Free tool · Live margins · No signup
Wholesale pricing calculator
A free calculator for Shopify merchants to build wholesale prices and quantity breaks with live margin visibility at every tier — before you show them to buyers.
Use any currency — the math is the same.
Quantity break tiers
Set min quantity and discount off the base wholesale price.
- Margin
- 35.0%
- Profit
- $5.38
- Off retail
- 38.5%
- Margin
- 27.8%
- Profit
- $3.85
- Off retail
- 44.6%
- Margin
- 18.7%
- Profit
- $2.31
- Off retail
- 50.8%
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How this works
The math, in plain English
Base wholesale price is derived from your cost and target margin: price = cost ÷ (1 − margin). That's the price that achieves your target margin, where margin is measured as (price − cost) ÷ price — the standard gross-margin formula merchants use.
Quantity-break tiers apply a discount on top of the base wholesale price. Tier 1 is usually 0% off (the entry wholesale price), and deeper tiers reward larger orders. Margin at each tier is recalculated against your cost, so you can see exactly where the profit shrinks.
These numbers are estimates. They don't include shipping, payment processing fees, warehouse pick costs, or returns — model those separately before committing to a price list with a buyer.
Definition
What is a wholesale price?
A wholesale price is the per-unit price you charge a business that buys to resell, rather than an end consumer. It is lower than retail because the buyer commits to volume, does their own selling, and orders again. In practice wholesale lands 40–50% below the retail price, which leaves the reseller enough room to make their own margin.
Two formulas produce it, and they are not interchangeable:
| Method | Formula | $10 cost example |
|---|---|---|
| Margin-based | cost ÷ (1 − margin) | 50% margin → $20.00 |
| Markup-based | cost × (1 + markup) | 50% markup → $15.00 |
Same percentage, $5 apart. Markup measures against your cost; margin measures against your selling price. The calculator above uses margin, because margin is what actually shows up in your P&L. Quoting a markup figure as if it were margin is the single most common way merchants under-price wholesale.
Step by step
How to calculate wholesale pricing
- 1
Establish your true unit cost
Add landed cost per unit: goods, inbound freight, duties, and packaging. Leave out fixed overhead — it distorts per-unit decisions.
- 2
Choose a target wholesale margin
Pick the gross margin you need on wholesale orders, usually 30–40%. Then compute the base price as cost ÷ (1 − margin).
- 3
Check the price against retail
Compare the base wholesale price to your retail price. Wholesale normally sits 40–50% below retail so the buyer has room to resell.
- 4
Layer quantity breaks and test the floor
Add two or three quantity tiers with escalating discounts, then confirm the deepest tier still clears your floor margin after fulfilment and payment fees.
Worked example: a $10 unit
Landed cost $10, retail $40, target wholesale margin 40%. Base wholesale price is 10 ÷ (1 − 0.40) = $16.67. Here is what three tiers do to it:
| Tier | Discount | Price / unit | Margin | Off retail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1+ | 0% | $16.67 | 40.0% | 58% |
| 25+ | 10% | $15.00 | 33.3% | 63% |
| 100+ | 20% | $13.34 | 25.0% | 67% |
Notice the bulk tier drops to 25% margin. That is the floor for most physical goods — once fulfilment, payment fees, and the occasional return come out, a 100-unit order at 25% can earn less absolute profit than the effort it costs. Run your own numbers in the calculator above before you publish that tier to a buyer.
Once the tiers are settled, someone has to enforce them at checkout. That is what a B2B wholesale setup on Shopify does: each buyer signs in and sees only their own price list. If your costs and stock live in Odoo rather than a spreadsheet, the Odoo ↔ Shopify connector keeps the numbers behind these margins current on both sides.
Deciding between tools to actually enforce these tiers on Shopify? Compare the options on our SparkLayer alternative breakdown.
Wholesale pricing questions
How do you calculate a wholesale price?
Start from your unit cost and a target wholesale margin: wholesale price = cost ÷ (1 − margin). A $10 unit at a 35% target margin gives $15.38. Then check the retail gap — buyers usually expect wholesale to sit 40–50% below retail.
What is a wholesale price?
A wholesale price is the per-unit price you charge a business that buys to resell, rather than an end consumer. It is lower than retail because the buyer takes volume, handles their own selling, and orders repeatedly. Wholesale typically lands 40–50% below the retail price.
What is the wholesale price formula?
The margin-based formula is wholesale price = cost ÷ (1 − target margin). The markup-based version is wholesale price = cost × (1 + markup). They are not interchangeable: a 50% markup on a $10 cost is $15, but a 50% margin on the same cost is $20.
What is a normal wholesale margin?
Most merchants keep 30–40% margin on wholesale orders after quantity breaks. Below 25% the tier usually stops paying for the picking, packing, and shipping work behind it.
What is the difference between markup and margin?
Markup is measured against your cost; margin is measured against your selling price. On a $10 cost sold at $20, markup is 100% while margin is 50%. Quoting a markup number as if it were margin is the most common way merchants under-price wholesale.
How should quantity breaks be structured?
Three tiers is enough for almost every catalog: base (1+), a mid tier around 25 units at 10% off, and a bulk tier around 100 units at 20% off. Verify the deepest tier still clears your floor margin before publishing it.
How do I calculate retail price from a wholesale price?
Divide the wholesale price by one minus the retail margin your buyer expects. A $15 wholesale unit at a 50% retail margin becomes a $30 retail price. Merchants often call this the keystone rule — retail is roughly double wholesale.
Can I show wholesale prices in Shopify without an app in my theme?
Yes. Hasil serves per-customer wholesale prices in a separate B2B portal using an Admin API token, so your retail theme is never edited and orders arrive as Shopify draft orders.
Want it running on your store? See the Shopify wholesale app.
Selling B2B on Shopify? Hasil Pricing turns these tiers into a real portal.
Per-customer price lists, quantity breaks, and a gated wholesale portal on its own subdomain. 14-day free trial — cancel anytime.