Hi Mark,
Thank you for your offer to help, but I doubt you'll get anywhere with them. I've been told by three suppliers to get back to them AFTER my site is up and running. Needless to say I won't have a site up and running without products. I've been as transparent as possible. I have all my business licenses and I'm very serious about opening an ecommerce store. If I can't find any US suppliers to provide the products I need in this niche, I will look into changing my niche and see if I have better luck.
I can see why so many ecommerce businesses do business with China and other countries, considering how difficult US suppliers are to deal with.
It's like trying to get your first job, but no one will hire you unless you have experience.