Sell wholesale with B2B on Shopify

Before you start

B2B on Shopify lets wholesale buyers sign in and order at their own prices and payment terms. It is available on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus plans, and B2B features cost nothing extra on those plans^1,2. Some features differ by plan¹:

• All four plans: companies and company locations, quantity rules and price breaks, net payment terms, draft orders, PO numbers and Shopify Flow automations.
• Basic, Grow and Advanced: up to 3 active B2B catalogs across all B2B markets, and your store must use the new Shopify Markets.
• Advanced and Plus: checkout and storefront content that changes by market.
• Plus only: unlimited catalogs, catalogs assigned directly to a company or location, deposits, partial payments and payment requests per fulfillment.

Check these requirements first²:

• Customer accounts must be turned on. Legacy customer accounts can't be used for B2B customers or orders.
• Checkout customizations made in the checkout.liquid file don't work with B2B.
• Accelerated checkouts such as Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Amazon Pay don't work for B2B orders.
• Local delivery, pickup points, tipping and subscriptions aren't available at B2B checkout. Pickup in store, abandoned checkouts and gift cards are off by default and need a request to Shopify Support.
• An order can have at most 500 line items.

Decide whether you want a blended store (wholesale and retail in one store) or a separate wholesale-only store before you start⁷.

As a worked example, picture a candle shop that sells retail online and wants to give 12 gift shops a 40% wholesale discount on Net 30 terms.

Steps

1. Create a company. From your Shopify admin, go to Customers > Companies and click Add company. Enter the company name, choose a main contact with an email address, and enter the shipping and billing addresses³.
2. Fill in the company's settings. On the same form, pick catalogs under Catalogs, terms under Payment terms, and order options under Checkout. Optionally add a tax ID and Tax settings under Taxes, then click Save³.
3. Add more locations if needed. For a buyer with several stores, open the company, click Create new location in the Locations section, enter the addresses and location name, and click Save³.
4. Create a catalog. Go to Markets > Catalogs and click Create catalog. Enter a Title (buyers don't see it), choose All products or Specific products, click Continue, and click Save⁴.
5. Set the wholesale prices. In the catalog, use the Overall adjustments drop-down to choose Price decrease and enter a percentage. For set prices, click Manage > Manage products and pricing and enter prices in the Price column. Fixed prices override the percentage⁴.
6. Activate the catalog. In the Status drop-down, select Active, then save⁴.
7. Assign the catalog to buyers. On Shopify Plus, open the catalog, select Company location from the drop-down under the title, click Add a company location, pick the locations and click Done⁴. On Basic, Grow and Advanced, add the catalog to a B2B market instead: open the market, click the + icon next to Catalogs, select the catalog, click Save and then Done⁸.
8. Set payment terms. Open the company, click the location, click the Edit icon in the Payment terms section, choose No payment terms, a Net period (7 to 90 days) or Due on fulfillment, and click Save⁵.
9. Choose how orders arrive. On the location, under Orders submission in the Customizations section, choose Submit all orders as drafts for review if you want to approve each order, or Automatically submit orders. Click Save³.
10. Add the buyers. Open the company, click the vertical menu in the Customers section, and click Add customer. Pick the location and the permission (Ordering only or Location admin), then click Save⁶.
11. Test as a buyer. Create a test company with one location and a test customer, log into your store as that customer, and place a test order. Check the prices, payment terms and checkout settings⁹.
12. Invite your buyers. Open the company, click Send B2B access email in the Customers section, select the customers, click Preview email, then click Send email⁶.

Check your work

• The test order from step 11 shows the catalog price, not your retail price, and the payment terms you set⁹.
• Each buyer shows a location and a permission on the company page. A buyer with no locations shows as "No access"⁶.
• Each company location has no more than 25 catalogs, counting market and direct assignments⁸.
• If you chose draft submission, test orders arrive as drafts for you to review³.

Common problems

• "Buyers see retail prices." The order must be linked to a company location when it is placed, or retail rates apply². Check that the buyer is added to a location and that the location's catalog or market catalog is active^6,4.
• "I can't assign a catalog straight to a company." Direct assignment is Plus-only. On other plans, assign catalogs through a B2B market^1,8.
• "I can't add a fourth catalog." Basic, Grow and Advanced allow 3 active catalogs across all B2B markets. Remove or draft one before adding another¹.
• "Shop Pay doesn't show for wholesale buyers." Accelerated checkouts don't work with B2B².
• "I need a deposit up front." Deposit requirements on company locations are only on Shopify Plus⁵.
• "An app stopped working for wholesale orders." Some third-party apps don't support B2B. Contact the app developer².
• "Old buyers are regular customers." Move existing customers and their order history to companies with Shopify's built-in migration tool, or select Add customer's orders to this location when adding them^7,6.

Further reading

• Shopify B2B features by plan¹
• Setup checklist for blended B2B stores⁷