A wholesale buyer may not want your shop-window price. They may ask for their own price list, an order minimum that suits your business, and time to pay. If you run wholesale from spreadsheets, email and phone calls, you may wonder how much of that Shopify can do without a custom build.
This article walks through Shopify's built-in B2B features in plain words and says which plans carry each one, as checked on 3 November 2026. It ends with a one-page rules sheet to fill in before anyone starts building. Shopify changes plan terms from time to time, so confirm each point on its Help Center page before you decide.
What Shopify B2B is made of
Shopify B2B is a set of features inside the normal Shopify admin, and Shopify's B2B page says it has no separate fee. Shopify's help pages describe these building blocks.
- Companies and locations. A company is the buyer. Each company has one or more locations, and a location is the business you actually sell to. Each location has its own tax ID, tax exemptions, addresses, catalogs, payment terms and contacts.
- Contacts. These are the people at the buyer. An "ordering only" contact can buy and see their own orders. A "location admin" can also see all orders for the location and change its addresses.
- Catalogs. A catalog controls which products a buyer sees and at what price.
- Payment terms. These set how long a buyer has to pay.
- Draft orders. These let your staff build, price and invoice an order by hand.
Shopify's help page says you can create unlimited companies. It also lists limits per location, including up to 25 catalogs and up to 50 customers.
Price lists are set through catalogs
In Shopify's help pages, custom wholesale prices are set through catalogs. A catalog can include all your products or a chosen set. It can adjust prices by a percentage or set fixed prices. You can assign a catalog to a B2B market, which makes its products and prices available to the company locations in that market. On Shopify Plus you can also assign a catalog straight to a company location. For the market side, see our guide to Shopify Markets.
This is where plan limits bite. On Basic, Grow and Advanced, you can have up to 3 active catalog assignments across your active B2B markets. Shopify counts each market separately. One catalog used in two active markets takes two of your three slots. Two catalogs each used in two markets would need four, which is over the limit. Plus has no limit.
So count before you choose a plan. If you have distributors, retailers and agents on different prices, and you sell in two regions, you may reach the limit quickly. If you expect to, read about Shopify Plus and B2B or compare the plans in Shopify Plus or Advanced.
Minimums and volume prices
Quantity rules set a minimum, a maximum and an increment for a product. An increment of 10 means the buyer orders in tens. Volume pricing adds price breaks for bigger quantities, up to 10 breaks per product. Both work per variant, so a buyer cannot mix two colours to reach a break. Once a volume price applies, the price is fixed and a catalog-wide percentage adjustment is not applied on top. Shopify also warns that if you set a minimum, your theme should show it on the product page.
Quotes and order approval
Much wholesale is not pure self-service. Shopify's pages describe a draft order for staff and a review step for buyers.
- Staff-built draft orders. Your team can create a draft order for a buyer who phones or emails. When you pick the company location, its prices, payment terms and checkout options carry over. You can set a negotiated price on a line item and add the buyer's purchase order number. You can take payment at once or send an invoice. A price lock keeps the draft's prices fixed even if product prices change later.
- Submit for approval. You can require a company location to place every order as a draft. The buyer sees a "Submit for approval" button at checkout. You then review the draft and create the order, or the buyer pays your invoice. To do this only for some orders, such as large ones, Shopify's page points to a developer-built function.
The pages I read describe custom line-item prices and the draft review step. They do not mention a form where a buyer asks for a quote, and Shopify's B2B overview uses the word "quotes" only for accepting draft orders to review and approve. Ask your developer how quote requests will work, for example through a draft order your team builds, a form or an app, and what each option costs.
Letting new buyers apply
Shopify's account request feature lets a wholesale customer apply through a form you build with the Shopify Forms app. Company name and email are required. Each submission creates a company, a location and a customer. New companies wait in an "Ordering not approved" tab. Until you approve one, it cannot order or see B2B prices. You approve by assigning locations and permissions, or reject by deleting the company. A Shopify Flow template can approve applications automatically.
Two limits from the same page. The feature does not work with a dedicated store that is gated to B2B customers. The page's workaround is to remove the gating and hide prices, products and buy buttons from visitors who are not logged in.
B2B buyers need the newer customer accounts, because Shopify says legacy accounts cannot be used for B2B. Buyers sign in with their email and a six-digit code. A buyer who is not linked to a company location is treated as an ordinary customer.
Payment terms
Shopify's term options are net 7, 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90, due on fulfillment, or no terms, which means pay now. For net terms the clock starts on the day the order is placed. Due on fulfillment means payment is due once every item is fulfilled. You can set terms for one location, all locations in a company, or many companies at once. Fixed-date terms exist only on individual draft orders.
Three details change how you run credit:
- Buyers can pay early from their account with a "Pay now" button. After the due date they can still pay, and the order shows as overdue.
