The gap between your wholesale and retail price has to pay two businesses: yours and the retailer's. There is no universal percentage that fits every product. This guide shows the arithmetic with one example, so you can run it on your own numbers.
Three numbers set the gap
Every wholesale price sits between two limits. Below it is your unit cost. Above it is the retail price a shopper will pay.
- Unit cost: Product, packaging and handling per unit
- Wholesale price: What the retailer pays you
- Retail price: What the shopper pays
- Your margin: Wholesale price minus unit cost
- Retailer's margin: Retail price minus wholesale price
Move the wholesale price up and your share grows while the retailer's shrinks. The work is finding a point both sides can accept.
Work it through
Here is an example. Your unit cost is $8.00 and the product retails for $30.00. Try a wholesale price of $15.00, which is half of retail.
- Your margin: $15.00 − $8.00 = $7.00 per unit, which is 47% of $15.00
- Retailer's margin: $30.00 − $15.00 = $15.00 per unit, which is 50% of $30.00
Each margin is a percentage of that seller's own selling price. That is why the two percentages do not add up to 100.
Test a different gap
Now move the wholesale price and watch both sides. Same product, same $8.00 cost and $30.00 retail price.
| Wholesale price | Your margin | Retailer's margin |
|---|---|---|
| $13.50 | $5.50 (41%) | $16.50 (55%) |
| $15.00 | $7.00 (47%) | $15.00 (50%) |
| $18.00 | $10.00 (56%) | $12.00 (40%) |
None of these rows is correct by default. Retailers differ in the margin they need, so ask your buyers what they work to. Then check whether your own row still covers your costs.
Check the lowest tier
If you offer volume breaks, run the same sum on your lowest price, not your base price. Say your largest tier is $13.50 each.
- Margin at the lowest tier: $13.50 − $8.00 = $5.50 per unit
- On a 144 unit order: 144 × $5.50 = $792.00
If that figure does not cover the work of the order and leave a profit you are happy with, the tier is too deep. For setting tiers, see wholesale price breaks and MOQ.
Compare with selling direct
A direct sale at $30.00 leaves $22.00 over unit cost, against $7.00 at wholesale. That comparison is incomplete, because a direct sale carries costs a wholesale order does not, or carries them per unit instead of per order.
- Direct: Advertising, payment fees, shipping one parcel at a time, returns
- Wholesale: One invoice, one shipment, many units
Subtract your real per-order costs from both before you decide the gap is too wide.
Doing this at scale
Once your price list is set, QuoteWeaver applies it to each quote request. It prices every line against your B2B list, including volume breaks, MOQ and the next-break upsell, and builds the Shopify draft order and a drafted reply. See QuoteWeaver.