The office dealer’s ecommerce glossary: 40 terms explained

The office trade has its own vocabulary, and ecommerce software, search engines and new staff do not always share it. This glossary defines 40 terms you will meet selling office supplies or office furniture online in the UK, from list less discount to two-man delivery. Each definition is one to three sentences, and where we have written a longer guide on the subject, the entry links to it.

Disclosure: we build Orbit Commerce, a UK ecommerce platform, so we have a stake in this subject. The definitions describe how the trade uses each term, not how any one product works. Legal and tax entries link to the official source, checked on 29 October 2026.

Terms from A to C

Approval workflow

A rule in a business customer’s account that sends an order to a manager or budget holder for approval before it is placed. Larger contract accounts often ask for it, usually alongside spending limits per buyer.

Buy it again (reorder)

A shortcut that lets a customer repeat a past order, or re-add items bought before, without searching again. Office supplies are repeat purchases, so it saves trade customers time on every order.

Buying group

A membership organisation of independent dealers that negotiates trading terms with wholesalers and manufacturers for its members, and often supplies shared catalogues and marketing. Office Friendly calls itself a not-for-profit business supplies cooperative whose members have a collective turnover of over £500m (officefriendly.co.uk, checked 29 October 2026). How dealers choose one is covered in how to start an office supplies business.

Carriage paid

The seller pays for delivery, usually above a minimum order value: “carriage paid over £50”, for example. Below the threshold, a carriage charge is added.

Catalogue feed

A file or connection through which a supplier or wholesaler sends product data to resellers: titles, descriptions, images, categories and codes, and sometimes prices and stock. The routes are compared in getting supplier catalogues onto your website.

Contract pricing

Prices agreed with one customer for a set period, different from your published prices. Often a fixed price on core lines plus list less a discount on everything else; see trade accounts and contract pricing.

Cost price

What you pay for a product: the supplier’s price to you after your discount, before VAT. Margin and markup are both worked out from it, so take it from the supplier’s current price file, not last year’s.

cXML

Commerce XML, a standard format for business documents between buying systems and suppliers, covering catalogue content, purchase orders, order confirmations, ship notices and invoices, plus “the widely-used PunchOut feature” (cxml.org, checked 29 October 2026).

Terms from D to G

Drop-ship purchase order

A purchase order asking a supplier to deliver straight to your customer, carrying the customer’s name and delivery address instead of yours. You invoice the customer and the supplier invoices you; see office furniture dropshipping in the UK.

EDI

Electronic data interchange: two companies’ systems exchanging orders, invoices and despatch notes in an agreed structured format, so nobody retypes them. Common between large customers, wholesalers and manufacturers.

Ex VAT and inc VAT

Prices before VAT is added (ex VAT) or with it included (inc VAT). At the 20% standard rate, £100 ex VAT is £120 inc VAT. Trade buyers who reclaim VAT think ex VAT; consumers must be shown inc VAT prices (see the Price Marking Order).

Fit-out

Turning an empty space into a working office: furniture, partitions, flooring and lighting, usually sold as a project with a design and installation. Fit-outs are usually priced by quote; quotes vs buy now covers when each suits.

Framework agreement

In public sector buying, a contract between a public buyer and one or more suppliers that “provides for the future award of contracts”, called call-off contracts. Under the Procurement Act 2023 most frameworks have a maximum term of four years (gov.uk, checked 29 October 2026); see selling to schools, councils and the NHS.

GTIN

Global Trade Item Number: the barcode number a manufacturer gives a product, such as a 13-digit EAN. Google recommends submitting it for every product that has one and says not to guess or make one up (Google Merchant Center Help, checked 29 October 2026); see Google Shopping for office dealers.

Terms from J to M

Jan-san

Janitorial and sanitary supplies: cleaning products, paper hygiene, bin liners, soap and dispensers. A common way for office supplies dealers to widen what each customer buys; see diversifying into jan-san, PPE and workwear.

Lead time

The time between order and delivery. Stocked stationery may arrive next day, while made-to-order furniture can take weeks, so show it on the product page before the customer orders.