- Shopify does not capture payment automatically when terms end. If a buyer saved a card, you charge it by hand in the admin.
- Deposits, partial payments and payment requests per fulfillment are Plus only. A deposit is a percentage paid at checkout, with the balance due on the terms.
Terms that vary by buyer type, cart contents or order total need a custom app or a third-party app. Shopify's overview lists vaulted cards, manual payment methods and payment reminders through Shopify Flow. Its plan page shows ACH payments for the United States only. If you sell elsewhere, ask which payment methods are available for your country on Shopify's payment pages.
Blended store or dedicated store
Shopify describes two set-ups. In a blended store, wholesale and retail customers share one store, one theme and one stock count. B2B prices show only after a B2B customer logs in, and the store cannot be gated. Using the theme editor to show different content to B2B and retail customers needs the Advanced plan or higher. In a dedicated store, wholesale gets its own store, theme, stock and analytics, and you can gate it so only B2B customers get in. A dedicated store is a new store, so apps and integrations are set up and paid for again. Shopify warns that switching later means redoing most of the set-up, so decide this early.
What each plan includes
Shopify's plan page says B2B works on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus. It is not available on Starter or Retail. Shopify's changelog dated 2 April 2026 announced that key B2B features had come to Basic, Grow and Advanced at no extra charge. Older guides that call B2B Plus-only may be out of date.
- All four eligible plans: companies and locations, quantity rules, volume prices, net terms, vaulted cards, draft orders, purchase order numbers, reorders, sales staff permissions (some permission levels may be limited off Plus) and Shopify Flow automations.
- Basic, Grow and Advanced: up to 3 active catalog assignments.
- Advanced and Plus: a different storefront and checkout for B2B buyers through Markets.
- Plus only: unlimited catalog assignments, catalogs assigned directly to a company or location, deposits, partial payments and payment requests per fulfillment.
Taxes and existing customers
Tax settings sit on each location. You enter a tax ID, which Shopify labels a VAT number for certain Shopify Tax users in the UK and EU. You then choose to collect tax, not collect it, or collect unless an exemption applies. Exemptions are set per location. If you have retail customers who should become wholesale accounts, Shopify's page says you can select up to 250 customers at a time to set up companies in bulk. Only orders placed as ordinary retail customers move across, and tax exemptions you created by switching off tax collection do not migrate. For the Gulf side of tax, see selling to the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
A one-page wholesale rules sheet
Fill this in before you brief a developer. Each line is a decision Shopify cannot make for you.
- Who may buy? Open application, invitation only, or both. Who approves, and how fast?
- Price tiers. List each tier and each region. On Basic, Grow or Advanced, count the catalog assignments against the limit of 3.
- Minimums. Quantity rules work per variant. If you need a minimum order value, ask how it will be enforced.
- Terms. Which net terms for which buyer type? Do you need deposits, which need Plus?
- Collecting. Who chases an overdue invoice, and how is the card or bank payment taken?
- Tax. Which buyers are exempt, and which documents do you hold for them?
- Store type. Blended or dedicated, and why.
- Existing customers. How many, and who will move them?
- Staff. Which sales staff see which companies?
- Other systems. Where do stock, customer prices and invoices live today? See connecting Shopify to your ERP or accounting system.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rules or ask a qualified adviser before you decide.
ESTASOFT offers Shopify Plus and B2B work from offices in Dubai, Erbil and London. If you want help turning your rules sheet into a working wholesale store, read about our Shopify Plus and B2B service and send a short brief on the contact page.
Sources
- Overview of B2B features on Shopify: companies, catalogs, payment terms, draft orders, checkout and plan notes (checked 3 November 2026)
- Shopify B2B features by plan: which plans include which features, catalog limits, Plus-only features (checked 3 November 2026)
- Creating and managing B2B companies: locations, contacts, tax settings and limits (checked 3 November 2026)
- B2B catalogs: what a catalog controls and how it is assigned (checked 3 November 2026)
- Setting up quantity rules and volume pricing in B2B: minimums, maximums, increments and price breaks (checked 3 November 2026)
- Setting up payment terms in B2B: term options, due dates, collection and deposits (checked 3 November 2026)
- Creating B2B orders using draft orders: draft orders, price lock and submit for approval (checked 3 November 2026)
- Company account requests: application form, approval and limits (checked 3 November 2026)
- Sign-in and customer accounts in B2B: customer accounts and buyer sign-in (checked 3 November 2026)
- Choosing a store type for your B2B business on Shopify: blended and dedicated stores (checked 3 November 2026)
- Migrating your customer data to Shopify B2B: bulk setup limits and what moves (checked 3 November 2026)
- Key B2B features now available on non-Plus plans: change dated 2 April 2026 (checked 3 November 2026)
- B2B on Shopify: feature overview and note that B2B has no separate fee (checked 3 November 2026)