How to Set Up B2B Customer Approval on Shopify Before Displaying Prices?

Key Takeaways

• B2B customer approval helps you show wholesale prices only to verified buyers.
• Shopify B2B supports company account requests through Shopify Forms, but the setup depends on your plan and B2B configuration.
• For Shopify B2B, customers need to be associated with a company location to sign in and access B2B pricing. Any customer who is not associated with a company location is treated as a D2C customer. 
• Apps are still useful if you want to hide prices, lock products, redirect unapproved users, or manage tag-based wholesale pricing on non-Plus or blended stores.
• The best approval workflow usually includes a form, manual review, customer or company segmentation, pricing rules, and a clear approval email.

Wholesale pricing should not be visible to every visitor on your Shopify store. If you sell to retailers, dealers, distributors, or approved B2B buyers, you usually need a way to verify customers before showing them wholesale prices, private products, payment terms, or bulk order options.

In this guide, we’ll explain how to set up B2B customer approval on Shopify, how to hide prices before approval, how to show the right pricing after approval, and how to build a cleaner wholesale buying experience for approved customers.

Why do you need B2B Customer Approval on Shopify before displaying prices?

Implementing a customer approval process before revealing pricing allows you to:

• Qualify Serious Wholesale Buyers: Ensure that only legitimate businesses with a genuine interest in wholesale purchasing gain access to your special bulk pricing information.
  
• Prevent Retail Customers from Seeing B2B Discounts: Maintain a clear separation between your B2C and B2B pricing to protect your retail margins and brand integrity.
  
• Maintain Pricing, Privacy and Brand Control: Safeguard your specific B2B pricing agreements and prevent them from being publicly accessible.
  
• Apply Differentiated Rules: Once approved, you can apply distinct pricing, minimum order quantities (MOQs), and payment terms based on the customer’s segment, region, or specific tier.
  
• Reduce manual back-and-forth: A clear form and approval flow helps your team collect the right information upfront.

Native Shopify B2B approval vs App-Based Approval

There are two common ways to approve B2B customers on Shopify.

The native Shopify B2B, launched in April 26, uses companies, company locations, and customers. A company is the parent organization, a company location is the business location buying from you, and a customer is the person buying on behalf of that company. Company locations can have their own tax ID, tax exemptions, ship-to address, billing address, pricing, payment terms, checkout settings, and contacts. 

If you are using native B2B, approval should be based on company and company location setup.

If you are using apps, approval is usually based on customer tags, customer groups, and access rules.

Both methods can work. The right choice depends on your approval process, pricing setup, and how much control you need before showing prices.

Step-by-Step: How to Set Up B2B Customer Approval on Shopify

Setting up a B2B customer approval workflow on your Shopify store is straightforward with the right tools:

Step 1: Create a Shopify B2B Registration Form

Action: Develop a form where prospective B2B customers can enter their business details and register for a B2B account on your store.

You can set up a B2B registration form with:

1. Shopify Contact Form: Basic form, but lacks field validation or automation. Use only for manual approval workflows.
2. Shopify Forms (Official App): Supports custom fields, tag assignment, and integration with Shopify Flow for automating approvals. Ideal for stores using Shopify’s native tools.
3. Dedicated Wholesale Signup Forms – Apps like the Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B on the Shopify App Store allow you to create a dedicated Wholesale Signup Form and provide Auto-tagging, Form validation, “Login to view price” functionality (with Wholesale Lock Manager B2B app integration), and Multi-tier customer pricing.
4. Third-Party Form Builders: (e.g., Typeform, Jotform, Google Forms) for more manual features and integrations.

Key business information to collect using the B2B registration form:

• Full Business Name
• Contact Person’s Name and Email
• Resale Certificate / GST / VAT Number (for tax compliance)
• Estimated Monthly Order Size (to qualify lead volume)
• Full Shipping Location
• Website/Social Media Links (for business verification)

Crucial Form Language: Always include a clear statement such as: “Please note: Prices and full product catalog are visible only to approved wholesale buyers upon account activation.”

Step 2: Tag Approved B2B Customers for Access Control

Action: After reviewing and verifying an applicant’s information, manually apply a specific tag to their customer account in your Shopify Admin.

Recommended Tags for Approved Accounts: b2b-approved wholesale-tier-1, distributor-US, VAT-EXEMPTED, VIP, Gold, Silver, Platinum

How to Tag:

1. Go to your Shopify Admin.
2. Navigate to Customers.
3. Select the approved customer’s profile and click “Add Tag.”

Note: You can set up B2B registration autotagging on Shopify using Shopify Flow or a third-party app like Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B

Step 3: Restrict Pricing and Content Visibility

Your Primary Tool: Install Wholesale Lock Manager B2B. This app is specifically designed to control what untagged or unapproved customers can see on your Shopify store.

With Wholesale Lock Manager, you can:

• Hide Prices: Make product prices invisible to all untagged customers. They will see a customizable message like “Login to view pricing” or “Apply for an account to see prices.”
• Restrict Access: Only allow specific tagged customers (e.g., b2b-approved) to access entire collections, individual products, or even specific pages.
• Redirect Visitors: Automatically redirect unapproved visitors to your wholesale sign-up form.

Key Advantages:

• Works on all Shopify plans: No Shopify Plus subscription is needed.
• No custom code: Implement powerful access control features with ease.

Step 4: Apply Specific Pricing Rules After Approval

The Pricing Engine: Once customers are approved and tagged, use Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B to apply the custom pricing rules. For example, for “Gold” tagged customers, offer a 30% discount on a specific product/collection. For “Silver” tagged customers, offer a 10% discount on your products.

With Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B, you can also:

• Show Discounted or Tiered Pricing: Approved B2B-approved customers will automatically see their specific wholesale prices or volume discounts.
• Enforce MOQs or Net Terms: Apply minimum order quantities (MOQs) or offer Net 30/Net 60 payment terms, visible only to relevant tagged groups.

Apply Region-Specific Pricing: For customers tagged with geographic indicators (e.g., b2b-uk), show region-specific pricing (Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B supports Shopify Markets integration).

Real-World Example: Premium Kitchenware Supplier

Scenario: A brand selling premium kitchenware for both retail and wholesale markets.

• New Visitor Experience: A new visitor to the website sees products but is prompted with: “Please apply for a wholesale account to view pricing and bulk order options.”
• Application Submission: The visitor fills out the B2B registration form, providing their business details, resale certificate, estimated order size, etc.
• Admin Review & Approval: The store admin reviews the application. Once verified as a legitimate business, the admin manually adds the b2b-approved tag to their customer account in Shopify.
• Approved Customer Experience: Now, the tagged b2b-approvedcustomer logs into the store and instantly gains access to:
  • Specific tiered pricing for various products.
  • Bulk quantity options.
  • Tax-exempt checkout based on their b2b-approved tag and provided resale certificate.

This entire sophisticated workflow is managed seamlessly from one Shopify storefront.

Recommended App Stack for Setting Up B2B Customer Approval on Shopify

Final Summary

For any B2B store operating on Shopify, approving customers before showing prices is an indispensable strategy. This approach empowers you to:

• Qualify leads effectively.
• Control access to sensitive pricing and products.
• Maintain strict price privacy.
• Deliver personalized pricing and experiences only after successful login and approval.

By combining a robust sign-up form with Shopify’s tagging system and powerful apps like Wholesale Lock Manager and Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B, you can build a complete, secure, and highly efficient approval-to-access workflow for your B2B operations.

Frequently Asked Questions