Wholesale pricing & terms · 40 articles
Wholesale Pricing and Terms
The first wholesale price you quote follows you: it becomes the number every buyer expects and the one your retail price has to leave room for. Terms work the same way — a minimum, a payment term or a free-shipping threshold given to one store becomes the standard.
These guides do the arithmetic and the paperwork: wholesale versus retail pricing, the calculators, MAP, minimum orders, net terms, line sheets and price lists, case packs and the policies that keep the channel profitable.
Guides
MAP Policy for a Small Brand: Worth Writing?
A minimum advertised price policy protects the number your product is believed to be worth. Here is when a small brand needs one and how to enforce it.
6 min readTiered Wholesale Pricing Without Hurting Margin
Volume tiers should pay for themselves in production or handling, not in hope. Here is how a small brand builds a price ladder it can defend.
6 min readWholesale Shipping Cost: What Cases Really Cost
Cartons, dimensional weight, pallets and who pays. Here is how a DTC brand works out what shipping a wholesale order actually costs before quoting it.
6 min readFirst Order Minimum: Sizing the Opening Order
The opening order has to be big enough to merchandise and small enough to say yes to. Here is how a small brand finds that number and defends it.
6 min readWholesale Policy: The Rules a Brand Sells By
Who you will sell to, who you will not, and what every account gets. Here is how a small brand writes a wholesale policy it can actually hold to.
6 min readWholesale Terms and Conditions for Small Brands
The clauses that matter when an order goes wrong: title, damages, cancellation, late payment and resale. Here is what a small brand should write down.
7 min readWholesale Discount Percentage: What Stores Expect
The standard wholesale discount is half off retail, and the exceptions are predictable. Here is how a DTC brand decides what its own number should be.
6 min readWholesale Minimum Order: How to Set Yours
A minimum order protects the margin that picking, invoicing and freight would otherwise eat. Here is how a small brand sets one buyers still accept.
6 min readWholesale Payment Terms for a First-Time Brand
Prepay the first order, earn terms after that. Here is how a DTC brand grants credit to shops without turning a good quarter into a cash shortfall.
6 min readWholesale Terms Sheet: What Goes on the Page
A terms sheet answers the nine questions a buyer asks before ordering. Here is the one-page version a small brand can write in an afternoon.
6 min readFree Shipping in Wholesale: When to Cover Freight
Covering freight on wholesale orders is a pricing decision, not a courtesy. Here is how to set a threshold that pays for itself on a small brand.
7 min readWholesale Catalog Template: A Structure You Reuse Each Season
A wholesale catalog template is a structure, not a design file. Here are the sections it needs so every season takes an afternoon, not a week.
7 min readWholesale Terms: The One Page Every Stockist Should Sign
Wholesale terms set minimums, payment, returns, pricing and exclusivity before the first order. Here is what belongs on the page and what does not.
7 min readCase Quantity: Choosing How Many Units Go In a Carton
Case quantity decides your freight, your handling cost and whether a shop can say yes. Here is how to pick the number and when to offer inners.
7 min readHow to Make a Line Sheet: An Afternoon, Start to Finish
A line sheet is one PDF a buyer can order from without emailing you. Here is how to shoot it, lay it out and export it in a single afternoon.
7 min readRetail Markup: Keystone, Triple Key and What Buyers Mean
Retail markup and retail margin are different numbers for the same deal. Here is the arithmetic, and how buyers in each category actually apply it.
7 min readWholesale Markup: How Far Above Cost Your Trade Price Sits
Wholesale markup is the multiple between what a product costs you and what a shop pays. Here is the floor, the target, and what each one buys you.
7 min readRetail Price Formula: Setting the Number Shops Will Print
The retail price formula runs from the shelf backwards, not from your costs forwards. Here is how to set a number that works in stores and online.
7 min readWholesale Invoice: The Document That Decides If You Get Paid
A wholesale invoice is not a receipt. Here is every field a store needs to pay it, and the small omissions that turn thirty days into ninety.
