B2B account application made inaccessible by setting store to B2B customers

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

A merchant has encountered a circular access problem when setting up a B2B store:

The Issue:

  • Used Shopify’s native Forms app to create a B2B account application
  • Restricted store access to approved B2B customers only (following Shopify documentation)
  • This restriction blocks unauthenticated visitors from reaching the application page
  • Result: No way for new customers to apply for accounts

Current Situation:

  • Shopify support couldn’t resolve the issue
  • The merchant views this as a design oversight in Shopify’s otherwise strong native B2B tools

Proposed Solution:

  • Merchant suggests Shopify should allow designated pages (like application forms) to remain accessible to non-logged-in visitors while maintaining overall B2B restrictions

Workaround:

  • Third-party apps are the current solution
  • One developer offered their app “Onboard B2B” which specifically addresses this problem by providing storefront/checkout locks while keeping application forms accessible

Status: Unresolved as a native Shopify feature; requires third-party solutions

Summarized with AI on October 25. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
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I’ve run into a sort of chicken-egg type of issue, which support was unable to help me with. It seems like kind of an oversight that I’m hoping the development team could take a look at solving.

Based on Shopify’s documentation for setting up a dedicated B2B store, I have used the Forms app to make an application for B2B accounts. The app works great, making it easy to approve new customers and create companies/assign catalogues in one step.

Also based on Shopify’s documentation for setting up a B2B store, I have restricted access to the store to B2B customers only, so that we don’t get people who haven’t been approved as official wholesalers trying to shop our B2B site. This is where the problem starts.

Because of the b2b restriction, the application page can’t be reached if you aren’t already logged into an account. But how are you to get an account without accessing the application page? You can’t! So now we have a store with no customers because nobody can apply for an account.

I’ve seen other threads of people discussing what to do about this, and as usual the offered solution is 3rd party apps. I guess that’s what we’ll be doing, but it seems kind of ridiculous because Shopify seems like it has great native tools for B2B, except for this oversight. It would be great if the b2b access restriction came with the option to allow people to access one or two designated pages without being logged in, so that they can apply for an account.

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Hi @RLJackson - we were frustrated by this too so we built an app to fix it.

Onboard B2B allows you to create a B2B company application form and offers both Storefront and Checkout lock features to restrict unauthorized customers while still allowing B2B applications. We also offer a simplified approval flow. (14-day free trial)

Background: we built Helium Customer Fields back in 2015 to help manufacturers collect important business info from b2b buyers (for any shopify merchant, Plus or not). We just launched Onboard B2B this year, and we’re eager for feedback as we continue building it out! Please let me know if you’re interested to connect further to discuss.

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