Hi Dale and welcome to the forum,
Not every drop shipper have such charges, but some do as you've seen. You really need to weigh the pros and cons between those that charge and those that offer free accounts. For example, product prices, service and such. It's becoming more common place for drop ship suppliers to have some form of charge, but we do have suppliers listed that do offer no account fees.
Regarding your second question, drop shipping really isn't about buying in bulk, that's a wholesale platform. Drop shipping is about you selling a product up front without paying for it in advance, then paying for it when you get the sale and the supplier sending it direct to your customer. Wholesale is buying in bulk and having the order sent to you, then breaking the load down and on-selling.
The one big advantage wholesale buying has over drop shipping is price, Because you are buying in bulk, you are getting a much better price than drop shipping, where you are buying an item at a time. Of course the negative is that you need the cash up front to buy in bulk from a wholesale supplier, where as you don't need a lot, if any cash flow up front, to deal with a drop shipper.
Cheers