7 min readWholesale Pricing Formula: Three Ways to Get to the Number
There are three wholesale pricing formulas and they disagree. Here is how each one works on a real product and which answer to trust.
6 min readNet 60 Terms: Should a Small Brand Ever Agree to Them?
Net 60 terms mean waiting two months to be paid for stock you already made. Here is what that costs a small brand and when it is worth saying yes.
7 min readRetail Margin: The Number a Buyer Checks Before You Do
Retail margin is what a store keeps after paying you. Here is how buyers calculate it, why fifty is the bar, and what to do when yours falls short.
7 min readWholesale Margin: What You Really Keep on a Case Order
Wholesale margin is thinner than DTC and hides costs nobody budgets for. Here is how to work out what a case order actually leaves you.
7 min readWholesale Price List: What Goes On It and What Does Not
A wholesale price list is the one page a buyer checks before ordering. Here is every column it needs, and the lines that cause disputes later.
7 min readVolume Discounts: Building Tiers That Do Not Eat Your Margin
Volume discounts reward bigger orders without wrecking your wholesale margin. Here is how to set the tiers, the breaks and the rules that hold.
7 min readWholesale Deposit: Asking a Store to Pay Before You Make It
A wholesale deposit covers the materials you buy before a store order ships. Here is how much to ask for, when to ask, and how to word it.
7 min readWholesale Discount: Which Ones Are Worth Giving
A wholesale discount should buy something specific: a bigger order, faster payment, a first account. Here is which ones pay for themselves and which do not.
6 min readHow to Calculate Wholesale Price, Step by Step
Work out a wholesale price from landed cost and shelf price, then test it per case. Here are the four steps and what to do when the number does not work.
6 min readLine Sheet Template: The Fields and the Layout
A line sheet template is a header, a product table and a terms block. Here is every field to put in each one and how to build it so you can reuse it.
6 min readMinimum Order Quantity: Setting Your Wholesale Floor
Your minimum order quantity is the smallest wholesale order worth packing. Here is how to work out the number, where to state it and when to bend it.
7 min readWholesale Catalog: When a Brand Needs One
A wholesale catalog sells the range where a line sheet prices it. Here is when a growing brand needs both, what goes in and how to keep it from going stale.
6 min readLine Sheet Examples: Three Sheets, Pulled Apart
Three worked line sheet examples for a jam maker, an apparel brand and a coffee roaster, with what each gets right and where each one usually goes wrong.
7 min readSuggested Retail Price: How to Set and Publish It
Suggested retail price is the shelf price you recommend to stockists. Here is how to set it, where to state it and what you can do when a shop ignores it.
6 min readWholesale Line Sheet: What a Buyer Needs on It
A line sheet is the one-page price list a buyer orders from. Here is every field it has to carry, how to lay it out and how to send it so it gets read.
6 min readCase Pack: How to Choose the Right Case Size
A case pack is the fixed quantity a shop must buy per item. Here is how to pick the number, what goes on the carton and what breaks when it is wrong.
7 min readOpening Order: What a Shop's First Order Should Be
An opening order is a new stockist first order, sized to be easy to say yes to. Here is the minimum, the assortment and the payment terms to ask for.
7 min readWholesale Price Calculator: Build One in a Sheet
A wholesale price calculator is nine columns in a spreadsheet. Here is what goes in each one, the formulas, and the checks that catch a bad price.
7 min readWholesale Price vs Retail Price: How They Connect
Your wholesale price is roughly half your retail price, and the two have to be set together. Here is how the pair works and what happens when it drifts.
7 min readBulk Pricing: How to Build Wholesale Price Breaks
Bulk pricing gives a bigger order a lower unit price. Here is how to size the break points so volume actually pays you more, not less, per order.
7 min readNet 30 Terms: When a Small Brand Should Say Yes
Net 30 means the shop pays thirty days after you invoice. Here is who to grant it to, what it costs your cash flow and how to chase it when it slips.
7 min read