A wholesale application form saves you from quoting buyers who were never a fit. The right questions tell you who the buyer is, where your products will be sold and how large the account could become. This guide lists the questions to ask, with wording you can copy into your form, and a template reply for approved and declined applicants.
Keep the form short
Every extra field loses a few applicants, including good ones. Ask only what you will use to make the approval decision or to set up the account. Anything else can wait until the first order.
- ✅ Questions that change your yes or no
- ✅ Details you need to create the account and send a price list
- ❌ Questions you could answer by looking at the buyer's website
- ❌ Long free-text fields with no clear purpose
Business details
These questions confirm that the applicant is a real business and give you what you need to open the account. Requirements for resale and tax documents differ by location, so ask for whatever applies where you and the buyer operate.
- Business name: What is the legal name of your business, and the name you trade under?
- Contact: Who is the buyer, and what is their email and phone number?
- Address: What are your billing and shipping addresses?
- Website and social: Where can we see your store online? [website and social profiles]
- Tax or resale document: Please provide your [resale certificate / tax ID / business registration number].
Where and how they sell
These answers tell you whether the buyer suits your brand and whether they overlap with an account you already have nearby.
- Type of business: Which describes you? [physical store / online store / both / distributor / other]
- Locations: How many locations do you have, and where are they?
- Sales channels: Where do you plan to sell our products? [your own store / your own website / online marketplaces / other]
- Customers: Who is your typical customer?
- Other brands: Which similar brands do you carry now?
Order expectations
Ask about volume and timing so you can check the buyer against your minimums before either side spends time on a quote. See wholesale price breaks and MOQ and what to do with a wholesale order below your minimum.
- Products of interest: Which products or collections are you interested in?
- First order: Roughly what size of opening order do you have in mind? Our minimum is [amount or number of units].
- Reorders: How often do you expect to reorder?
- Timing: When do you need your first delivery?
- Payment: How would you prefer to pay? [card / bank transfer / payment terms, subject to approval]
Template replies
Reply to every applicant, including the ones you decline. A short, polite no costs little and keeps the door open if their business changes.
- Subject, approved: Your wholesale account with [store name] is approved
- Body, approved: Hi [name], thanks for applying. We have approved [business name] for a wholesale account. Our price list and terms sheet are attached. The minimum opening order is [amount or number of units]. To place your first order, [ordering method]. If you would like a quote, reply with the products and quantities you need.
- Subject, declined: Your wholesale application to [store name]
- Body, declined: Hi [name], thank you for your interest in carrying [store name]. We are not able to offer a wholesale account at this time because [reason, for example we already have a stockist in your area / we are not taking on new accounts this season]. You are welcome to apply again [timeframe or condition]. We appreciate you thinking of us.
After you approve
Send your terms and price list straight away, while the buyer is still interested. See the wholesale terms sheet template, how to set up a wholesale price list on Shopify and wholesale quote reply email templates.
Doing this at scale
Once approved buyers start sending requests, QuoteWeaver reads each free-text quote request, parses it into line items and matches each to a real catalog SKU with a confidence score. It prices the request against your B2B list, including volume breaks, MOQ and the next-break upsell, then builds a Shopify draft order and a drafted reply. Low-confidence lines are flagged, and it never invents a SKU or price. See QuoteWeaver.