price" of these items down so low as to make it very difficult to make a profit, even at wholesale.

For more precise Wholesale Glass Bead info, here are my official, No bull, No fluff links relevant to your search so I really recommend checking these out now:

Important Bead Facts & Tips:

Beads are the oldest and most universal art form. Beads have been used throughout the ages and in virtually every culture, not just as adornment but as an expression of social circumstances, political actions, or religious beliefs. Beads have also been widely used as a form of currency; as a symbolic representation of curative power; and as protection in the form of a talisman. Ancient ancestors used readily available raw materials such as bone, horn, teeth, ivory, stones, nuts, seeds, shell, wood and a variety of plant and insect resins as beads. By using these natural materials, man created all styles of artistic ornamentation for himself. The variety was vast and ranged from headdresses, hats, caps, hair combs, earrings, and necklaces to bow quivers, waist belts, breast ornaments, skirts, cloaks, and shoes.

A very popular type of bead is...

Trade Beads
The history of beads dates back to the ancient ancestors. The earliest know beads were made out of readily available, simple materials including bone, ivory, teeth, seeds, stone, wood and a variety of plant and insect resins. It's believed that the first beads were worn as protection against uncontrollable events and the forces of nature, as well as to show one's status in the community and to enhance beauty. As bead making increased, and trade routes were established, the use of beads for trade began. Trade beads are usually associated with West Africa where they are usually found, but they were originally created in Venice, Bohemia, and Holland. The history of trade beads dates back to the end of the fifteenth century when Portuguese trading ships arrived on the coast of West Africa to exploit its many resources, including gold, slaves, ivory, and palm oil.