The 2026 calculus has changed
Until April 2026, "I want wholesale on Shopify" had two answers: pay for Shopify Plus or install a third-party wholesale app. Now there's a third: turn on native B2B, which Shopify rolled out to every paid plan. For a slice of merchants, that's the right answer. For others it's a trap. This is the side-by-side that should help you tell which you are.
What native B2B gives you (no Plus required)
On Basic, Shopify, and Advanced plans, native B2B includes:
- Company profiles with multiple contacts and locations
- Up to 3 custom price catalogs scoped to markets
- Volume discounts and quantity rules per catalog
- Vaulted credit cards and NET 15/30/60 payment terms
- Customer-account login flow tied to companies
It's a real product. If you have three or fewer wholesale tiers and don't need anything app-shaped on top, this is the right call.
Where native B2B falls down
Four hard limits, in rough order of how often they bite:
- Three catalogs is the cap. No exceptions on non-Plus plans. Once you have a fourth pricing tier — Stylist, Spa, Retail Small, Retail Large is a common four-tier setup — native B2B can't do it.
- Catalogs attach to markets, not companies. "This specific stockist gets a custom price list" requires Plus.
- No partial-payment / deposit flow. NET terms or pay-now, that's it. No 30%-deposit-now-balance-on-shipping.
- No public registration form. You either patch in a Shopify Forms widget and process applications by hand, or install another app for it.
None of these are blockers for small wholesale books. All of them get noisy at $5M+ wholesale GMV.
Where apps still beat native
| Need | Native B2B | Wholesale app |
|---|---|---|
| 4+ pricing tiers | ✕ capped at 3 | ✓ unlimited |
| Per-customer or per-tag overrides | ✕ market-scoped only | ✓ per tag/customer |
| Subscriber pricing (Recharge etc.) | ✕ not supported | ✓ supported |
| VIP / loyalty pricing layered on B2B | ✕ | ✓ |
| Audit log + rollback at the rule level | ✕ | ✓ (depends on app) |
| Automated wholesale signup flow | ✕ manual | ✓ (depends on app) |
| NET 15/30/60 payment terms | ✓ | ✕ usually no — native handles this better |
| Vaulted cards for B2B buyers | ✓ | ✕ usually no |
The right pattern for many merchants is both: keep native B2B for the company profiles and payment terms, layer a tag-pricing app on top for tier #4+ and for non-B2B segments (VIP, subscribers, staff).
The four scenarios where an app still wins
1. You have 4+ pricing tiers
Native maxes at 3. A tag-based pricing app gives you unlimited tiers without going to Plus.
2. You run subscriptions on Recharge
Native B2B has no subscription primitive. Subscriber pricing through Recharge is its own discipline — see Recharge subscriber pricing without spreadsheets.
3. You need per-customer overrides without going to Plus
"Acme Stockist gets 38% off; everyone else in their tier gets 35%." On non-Plus plans, native B2B can't do that. Tag-based apps can.
4. You want non-B2B tier pricing too (VIP, ambassador, staff)
Native B2B is company-only. If a customer isn't a Company, native won't price them differently. A tag-based app prices any customer with the right tag.
The decision flow
- Tiers needed ≤ 3 and no subs/VIP/staff pricing? → Native B2B alone.
- Tiers needed ≥ 4 OR you run Recharge OR you need staff/VIP pricing? → Add a tag-based pricing app.
- Wholesale GMV $50M+? → Move to Plus regardless — the platform fee is a rounding error at that volume.
Where TagTier fits
TagTier sits in the "app on top of native" position. We don't replicate native B2B's company profiles or NET terms — we leave those to native. We add the unlimited tier model, the subscriber pricing, the audit log + rollback, and the staff/VIP/ambassador segments. See pricing →