Setting Up Basic Wholesale Pricing on Shopify (Without Plus)

I’ve built 7 custom wholesale systems for Shopify merchants, each costing $50,000+. Before you hire a developer or invest in an app, let me show you the manual approach.

It works… until it doesn’t.

This guide will walk you through setting up basic wholesale pricing on Shopify without paying $2,000/month for Plus. I’ll be honest about what works, what breaks, and where you’ll hit limits.

Who This Guide Is For

This approach works if you have:

Fewer than 10-15 wholesale customers
One or two wholesale discount tiers (e.g., “20% off retail”)
Simple requirements (same pricing for all wholesale customers)
Time to manage customer relationships manually
Technical comfort with Shopify admin

This approach DOESN’T work if you need:

Customer-specific pricing (Alice gets 20%, Bob gets 30%)
Automatic wholesale customer approval
Net payment terms (Net 30, Net 60)
Custom checkout flows or hidden payment methods
Separate wholesale and retail catalogs

Real merchant challenges we hear:

We need to set a price level for each specific customer - we have 4 different price tiers

Shopify Plus is just too expensive – i.e. $30,000 per year

We cannot create invoices without VAT numbers. However, without Shopify plus, we are stuck…

Sound familiar? You’re not alone. If you need multi-tier pricing, skip to Part 2. For Net 30 payment terms, see Part 3. Otherwise, let’s start with the basics.

The Strategy: Customer Tags + Manual Discounts

Here’s the simplest approach that actually works:

Core concept:

Tag wholesale customers with a specific tag (e.g., “wholesale”)
Create manual discount codes for wholesale orders
Communicate the discount code to tagged customers
Manually review and approve wholesale orders

Cost: $0 (uses only Shopify’s built-in features)

Time investment: ~2-3 hours setup, 30-60 min/week management

Let’s walk through it.

Step 1: Create a Wholesale Customer Tag

First, you need a way to identify which customers are wholesale vs. retail.

In Shopify Admin:

Go to Customers
Search for a customer you want to designate as wholesale
Click their name to open their profile
In the Tags field, add: wholesale
Click Save

Repeat for all wholesale customers.

🔍 Reality check: This works fine for 5-10 customers. At 50+ customers, you’ll want bulk tagging (covered in Part 2) or automated approval workflows (Part 3).

Step 2: Create a Wholesale Discount Code

Now create a discount code that only wholesale customers should use.

In Shopify Admin:

Go to Discounts
Click Create discount → Discount code
Set the code name (e.g., WHOLESALE20 for 20% off)
Under Value, select Percentage and enter your discount (e.g., 20%)
Under Applies to, select Entire order
Under Minimum requirements, you can optionally set a minimum order value
Under Customer eligibility, select Specific customer segments (if available on your plan) or leave as Everyone (we’ll address this in a moment)
Set Usage limits if needed (e.g., one use per customer)
Click Save

🔍 Reality check: The problem with this approach is that any customer can use the code if they find it. You’re relying on “security through obscurity.”

Workarounds:

Use a complex, hard-to-guess code: WS-2024-B2B-X7K9P instead of WHOLESALE
Set usage limits (one per customer)
Monitor discount code usage and cancel orders from non-wholesale customers
Manually invoice wholesale customers instead of using discount codes (see Step 4)

None of these are perfect. This is where apps or Shopify Plus B2B features become valuable.

Step 3: Communicate the Discount Code to Wholesale Customers

Now you need to tell your wholesale customers about the code without making it public.

Option A: Email Template

Create a saved email template you send to approved wholesale customers:

Subject: Welcome to [Your Brand] Wholesale

Hi [Customer Name],

Your wholesale account has been approved! Here's how to place orders:

1. Browse our catalog at [yourstore.com]
2. Add items to your cart
3. At checkout, use discount code: WHOLESALE20
4. You'll receive 20% off all retail prices

Minimum order: $500
Payment terms: Net 30 (invoice sent after shipment)

Questions? Reply to this email.

Best,
[Your Name]

Option B: Customer Note in Shopify

Add the discount code to each wholesale customer’s profile under Notes:

Go to Customers → Select customer
Scroll to Notes
Add: “Wholesale customer. Use code WHOLESALE20 for 20% off. Min order $500.”
Click Save

🔍 Reality check: You’re manually sending emails or updating customer notes. This scales to about 10-15 customers before it becomes tedious. At 50+ customers, you’ll want automated welcome emails (Part 2).

Step 4: Alternative Approach - Manual Draft Orders

If you don’t want to rely on discount codes (which anyone can use), use Shopify’s Draft Orders feature:

We ship 70% to consumers, 30% to retail partners. Right now, we’re duplicating order flows and inventory updates. Nightmare. - Merchant managing dual operations

Draft orders help separate wholesale from retail flows:

How it works:

Customer emails you their order
You create a draft order in Shopify with wholesale pricing
You send them an invoice to pay

Process:

Go to Orders → Drafts
Click Create order
Search for the customer (must be in your customer database)
Add products to the order
Under Payment, apply a custom discount:
- Click Add discount
- Select Custom amount
- Enter discount percentage (e.g., 20%)
Click Send invoice to email the customer a payment link
Customer pays via the link
Order automatically moves to Orders when paid

Pros:

No discount code needed (more secure)
You manually review every order
Can customize pricing per order

Cons:

Completely manual (doesn’t scale past ~5 orders/week)
Customer can’t self-serve (must email you)
No automatic checkout experience

🔍 Reality check: This is the most secure approach but the least scalable. Works if you have 2-3 wholesale customers placing orders monthly. Breaks down at 10+ orders/week.

