New to wholesale? This guide walks you through a first setup of the free WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin, from creating a wholesale role to testing prices as a wholesale customer.
Wholesale prices give your trade customers their own prices, while retail customers keep seeing regular prices.
This guide covers the following topics:
- Requirements: what you need before you start
- Overview: what the plugin does
- Wholesale customer role: what the Wholesale Customer role is
- Setting wholesale prices: how to add wholesale prices to your products
- Testing: how to test those prices with a wholesale test account
- Wholesale prices settings: the settings available in the free plugin
- Advanced features: what the premium add-on and other Wholesale Suite plugins add
- What’s next: where to go after the first setup
Requirements
- WooCommerce Wholesale Prices (free) installed and active from WordPress.org.
- WooCommerce installed and active.
- WordPress 5.9+, WooCommerce 4.0+ and PHP 7.4+.
- An administrator account, to access the plugin settings.
After you activate the plugin, a Get started with Wholesale Prices note appears in the WooCommerce Inbox under WooCommerce → Home. Click Finish setup to open the setup steps on the Wholesale Suite dashboard. Dismiss the note to hide it and the matching admin notice.
Overview
The free version of WooCommerce Wholesale Prices is a complete way to start selling wholesale and will suit many businesses that only require basic wholesale functions.
There is also a Premium add-on for the free plugin which adds additional features as well as other plugins in the suite that add features like wholesale order forms and user management.
You can read more about these add-ons.
What the free WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin does:
- Adds a new user role for wholesale level customers
- Lets you set basic wholesale pricing at the product level
- Gives you some basic settings to customize common features
With these three things, you can implement wholesale in your WooCommerce store.
The video above is a short introduction. Below, we explain the new Wholesale Customer role and what it means for you. Read on to get the full picture.
Wholesale customer role
The first concept to understand is the new Wholesale Customer user role that the plugin adds.
Normally, customers in your store have the “Customer” user role. To see this, go to Users → All Users and click one of your customers.
WooCommerce Wholesale Prices adds a new user role called “Wholesale Customer” so it can identify which customers should have wholesale pricing.
You can give wholesale pricing access to any customer by changing their user role to the Wholesale Customer role.
Want to change the words “Wholesale Customer” to something else? Maybe something like “Trade Customer” or similar? You can do this under Wholesale → Roles.
Next, look at how to set wholesale pricing on a product.
Setting wholesale prices
The free plugin lets you set wholesale pricing on the product edit screen. The Wholesale Price ($) field sits under the Wholesale Customer heading in the product data box.
Each wholesale price belongs to a user role, so this price applies to the Wholesale Customer role.
In the free plugin, there is only one user role (the Wholesale Customer role) but this is an important concept to understand because you can add more wholesale role levels in WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium.
Read a full guide on how to set wholesale pricing which covers all the options of the premium plugin as well.
Once a wholesale price has been set for the Wholesale Customer role you’ll need to test it is working, so let’s look at how to do that.
Testing
Since wholesale prices are linked to a specific user role, only users with that role can view the wholesale prices you’ve set.
To test your wholesale pricing on the front end, you’ll need to log in with a wholesale test account.
Here’s how:
- Log in to your dashboard.
- Go to Users → Add User.
- Create a new user and assign them the Wholesale Customer role.
- Open a Private Browsing or Incognito window. This gives you a fresh, logged-out session.
- Visit your website and log in with the new test user account you created.
- Go to a product with a wholesale price set. The wholesale price appears.
Next, let’s take a quick look at some settings available in the free plugin.
Wholesale prices settings
The settings on the free plugin are pretty light because most of the functionality is covered by the product edit screen and the user role as described above.
There are several settings available for basic customizations.
You can find these settings at Wholesale → Settings → Wholesale Prices.
The settings area has several tabs:
The first tab is General. It contains these settings:
| Setting | What it does |
| Allow Usage Tracking | Lets us track usage data so we know which WordPress setups, themes, and plugins to test |
| Disable Coupons For Wholesale Users | Globally turns off coupon use for customers with a wholesale role |
The second tab is Price. It contains these settings:
| Setting | What it does |
| Wholesale Price Text | Sets the text shown before the wholesale price. The default is “Wholesale Price:”. |
| Hide Retail Price | Hides the crossed-out retail price when a wholesale price is shown, so only the wholesale price appears |
| Hide Wholesale Price on Admin Product Listing | If checked, hides wholesale prices on the product list in the admin |
| Hide Price and Add to Cart button | Hides the price and the Add to cart button from visitors who aren’t logged in. Since version 2.3.0, variable products keep their attribute dropdowns visible to guests. |
| Price and Add to Cart Replacement Message | Sets the message shown in place of the price and Add to cart button when Hide Price and Add to Cart button is on. The default is “Login to see prices.” |
| Show Wholesale Price to non-wholesale users | Shows the wholesale price on the front end to encourage non-wholesale customers to register as wholesale customers. |
When Show Wholesale Price to non-wholesale users is on, you can also set the Locations, the Click to See Wholesale Prices Text, the Wholesale Roles(s) and the Register Text.
The Tax, Admin Roles, Help and License tabs hold tax options, admin access to the Wholesale menu, help links and license details.
The AI / MCP tab connects your store to StoreAgent and controls which wholesale actions StoreAgent can take.
