Wholesale orders going out wrong: prices, terms and partial shipments
Each wholesale customer's own prices, payment terms and part-shipments, applied by the order itself rather than remembered by whoever types it in.
You know this if…
- A trade customer is invoiced at retail, or at last year's price.
- An order shipped before a new customer had paid.
- Half an order went out and nobody remembers the rest.
- Every rep keeps their own price list in a spreadsheet.
Why it happens
Wholesale lives in people's heads and inboxes: who gets which price, who pays on account, who must pay first, what's still owed from last month's order. Every order is typed again, and every retype is a chance to get it wrong.
Shopify was built for one price to everyone, paid at checkout. Wholesale needs the opposite.
How Manifold handles it
In Manifold each company carries its own price lists (catalogs) and payment terms. An order for that company prices from its catalogs and takes its terms, and anything short is shipped and backordered rather than forgotten.
Give the customer its catalog
A catalog is a price list in its own currency, with quantity breaks. Attach one to a company and its orders price from it.
Order: lines reprice themselves
Choose the company on a new order and every line reprices from its catalog at the quantity ordered.
Terms decide when it ships
On-account customers ship straight away; prepaid orders are picked and packed, then held until paid.
Part-ship the rest
Ship what's in stock now; the rest stays owed to the order and ships when it arrives.
What you can check
Terms per customer, per order
A company with payment terms is on account; anyone else follows your default. A person can change one order's terms, and that change is recorded.
Payment terms →Quotes before orders
Price a draft quote, send it, and the customer accepts it on a page in your brand; it becomes the order with the prices it was quoted at.
Quotes →Margin guard
Warn or block a sale below a catalog's minimum margin, by role, with an approval when someone must go under it.
Catalogs →Questions people ask
- Can my reps take orders on the road?
- Yes. The B2B order form is a view for a tablet or phone: choose the company, reorder from past orders, scan or pick lines with stock shown, and place the order or save it as a quote.
- Can customers order for themselves?
- Not yet: Manifold has no self-serve trade portal. Customers accept and pay quotes and invoices on hosted pages; orders are placed by your team, a rep, your Shopify store or an integration.
- Does it do credit limits?
- Not today. Payment terms are on account or prepaid per customer and per order; prepaid orders are held at packed until they're paid.
- Do I have to stop using what I have now?
- No. Every new Manifold business starts read-only: orders come in, imports run and your team works in Manifold in full, but nothing goes out — no stock to your store, no email to customers — until an owner goes live. Run it beside your paper and spreadsheets until you trust it.
See it on your own products.
Nothing changes until you say so.
Connect your Shopify store or bring a spreadsheet, and your own products, stock and orders are in Manifold the same day. Every new business starts read-only: your team can work in it in full while nothing goes out — no stock to your store, no email to customers — until an owner goes live. Free for 60 days.
Other problems we fix
How to stop overselling across Shopify and wholesale
Stop selling stock you no longer have: one count across Shopify and wholesale, with orders holding units and the store's figure updated within seconds.
Too many pick-list errors? Pick on a phone, not a clipboard
Wrong items and missed lines from paper pick lists: pick on a phone or tablet instead, scanning each item, with short picks recorded and the box suggested.
Knowing what to reorder, and when
Stop reordering from memory: see which SKUs are short against open orders and incoming stock, raise the purchase order, and know your supplier's real lead time.