You can sell wholesale on Shopify without being on Plus. The work is choosing between Shopify's built-in B2B features, draft orders, or a mix of both. This guide covers what each option does and where the plan limits sit.
Check what your plan includes first
Shopify's help center has a "Shopify B2B features by plan" page with a side-by-side table. At the time of writing it lists the core B2B features on Basic, Grow and Advanced as well as Plus. Plan features change, so check your plan on that page and in your own admin before you build around any of this.
- Listed on all four plans: Companies and company locations, net payment terms, quantity rules, quantity price breaks, draft order to invoice, checkout to draft
- Limited below Plus: Up to 3 active catalogs across all your B2B markets
- Listed as Plus only: Catalogs assigned directly to a company or location, unlimited catalogs, deposit requirements, partial payments
Option 1: Shopify's built-in B2B features
To use Shopify B2B, you set up each wholesale customer as a company in your admin. A catalog then decides which products and prices those buyers see. On Basic, Grow and Advanced, Shopify says catalogs are assigned to B2B markets, not to individual companies, and your store must use the new Shopify Markets.
- Company: The business you sell to, with one or more locations
- Catalog: The products and prices a group of buyers can access
- Quantity rules: Minimum, maximum and increment per variant
- Volume pricing: Lower unit prices at higher quantities
Option 2: Quote with draft orders
A draft order is an order you build for the customer in your admin. You can set a custom price on any line item, and that price applies only to that draft order. You can then email an invoice that includes a checkout link.
- ✅ Works for one-off quotes and negotiated deals
- ✅ You can add payment terms, so payment is due later
- ❌ The buyer cannot self-serve, every order goes through you
- ❌ Prices are typed per order unless you keep a price list to work from
For the full flow, see turning a wholesale quote into a draft order.
Option 3: Use both
Many small wholesale programs fit a mix. Put your standard wholesale pricing in a catalog so regular buyers can log in and order. Handle anything unusual, such as a special price or a mixed request sent by email, as a draft order.
| Situation | Fits |
|---|---|
| Repeat buyer, standard price list | Catalog and company account |
| Emailed request with a negotiated price | Draft order |
| Buyer needs to pay later | Payment terms on the company or the draft order |
What you give up without Plus
The main gap is per-customer pricing at scale. With 3 active catalogs you can run a few price levels, but not a separate catalog for every account. If you need customer-specific deposits or partial payments, Shopify lists those as Plus only. For most stores starting out, a small number of price levels plus draft orders covers the rest.
Doing this at scale
Quoting by draft order gets slow when requests arrive as free-text emails. QuoteWeaver reads the request, matches each line to a real catalog SKU with a confidence score, prices it against your B2B list and builds the Shopify draft order with a drafted reply. See QuoteWeaver.