The setup, in 2026
For years, the unspoken rule for serious wholesale on Shopify was: you go to Plus, you go to Adobe Commerce, or you build a second store. None of those are good options for a brand doing $1–10M GMV that just wants to add a wholesale book without re-platforming.
As of April 2026, the calculus changed. Shopify opened native B2B to every paid plan. That's genuinely useful for some merchants — and a trap for others. The trap is the 3-catalog cap.
What native B2B gives you for free
Available on Basic, Shopify, and Advanced (i.e. without Plus):
- Company profiles for each wholesale customer, with multiple contacts and locations.
- Up to 3 custom catalogs with their own price lists, each scoped to a market or a set of companies.
- Volume discounts and quantity rules on those catalog price lists.
- Vaulted credit cards and payment terms (NET 15/30/60).
- Customer accounts wired to the new account experience.
If your wholesale needs fit in three pricing tiers, this is a real cost saver. No app fees, no theme work — turn it on, create three catalogs, assign companies, done.
Where native B2B falls down — the four limits that bite
1. The 3-catalog cap
You get three pricing catalogs. That's it, total, across all markets. Most established wholesalers carry at least four pricing tiers — say, Stylist, Spa, Independent Retailer (small), Independent Retailer (large) — and many run six or more by region.
Once you need a fourth, your Shopify rep will tell you you need Plus.
2. Catalogs attach to markets, not companies
On non-Plus plans, you can't pin a custom catalog to an individual company. Catalogs are scoped to a Shopify Market (geography). If you need this specific stockist to see a custom price list because you negotiated their contract, native B2B can't do it without Plus.
3. No native rebill or partial-payment flow
You can offer NET terms or pay-now. There's no native partial-deposit flow ("pay 30% now, balance on shipping"). For seasonal wholesale orders or large pre-bookings, this is a dealbreaker. You'll be sending Stripe links manually.
4. No automatic registration / pre-approval
Native B2B doesn't ship with a wholesale-application form. You either add a free Shopify Forms widget and process applications by hand, or you patch in a registration app. Either way, the "we got 14 wholesale leads from the website yesterday" workflow is manual.
The real cost of upgrading to Plus
Shopify Plus starts at ~$2,300/month (as of 2026, depending on contract). At that price you get:
- Unlimited catalogs
- Catalogs assignable to individual companies
- Wholesale Channel features (legacy, being deprecated for B2B-on-Plus)
- Higher API limits, dedicated launch manager, etc.
If your wholesale GMV is doing $50M+, this is a no-brainer — you'd spend that much on plumbing anyway. If you're under $20M, the math gets uncomfortable. $27.6K/year just for the platform fee, before any apps. That's a senior hire's salary.
Three paths if you're stuck between native and Plus
Path A: Embrace the 3-catalog cap by re-architecting tiers
If you have five pricing tiers and three of them are within ±5% of each other, consolidate. You probably don't need that much price discrimination. Most wholesale buyers don't compare notes; they compare to their cost of goods.
This is a free path. It costs you a difficult sales conversation and maybe a few customers who liked their old discount.
Path B: Add a wholesale pricing app on top of Basic / Shopify / Advanced
The right app extends what native B2B can't do. Look for these features when evaluating:
- Unlimited tiers mapped to customer tags or company assignments
- No Shopify Scripts dependency — this matters because Scripts is deprecated June 30, 2026; ask the vendor directly
- Plays nice with native B2B — your three native catalogs can stay where they are; the app only takes over when you exceed them
- Audit log + rollback — when wholesale customers see retail prices, you find out from a screenshot. You want to be able to undo without a developer.
The app market is crowded. Honest landscape:
| App | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Wholesale Pricing Discount (Wholesale Helper) | Comprehensive setups with NET terms, lock features, signup forms | Heavier; longer time to first published rule |
| Bold Custom Pricing | Existing Bold customers with stable Scripts | Migration off Scripts is partial; pricing is on the high end |
| BSS B2B Wholesale Solution | True B2B suite — catalogs, registration, NET terms in one app | Overkill if you just need pricing tiers |
| Wholesale Gorilla | "B2B without Plus" positioning | Pricing escalates fast at scale |
| OSCP B2B Wholesale Pricing | Stacking with native discounts | Less depth on subscriptions / Recharge |
| TagTier (disclosure: us) | Hybrid stores running B2B + DTC + VIP + subscribers; no Scripts dependency | Narrow scope on purpose — no NET terms, no signup forms (those live elsewhere) |
Path C: Stay on a regular plan, build with native + a Function
If you have one specific customization that doesn't fit native B2B (say, a custom rate calculation), commission a custom Shopify Function. Budget 1–4 weeks of dev time. This works when you have one or two clear needs and a developer relationship.
The decision framework
Run this in order:
- How many pricing tiers do you need? If ≤3: native B2B alone, you're done.
- Do you need per-company catalogs? If yes: either Plus, or a tag-based pricing app.
- Are you on Scripts today? If yes: you have until June 30, 2026 to migrate. See our Scripts deprecation guide.
- Do you also run subscriptions through Recharge? If yes: pick an app that locks subscriber prices at signup so renewals don't drift.
- Are you doing $50M+ wholesale GMV? If yes: Plus is probably right despite the cost. Below that, an app on a regular plan will save you $25K+/year.
What the migration looks like
Whether you're moving from a second store, an old Bold setup, or a Scripts-based hack, the migration is roughly the same:
- Inventory your customer tags. Export from Shopify Admin. Group customers by intended pricing tier.
- Decide tier count. Use Path A's "consolidate" lens — fewer is better.
- Set up tags + tier prices in your chosen app or in native B2B catalogs. Keep numbers identical to current pricing on day 1; refactor later.
- Run a parallel period. Watch one cohort of orders for 1–2 weeks. Confirm the price the customer sees on the PDP matches the price written into the order line and matches what they're charged.
- Disable the old setup. Don't delete it for 30 days — keep it as documentation.
- Communicate to wholesale customers. They don't need to know about the platform change. They need to know that their account, login, and pricing all stay the same.
Common mistakes
"I'll just use discount codes for wholesale"
Discount codes leak. Within a few weeks they're on Honey, in deal forums, or shared with the wrong staff member. You'll either lose money or end up policing it. Tag-based pricing is closed-loop: only a logged-in customer with the right tag sees the price. The price never appears in a code that can be copy-pasted.
"I'll run a separate wholesale store"
Two stores means two truths. Your inventory drifts, your themes diverge, every promo runs twice (or only once and your customers complain). The case for a separate store evaporated when Shopify Functions made checkout customization possible on a single store.
"I'll wait until Plus makes sense"
If you're growing wholesale 30%+ year-over-year, Plus will eventually make sense — but the gap between "outgrew native" and "ready for Plus" can be 12–24 months. That's a long time to leave money on the table or hold back a rep who's pushing for new tiers.
Where TagTier fits
TagTier is the focused version of Path B. It's a single capability — map Shopify customer tags to price tiers — with rollback and audit baked in. It plays well alongside native B2B (so your three native catalogs can stay), works with Recharge for subscribers, has no Shopify Scripts dependency, and is free for development stores so you can prove it works before going live.
Try TagTier on your dev store →