The Upgrade To Premium tab describes some of the features in WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium.
Next, see what the premium add-on and the other Wholesale Suite plugins add.
Advanced features
Setting basic wholesale prices is just the beginning.
WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium
Premium is the add-on for the free plugin and immediately it opens up a lot of extra features that will give you maximum flexibility.
Highlights include:
- Unlimited number of additional wholesale roles
- Set prices via global % or category % in addition to the product-level pricing
- Tax exemption based on user role which is flexible enough to cater to even the most stringent tax policies
- Shipping mapping where you can force wholesale customers to use certain methods and you can restrict certain shipping options to only wholesale customers
- Payment gateway mapping where you can force wholesale customers to use certain gateways and likewise restrict certain gateways to only wholesale customers
- Adjust the visibility of products to be wholesale only, retail only, or a mix. This lets you adjust variation visibility as well
- Add minimum purchase rules so you can enforce your wholesale agreements on the order level and set sensible minimums on the product level
These are a few of the features in the premium add-on.
WooCommerce Wholesale Order Form
The time it takes for a wholesale customer to place an order is one of the biggest pain points you can eliminate.
Wholesale customers are not like regular retail customers. They don’t want to sift through your normal shop pages adding products to a cart that way. They need a tabular form-based interface that makes it fast to add products to the cart in the quantities they desire.
This is where the Order Form plugin comes in.
Highlights include:
- Your whole catalog on one page, searchable and categorized
- No page reloads, full Ajax enabled so wholesalers can add to cart without leaving the page
- Slimline tabulated interface that is mobile & tablet-friendly
- Wildcard keyword & SKU searching
- Hierarchical category filter
- Permissions control so only those allowed can access the form
These are just a few high-level features that you’ll give your wholesale customers by using the Order Form plugin.
WooCommerce Wholesale Lead Capture
Managing wholesale-level customers can be a bit of a headache if you are doing it manually. The Wholesale Lead Capture plugin gives you a wholesale-specific registration form, a dedicated wholesale login page, sign-up email sequences, and your choice of manual or automated approvals.
It takes the pain out of manually recruiting & registering wholesale customers which will save you time and let you put wholesale recruitment on autopilot.
Highlights include:
- Registration form builder lets you capture whatever information you need during sign-up
- Pre-fill the checkout fields with the information that you capture during sign-up to smooth the first-order process for your new wholesale customer
- Built-in spam protection with honeypot technology and optionally Google reCAPTCHA
- Automated email sequences for admin and customer-facing approval and notification emails
- Complete user approvals system which can be based on manual approvals or 100% automated if you wish
The Lead Capture plugin will make recruiting your wholesale customers and managing them much less painful.
Wholesale Suite Bundle
The Wholesale Suite Bundle includes all five Wholesale Suite plugins: Wholesale Prices Premium, Order Form, Lead Capture, Wholesale Quotes and Wholesale Payments.
These extensions are designed to grow your business:
- Add wholesale pricing to your products
- Streamline your wholesale ordering process
- Manage your wholesale-level customers
- Send quotes to wholesale customers
- Take online invoice payments from wholesale customers
What’s next
- Hide the price and Add to cart button from guests: Hide prices from guests
- Read the full wholesale pricing guide for all the price options in the premium add-on.
- Add more wholesale levels with additional wholesale role tiers.
Frequently asked questions
What does the free WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin do?
The free WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin lets you add wholesale prices to your store at no cost. It creates a dedicated Wholesale Customer user role, lets you set wholesale prices at the product level, and provides basic settings to customize your wholesale store. It’s a great starting point for any WooCommerce store owner looking to sell wholesale online.
What is the Wholesale Customer user role in WooCommerce and how does it work?
The Wholesale Customer user role is a new user role added by the WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin. It works by identifying which registered customers in your WooCommerce store should have access to wholesale pricing. You can grant any customer wholesale access by changing their user role to “Wholesale Customer” from the WordPress Users dashboard. You can also rename this role (e.g., “Trade Customer”) under Wholesale → Roles.
How do I set wholesale prices for products in WooCommerce?
To add wholesale pricing to your WooCommerce products, go to the product edit screen in your WordPress dashboard. You’ll find a dedicated wholesale price field labeled “Wholesale Price ($)” in the product data section. Enter the wholesale price for that product, and it shows automatically to any logged-in user with the Wholesale Customer role, while regular customers keep seeing retail prices.
How do I test if wholesale pricing is working correctly on my WooCommerce store?
To test wholesale pricing on the front end of your WooCommerce store, create a new test user and assign them the Wholesale Customer role via Users → Add User. Then, open an Incognito or Private Browsing window in your browser and log in with that test account. Navigate to a product with a wholesale price set, and you should see the wholesale price displayed, exactly as a real wholesale customer would see it.
What’s the difference between the free WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin and the Premium version?
The free WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin covers basic wholesale needs: one wholesale user role, product-level pricing, and essential settings. The Premium add-on unlocks advanced features such as unlimited wholesale user roles, global and category-level percentage discounts, product visibility controls, wholesale shipping method mapping, payment gateway mapping, minimum order requirements, and tax exemptions by role, making it ideal for scaling a B2B WooCommerce wholesale operation.
Need help?
If you have a question or run into any issues, we’re here to help.
- Premium users: Open a support ticket
- Free users: Visit our community forum
