The steps below apply whichever extension you choose. Menu names differ between plugins, so follow your extension's documentation for exact settings.
Does WooCommerce support wholesale pricing by default?
No. Out of the box, WooCommerce gives each product a regular price and an optional sale price, with no price by customer type. Wholesale needs an extension or custom code that assigns prices by user role. WooCommerce's marketplace documents options such as Wholesale for WooCommerce and User Roles Based Price, and third-party plugins offer similar features for simpler or more complex cases.
| Approach | Good for | Limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Role-pricing extension | One or two wholesale tiers | May not cover approval or visibility rules |
| Full wholesale plugin | Roles, registration, visibility, tax, payment rules | More settings to maintain |
| Custom code | Unusual pricing logic or integrations | Higher build cost and ongoing ownership |
| Separate wholesale store | Fully distinct catalogue and team | Two systems, and stock must be synchronised |
What are the steps to set up WooCommerce wholesale pricing?
Define your tiers, create a user role for each, set wholesale prices by role, decide who can see which products, build an account application and approval route, configure tax, payment and shipping for each role, then test as every customer type. Do this on a staging copy of the store, because pricing mistakes on a live site can be expensive and hard to reverse.
- Write down each tier and who qualifies for it.
- Create one user role per tier.
- Enter prices per role, either fixed or as a percentage discount.
- Set minimum order values or quantities if you need them.
- Set product visibility for trade-only lines.
- Create a wholesale registration form and approval step.
- Configure tax display, payment options and shipping by role.
- Test each role from a clean browser session.
Should wholesale prices be fixed or a percentage discount?
Use a percentage discount when wholesale margin is consistent across the catalogue, because it needs far less maintenance. Use fixed prices when margin varies by product or when prices are agreed in contracts. User Roles Based Price documents both approaches, along with category-level pricing, and a store can combine them where only some products need a set figure.
How do you hide wholesale products from retail customers?
Restrict trade-only products by user role, so that they do not appear in catalogue, search or category pages for retail visitors or guests. Decide what a guest sees if they follow a direct link: a login prompt usually works better than an unexplained error. Check that restricted products are also absent from your sitemap and any product feed, where leaks commonly occur.
Keep public products indexable and only gate what truly needs it. On Fire & Ash Hair, a gated trade catalogue runs alongside public retail pages in a single store, with a shared stock pool.
How should wholesale account approval work?
A wholesale application should collect business details, create the account in a pending state, notify an administrator, and assign the wholesale role only after approval. Applicants should see retail pricing until approved. The Wholesale for WooCommerce documentation describes registration forms and multiple wholesale roles, and automated approval should be reserved for businesses whose eligibility can be verified.
How should tax and payment work for wholesale customers?
Tax treatment and payment options often differ by customer type. Wholesale buyers may be tax-exempt with valid documentation, or see prices excluding tax, and some may be approved for invoice terms that retail customers cannot use. Take tax advice for your jurisdictions. Then configure each role deliberately and confirm that the correct tax lines appear on real test orders and invoices.
Why might the wrong customer see wholesale prices?
The most common cause is page caching: a cached page generated for a logged-in wholesale customer gets served to someone else. Configure your cache to bypass logged-in users or vary by role, including any CDN and object cache. Test with a logged-out private window. Conflicts between pricing plugins and sale-price or coupon rules are the next most common source of wrong prices.
How much does a wholesale WooCommerce setup cost?
A WooCommerce store built by Akif Wani starts at $1,100 for up to 15 products, and wholesale requirements are scoped into a fixed written quote because complexity varies widely. One role with a percentage discount is simple. Multiple tiers, approval flows and gated catalogues take more work. Premium extensions are licensed separately and paid for directly by the store owner.
See hiring a WooCommerce developer for the full service, or the WooCommerce development overview.