B2B shops & price lists: A B2B shop: every buyer sees their own prices, the ERP keeps the truth.

A trade buyer does not browse like a consumer. They know what they want, often by code, buy by the case, have agreed prices and pay on terms. Today most of this goes through phone calls, emails and a spreadsheet someone sends at the end of the day.

A B2B shop moves that work into an account the customer opens whenever they like. It does not have to be a separate store: it can be built on the same products and the same stock as the retail shop, with a different view for those who sign in as trade buyers.

There are three forms, and the choice depends on how stable your prices are. If every order needs negotiating, you start with a catalogue and quote requests. If prices are agreed, the customer orders directly. Most producers and wholesalers need both.

The hard part of a B2B shop is not the product page; it is the prices. A wholesaler usually has a base price list, discounts per customer group, special prices on certain codes for certain customers, quantity breaks and offers with an end date. All of it has to give one price, the same in the shop, in the quote and on the invoice.

So we first set the order of precedence: which price wins when two apply. Usually the customer's special price beats the group's, and the group's beats the general list. The order is written once and tested on real customers before the shop opens.

Not every platform does the same. On Shopify, for example, minimum quantities, price breaks and payment terms exist on every plan, but a price list per customer only on Shopify Plus. We check this at the start, because it changes the cost and the architecture.

A B2B shop that keeps its own prices and its own stock will disagree with the ERP within weeks. So for every piece of data we define which system is the source, which way it moves and how often. The rule is simple: whatever concerns money and quantities lives in the ERP; whatever concerns presentation lives in the shop.

The connection runs through the ERP's interfaces (APIs). Before the proposal we check what yours allows: whether it gives a price per customer in real time, whether it accepts orders directly, whether it shows balances and credit limits. That decides what will happen automatically and what will not.

In B2B, VAT is not one rate for everyone. A customer in Greece pays Greek VAT. A business in another EU country buying goods shipped there, with a valid VAT number, is not charged VAT: it accounts for it in its own country, under the reverse charge. If the number is not valid, you charge Greek VAT.

That is why the VAT number is checked in VIES, the European Commission's system that queries national databases, when the account is approved and again before each invoice. The exemption is lost if the sale is not reported in the recapitulative statement of intra-EU supplies. The invoice shows the customer's VAT number and the provision for the exemption.

For customers in Greece, the way the invoice is issued changes too: from 2 November 2026, every B2B invoice is issued only electronically, through a certified provider or timologio. The B2B shop does not issue the invoice itself; it sends the order to the ERP, and the ERP to the provider. Our guide to e-invoicing explains the whole route.

In B2B most customers do not pay by card. They pay in 30 or 60 days, within a credit limit. Directive 2011/7/EU sets that between businesses the agreed term does not exceed 60 days, unless a longer one is expressly agreed and is not grossly unfair. With no agreement, late-payment interest runs after 30 days, with at least €40 in compensation for recovery costs.

The shop shows each customer their own terms, their available credit and what is outstanding. An order over the limit is not silently rejected: it stops for approval by someone in the sales team, and the customer sees that it is waiting.

A company account often has several users: the person who orders, the person who approves, the accounts department. Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) does not cover the data of the company itself, but it does cover the names, emails and phone numbers of these people.