Shopify B2B and wholesale in Australia: what you get on each plan

Shopify B2B lets you sell to trade customers from the same store as your retail customers, or from a separate store. A business buyer gets a company account with its own locations, prices, payment terms and ordering permissions. They log in, see their prices, and reorder without emailing you for a quote.

Shopify's help centre describes two setups. A blended store serves wholesale and direct-to-consumer customers together. A dedicated B2B store serves trade buyers only. Most Australian brands that wholesale part of their range choose blended, because one product catalogue, one stock count and one set of photos is less work. If wholesale becomes most of your revenue, or you want a completely different look for trade, a separate store can be cleaner.

Until recently, doing this properly meant Plus. That is no longer true, and many articles online are out of date on this point. Always check the Shopify help centre for the current plan table. We built our Shopify B2B and wholesale service around the current rules.

Shopify's help centre lists B2B features by plan. The Starter and Retail plans do not include B2B. Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus do, with these differences:

The tier prices are $56 for Basic, $149 for Grow and $575 for Advanced a month on monthly billing, or $42, $114 and $431 billed yearly. Plus is from $3,700 a month. See our Shopify pricing guide in AUD for the card rates and what each plan includes.

A catalog is a set of products with its own prices. You can offer a wholesale catalog, a distributor catalog and a VIP catalog. Shopify says Basic, Grow and Advanced allow 3 active catalogs across all your B2B markets, and that assigning 3 catalogs to one market uses the full limit.

For most small and mid-sized brands, three is enough. A typical split is wholesale, distributor and export. The limit bites when you want a different price list for each of many accounts. On the lower tiers you work around it with company-level discounts and quantity rules. On Plus you assign a catalog to a specific company or location directly.

Trade buyers rarely pay by card at checkout. Shopify lets you set payment terms per company location: Net 7, Net 15, Net 30, Net 45, Net 60, Net 90, or due on fulfilment. Orders can be placed on terms, then the buyer pays against the invoice. Shopify also lists payment reminders, vaulted cards, PO numbers and invoices from draft orders on every plan with B2B.

• Set terms per company location, not for the whole store. A new account might be due on fulfilment, a long-standing one Net 30.
• Decide who reviews new applications. Companies can be created through account request forms, so you can approve trade buyers before they see prices.
• Set minimum order quantities and increments with quantity rules, so a stockist cannot order one unit at a wholesale price.
• Use Shopify Flow to tag trade orders and notify your team. Shopify lists Flow with B2B objects on all B2B plans.

Deposits, partial payments and payment requests per fulfilment are Plus-only. If you take a 50 per cent deposit on custom orders, or invoice by shipment, that is one place where Plus is the right fit.

Trade buyers in Australia expect to see prices excluding GST. Retail customers expect to see prices including GST. Shopify handles this through the tax settings, and it is the part of a B2B setup people most often get wrong.

Shopify's help centre says that if you include taxes in product prices, you cannot display a tax-exempt price to certain customers, and tax-exempt customers are still charged the full listed price. That is a problem if your retail prices include GST and you want exempt buyers to pay less. It does not apply to GST-registered Australian trade buyers who simply pay GST on top of an ex-GST price.

1. Step 1

   Choose how you price

   In Settings, Taxes and duties, decide whether product prices include tax. In a blended store where trade pricing matters, prices excluding tax with GST added at checkout is usually simpler. Retail shoppers then see tax added at checkout. Test the effect on your retail pages before you change it.

2. Step 2

   Build trade prices ex GST

   Enter catalog prices as the ex-GST wholesale price. A catalog showing $40.00 means $40.00 plus GST at checkout.

3. Step 3

   Record the company details

   Store each trade buyer's ABN against the company record. Companies can have tax exemptions configured, so export buyers and overseas companies can be set up correctly.

4. Step 4

   Test with a trade account

   Place a test order as a trade customer. Check that the invoice shows the ex-GST price, the GST line and a correct total. Ask your accountant to look at it.

Our GST setup guide explains the retail side. If you also sell wholesale to New Zealand, read selling to New Zealand as well. Tax questions that go beyond configuration belong with your accountant.

Native B2B covers most needs, but apps still help in a few places. Wholesale apps in the Shopify App Store add features such as password-protected wholesale-only stores, application forms with custom fields, per-customer discount rules, bulk order forms and volume discount tables. One example is Wholesale Hub, which is listed on the App Store. App prices change often, so check each listing.

• Use native B2B first. It is built into checkout and the admin, so it is less likely to break after a Shopify update.
• Add an app for a specific gap, such as more price tiers than three catalogs allow, or a bulk order grid for large product ranges.
• Avoid running an app and native B2B for the same job. Two systems fighting over price is a common source of wrong invoices.
• Test the app with your theme and your checkout before you load all your accounts.

If your store carries a pricing app from years ago, it is worth auditing whether native catalogs now do the same job. See apps and integrations.

Most Australian wholesalers run Xero. The Shopify integration listed on the Xero app store says it is free for Xero subscribers. It syncs sales, payouts, fees and taxes from the Shopify online store and Shopify POS, matches Shopify Payments payouts to your bank feed, and brings in up to 90 days of historical data. You can choose a daily summary or a separate transaction for each sale, and the second option includes customer details and product lines.

That is built for retail reconciliation. For wholesale you also need to think about invoices against terms. If a Net 30 order is sent as a Shopify invoice, you want it to appear in Xero as an open invoice against the right contact so your accounts receivable report is correct. Test how your chosen sync treats unpaid orders before you go live, and ask your accountant what they need for BAS.

Plus makes sense when your wholesale operation looks like a business-to-business operation, not a retail one with a trade price. Signs include many accounts with negotiated price lists, deposits on custom or large orders, partial shipments invoiced separately, and an ERP such as NetSuite that needs to feed orders and stock. Plus is from $3,700 a month, and Plus work is quoted after a scoping call at 12 weeks and up.

If that is not you, run B2B on a lower plan. You can move to Plus later without rebuilding the store. For a full view of whether Plus pays back, read Is Shopify Plus worth it in Australia? and our Shopify Plus service.

• Pick blended or dedicated store type before you build.
• Decide your catalogs and what each one contains.
• Set pricing ex GST for trade, and test retail pricing after any tax setting change.
• Create companies for your first accounts and set terms per location.
• Add quantity rules for minimums and increments.
• Test the login, ordering, invoice and payment steps with a test customer.
• Connect Xero and run a full test order through to a bank reconciliation.
• Write a short guide for trade buyers on how to log in and reorder.

If you would like us to set this up, talk to us. We will tell you plainly if your needs fit a lower plan.