How to set up B2B selling without using Shopify Plus?

[IMYOURGIRL]

Hi guys,

I'm having a hard time figuring out which apps or custom code is best to accomplish what I want for my cliënt, who wants to sell B2B only without the use of Shopify Plus (too expensive).

It doesn't have to be free (apps), but we do have a limit of approx. 25$ per month extra. Hope someone with experience or some creative solutions can guide me and share their knowledge :).

The features we're looking for

• Registration form to approve new customers (option to revoke access)
• Add to cart > show only to logged in approved customers
• Show prices including and excluding VAT / or only excluding
• Calculate VAT on Domestic orders only (foreign orders excl VAT, vat exempt)
• With the order, send an VAT invoice in pdf

I know this is much. I've tried several apps but non of them quite does what we need. If someone has the expertise or knows some great apps, I need your help, thank you!

Kind regards,

Kelly

[josiah_helium]

Hey there! 

Doing B2B on Shopify without Plus is certainly possible, and not that difficult if you're willing to put the time into learning some new software. There are quite a few apps that can offer you B2B features, however we've worked with a number (and integrate well with both) so the following are my recommendations, but I do have to say, $25/month extra is a small amount at the potential of growth for your B2B customer base. 

Sparklayer is probably going to be the closest app to what you're describing. In combination with our Customer Fields app to deny/approve customers, and then perhaps use Sufio for sending out invoices for VAT. 

I hope this helps, and let me know if you have questions. 

[IMYOURGIRL]

Thank you so much for your insights on this! I actually tested Customer Fields App with Sufio and it worked great, but we needed VAT tax validation aswel as some other features. For now I used some free apps combined together, but when the business will grow I will keep those in mind :). 

[josiah_helium]

I'd love to know more about the other features you're needing, VAT validation is on our radar. 👍

[RHWalters]

Hey Josiah, 

This is super helpful, we too are in a similar situation but with a slightly bigger budget. 

Do you have any recommendations for something that does all of the requirements. 

Thanks 🙂 

[josiah_helium]

Beyond the B2B basics, do you have any specific requirements? If not, Sparklayer is going to do a great job of handling B2B pricing, but if you want to streamline creating B2B customers - I highly recommend using our app to set up a B2B customer registration form and using our account approval feature to approve/deny B2B candidates on your store.

[favabean]

Hello @josiah_helium, I have the same question, I run a very small business using the Shopify basic plan. Sparklayer looks great but also currently above out budget.  Do you know if it's possible to manage b2b customers through new customer accounts? applying a discount only to specific customers? 

Cheers,

Haley

[josiah_helium]

Hey @favabean - you cannot use Shopify B2B on Shopify Basic. It is a Plus only feature. Sparklayer exists to provide alternatives to Shopify Plus B2B / Wholesale channel. 

You may want to look at different discount apps that can provide a discount from a customer tag of some sort. You would need to either manually assign a tag to b2b customers, or use an app like ours to auto-tag customers based on a wholesale registration form. Regios is a good app for building discounts based on tags. 

[paulobombonatti]

Hello Josiah! I have a client that needs customized prices based on customer, which is offered by SparkLayer. And I would need to automatically set/update the prices using an API. Is it possible?

Thank you. 

[josiah_helium]

Hi Paulo, 

I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you asking if Sparklayer has an API to adjust prices? 

[paulobombonatti]

Hey Josiah. Actually I was wondering where SparkLayer stores the prices. Is it on your own database? If so, yes, I guess I am looking for a SparkLayer API to adjusts prices. But if SparkLayer stores the prices on Shopify´s database, then I guess I would access Shopify´s API, which I prefer, since I already have access to it. 

So I guess my question is: can I adjust prices using SparkLayer´s or Shopify´s API?