Step 5: Create a Wholesale Inquiry Form (Optional)

To capture new wholesale customer requests, create a form using Shopify’s built-in contact forms or a third-party app.

Using Shopify’s Contact Form:

Go to Online Store → Pages
Create a new page: “Wholesale Inquiry”
Add content explaining wholesale terms (minimum order, discount, etc.)
Embed Shopify’s contact form or link to your contact page
Manually review submissions and tag approved customers

🔍 Reality check: You’re manually reviewing every inquiry and tagging customers. Works for 1-2 inquiries/week. At 10+ inquiries/week, you’ll want automated approval workflows.

Step 6: Set Minimum Order Values (Optional)

Most wholesale programs require minimum order values. Here’s how to enforce it:

Option A: Honor System

State minimum in your email template or wholesale page
Manually review orders and reject those below minimum

Option B: Shopify Discount Code Minimum

When creating the discount code (Step 2), set Minimum purchase amount
Code won’t work unless cart meets minimum

Option C: Draft Orders

Only create draft orders for orders meeting minimum
Reject orders below minimum via email

🔍 Reality check: There’s no automated way to block checkout for wholesale customers below minimum (without apps or Plus). You’re relying on discount code settings or manual enforcement.

What You’ve Built (And Its Limitations)

Congratulations! You now have a functional wholesale program:

✅ Wholesale customers get discounted pricing
✅ You control who gets access via customer tags
✅ Total cost: $0

But here’s what doesn’t work:

❌ Security: Discount codes can leak
❌ Scalability: Manual tagging/emailing breaks at 15+ customers
❌ Self-service: Customers can’t browse wholesale prices before checkout
❌ Automation: No automatic approval, invoicing, or order processing
❌ Multiple tiers: Can’t easily manage “Tier 1 = 20% off, Tier 2 = 30% off”
❌ Customer-specific pricing: Alice and Bob both get the same discount
❌ Checkout customization: Can’t hide retail payment methods or add Net 30 terms

When This Setup Breaks

You’ll know it’s time to upgrade when:

Signal 1: Time spent managing wholesale > 5 hours/week

Manually creating draft orders
Responding to “What’s my discount code?” emails
Tagging new customers
Reviewing and approving orders

Signal 2: Discount code security issues

Retail customers finding and using wholesale codes
Codes shared on coupon sites
Revenue loss from unauthorized discounts

Signal 3: Customer complaints

“I can’t see wholesale prices until checkout”
“Why do I have to email you for every order?”
“Can I get a quote before ordering?”

Signal 4: Growth

15+ wholesale customers (tagging becomes tedious)
10+ wholesale orders/week (draft orders unsustainable)
Need for multiple pricing tiers (discount codes don’t scale)

The Real Cost of “Free”

Let’s do the math:

Time cost:

Initial setup: 2-3 hours
Weekly management: 1 hour/week (tagging, emails, draft orders)
Annual time cost: ~50 hours

At $50/hour (conservative), that’s $2,500/year in opportunity cost.

Hidden costs:

Revenue lost to discount code leaks: ???
Customer frustration from manual process: ???
Orders you can’t fulfill because of manual bottlenecks: ???

This is why most merchants eventually move to apps ($50-100/month) or Shopify Plus ($2,000/month).

Next Steps

If this approach works for you:

You have <10 wholesale customers
Simple, single-tier pricing
Time to manage manually

Keep going with this setup! Bookmark this guide and revisit when you hit limits.

If you’re already hitting limits:

→ Part 2: Adding Multi-Tier Wholesale Pricing (Coming soon) Learn how to handle Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 pricing using Shopify’s customer segments and automation apps.

→ Part 3: Customizing Checkout for Wholesale (Coming soon) How to hide payment methods, add Net 30 terms, and create a true B2B checkout experience.

→ See what we’re building We’ve built 7 custom wholesale systems for merchants managing $2.3M+ in B2B revenue. Now we’re packaging that expertise into an app. Share your challenges.

Alternatives to This Approach

If you need more than basic discounts:

Shopify Plus B2B ($2,000+/month)

Full-featured B2B experience
Customer-specific pricing, catalogs, terms
Only makes sense if you’re already on Plus for other reasons

Wholesale Apps ($50-150/month)

Wholesale Pricing Discount, Wholesale All-in-One, BSS B2B
Automated tagging, tiered pricing, some checkout customization
Good middle ground for 10-100 wholesale customers

Custom Development ($25,000-50,000+)

Built exactly to your requirements
Only makes sense if wholesale is a major revenue stream
See our custom development services

Our App (Coming Soon) ($50-100/month, estimated)

Tag-based pricing, multi-tier discounts, checkout customization
No Plus required, hours to deploy
Built by developers who’ve done this 7 times
Get early access

Questions?

Questions about wholesale? Get help with your setup →

Whether you’re trying this approach, hitting roadblocks, or just exploring options—I’d love to hear from you. Share your feedback via email or schedule a quick call.

Next in series: Part 2: Adding Multi-Tier Wholesale Pricing (Coming soon)

About the author: Michael Wallbaum has built custom wholesale systems for 7 Shopify merchants since 2019, managing over $2.3M in wholesale revenue. He’s currently building a wholesale app for Shopify merchants who’ve outgrown manual processes but don’t need Shopify Plus. Learn more.