By default, WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium applies wholesale pricing only when a customer meets your minimum order requirements. If the minimum is not met, the customer sees a notice in the cart explaining what they need to add, but they can still proceed to checkout and place the order at retail prices.
If you need to strictly prevent wholesale customers from checking out until they meet your requirements, a role-level setting removes the checkout button entirely until the conditions are satisfied. This article explains how to set up global minimum order requirements, how to configure per-product minimums, and how to enable the setting that blocks checkout.
Requirements
- WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium installed and activated. Minimum order requirements and the option to block checkout are exclusive to the Premium plugin.
Set global minimum order requirements
The global minimum order settings control the threshold that activates wholesale pricing across your entire store. Configure them at Wholesale → Settings → Wholesale Prices → General, under the Order Requirements section.
- Default Minimum Order Quantity – the minimum total number of items a wholesale customer must have in their cart before wholesale pricing activates. Leave at 0 or blank to disable.
- Default Minimum Order Subtotal – the minimum cart subtotal (calculated using wholesale prices, before tax and shipping) the customer must reach. Leave at 0 or blank to disable.
- Should the customer satisfy both or just one of the minimum order rules? – controls how the two requirements interact when both are active. Select Require Quantity AND Subtotal to require both conditions, or Require Quantity OR Subtotal to require only one.
Override requirements per wholesale role
Below the default minimum settings, enable Wholesale Role Specific Minimum Requirements to set different thresholds for individual wholesale roles. A mapping table appears where you can define a minimum quantity, minimum subtotal, and logic rule for each role. Any role not listed in the table uses the defaults above.
Block checkout until minimum requirements are met
By default, a wholesale customer who has not met the minimum requirements can still proceed to checkout and place an order at retail prices. To prevent this, enable the role-level setting below.
- Go to Wholesale → Roles.
- Locate the wholesale role you want to configure and click Edit.
- In the panel that opens, scroll to the Role Specific Settings section.
- Check Prevent purchase if wholesale condition is not met.
- Click Edit Wholesale Role to save.
When this setting is active and the customer’s cart does not meet the minimum requirements, the Proceed to Checkout button is removed from the cart and replaced with the message: “Please adjust your cart to meet all of the wholesale requirements in order to proceed.” The customer cannot place the order until the minimum is satisfied.
Set minimum order quantity and quantity step per product
In addition to the global minimum order quantity, you can set a minimum quantity and a quantity step for each product individually. These settings appear on the product edit page, in the pricing section, with a separate row for each wholesale role.
- Wholesale Minimum Order Quantity – the minimum number of units of this product a wholesale customer must add to the cart. Wholesale pricing for this product does not activate until this quantity is reached.
- Wholesale Order Quantity Step – the increment in which the product can be ordered. A step of 5 means the customer can add 5, 10, 15 units, and so on. Setting this to 1 alongside a minimum quantity prevents the quantity input on the product page from accepting a value below the minimum.
Enforce minimum and step on the cart page
By default, the per-product minimum quantity and step settings apply when a customer adds a product from the shop or product page, but the quantity boxes in the cart are not restricted. To enforce the minimum and step on cart quantities as well, enable Enforce Min/Step On Cart at Wholesale → Settings → Wholesale Prices → General.
How global and per-product minimums interact
When both a global minimum order quantity and per-product minimum quantities are configured, both must be satisfied before wholesale pricing fully activates. Consider this example:
- Global minimum order quantity: 100 items
- Product A: wholesale minimum order quantity of 20 units
- Product B: no per-product minimum
If the cart contains 10 units of Product A and 120 units of Product B, the global minimum of 100 is met. Product B receives wholesale pricing because it has no per-product minimum. Product A does not receive wholesale pricing because its quantity of 10 is below its per-product minimum of 20. Increasing Product A to at least 20 units satisfies both conditions.
When Prevent purchase if wholesale condition is not met is enabled on the role, the customer cannot proceed to checkout until both the global minimum and all per-product minimums are satisfied.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a minimum order quantity and a minimum order subtotal?
The Default Minimum Order Quantity counts the total number of items in the cart. The Default Minimum Order Subtotal checks the combined value of those items at wholesale prices, before tax and shipping. You can require one or both conditions using the Should the customer satisfy both or just one of the minimum order rules? setting.
Does “Prevent purchase if wholesale condition is not met” apply to all wholesale roles?
No. The Prevent purchase if wholesale condition is not met checkbox is configured per role in Wholesale → Roles. Enable it on each role that should have checkout blocked when requirements are not met. Roles without this setting checked allow customers to proceed to checkout even when the minimum is not satisfied, though wholesale pricing will not apply.
Can I set different minimum order requirements for different wholesale roles?
Yes. Enable Wholesale Role Specific Minimum Requirements at Wholesale → Settings → Wholesale Prices → General and use the mapping table to define per-role thresholds. Any role not listed in the table falls back to the default minimums.
What does the customer see when checkout is blocked?
When checkout is blocked, the Proceed to Checkout button is removed from the cart and replaced with the message: “Please adjust your cart to meet all of the wholesale requirements in order to proceed.” The place order button on the checkout page also shows this message if the customer navigates there directly.
Does “Enforce Min/Step On Cart” affect retail customers?
No. The Enforce Min/Step On Cart setting applies only to wholesale customers. Retail customers are not subject to wholesale minimum order quantities or step restrictions and are not affected by this setting.
What if a product has no per-product minimum set?
If a product’s Wholesale Minimum Order Quantity is left blank or set to 0, no per-product minimum applies to it. Wholesale pricing for that product activates as soon as the global minimum order requirements are met.
Do minimum order requirements apply when using the Wholesale Order Form?
Yes. Minimum order requirements are evaluated at the cart and checkout level, regardless of which ordering interface the customer uses. The same thresholds apply whether orders are placed through the standard product pages or through a WooCommerce Wholesale Order Form.
I enabled “Prevent purchase” on the role but customers can still check out. What should I check?
First, confirm that the customer’s account is assigned the wholesale role that has Prevent purchase if wholesale condition is not met enabled. Next, verify that the global minimum order settings are not set to 0 or left blank, as a disabled minimum means the requirement is always considered met. Also check the minimum order logic setting: if it is set to Require Quantity OR Subtotal and one of the minimums is disabled, the active minimum may be satisfied even with a small cart. Clear any server-side or full-page cache and test in a private browser session to rule out cached responses.
Can I use both global and per-product minimums at the same time?
Yes. When both are configured, the customer must satisfy the global minimum order requirement and the per-product minimum for each individual product. Products without a per-product minimum set receive wholesale pricing as soon as the global minimum is met.
Help & support
We have a dedicated support team for Wholesale Suite who knows our products, WooCommerce, and the industry very well. You’re welcome to make use of their expertise at any time, worldwide.
If you are an existing customer please go to the support ticket request form and send us a message.
If you are a free plugin user, please send us a support request on the forum. We actively monitor the WordPress.org support forums for the free plugin and help our users there as best as we can.