List less discount

Pricing as a percentage off a list price instead of a markup on cost. “List less 35%” on a £200 list price is £130. Worked example below.

List price

The manufacturer’s or wholesaler’s published price, usually ex VAT, that trade discounts are calculated from. It is a reference point, not necessarily what anyone pays.

Margin

Profit as a percentage of the selling price. Bought at £60 and sold at £100 ex VAT, a product makes a 40% margin. Try your own figures in the margin calculator.

Markup

Profit as a percentage of cost. The same £60 cost and £100 price is a 66.7% markup. Mixing the two up is the classic pricing mistake: a 40% markup is only a 28.6% margin, as markup vs margin for trade price lists explains.

MPN

Manufacturer part number. Google describes it as identifying “a specific product among all products from the same manufacturer” and requires it for products without a manufacturer-assigned GTIN (Google Merchant Center Help, checked 29 October 2026). Unlike a wholesaler’s code, it stays the same whoever you buy from.

Terms from N to P

Net terms

Payment terms giving a trade customer a set number of days to pay after the invoice, written as net 30 or net 60. If no date was agreed, UK rules treat a business payment as late 30 days after the customer receives the invoice or the goods, whichever is later; agreed terms are usually no more than 60 days between businesses and 30 for public authorities (gov.uk, checked 29 October 2026).

OCI

Open Catalog Interface, developed by SAP “for punch-out catalogs that connect buyers’ procurement systems with suppliers’ eCommerce systems” (Wikipedia, checked 29 October 2026). It does in SAP what cXML punchout does elsewhere.

Pay on account

Ordering now and paying later against an invoice, within a credit limit and net terms agreed when the account was opened, instead of paying by card at checkout.

PO number

The reference a business customer’s purchasing system gives an order. Their accounts team matches your invoice to it, so an invoice without it can be held up.

Price catalogue

A set of prices assigned to one customer or a group of customers, so that after signing in they see their own prices instead of your public ones. Also called a price list or customer price list.

Price Marking Order

The Price Marking Order 2004, the UK rules on showing prices to consumers, online as well as in shops. The selling price must include VAT and all other taxes, some goods also need a unit price, and the order is “limited to sales between traders and consumers”; amendments apply from 6 April 2026 (gov.uk, checked 29 October 2026).

Product data standards

Shared rules for describing products so that wholesaler, manufacturer and dealer systems read data the same way. In the UK office trade, the BOSS Federation’s standards committee released the Industry Standard Product Classification, “often called the BOSS Code”, for the January 2013 product files (britishprint.com, checked 29 October 2026) and renamed itself the BOSS Synergy Team in 2014, covering standard product attributes, the classification code and standard abbreviations (britishprint.com, checked 29 October 2026). We found no newer public update, so ask your wholesaler which standard its files follow.

Punchout

A link between a customer’s purchasing system and your webstore: the buyer starts in their own system, shops your site at agreed prices, and sends the basket back for approval, after which their system raises the purchase order. Explained in what punchout is.

Purchase order

A buyer’s formal order document: what it wants, how many, at what price, delivered where. Your customers send them to you, and you send them to your suppliers.

Terms from Q to S

Quantity break

A lower unit price for buying more, such as £4.20 each for 1 to 9 and £3.90 each for 10 or more (illustrative figures). Common on consumables sold by the box or case.

Request for quote

A customer asking for a price before ordering, usually for a large order, a fit-out or a configured product. Dealers usually take them through a quote form or a contact page.

Room of choice delivery

Delivery into the room the customer chooses, rather than to the kerb or front door, usually priced above a standard delivery. Charges are compared in office furniture delivery and installation charges.

RRP

Recommended retail price: the price a manufacturer suggests a product sells for. The Competition and Markets Authority says an RRP is not resale price maintenance “if the retailer can still resell at whatever price it wants to” (gov.uk, checked 29 October 2026).

Spending limit

A cap on how much one buyer in a customer’s account can spend, per order or per period, set by the customer’s administrator or by you. Orders above it are blocked or sent for approval.

Supplier-direct delivery

Delivery from the supplier’s warehouse straight to your customer, without passing through yours. It is the physical side of a drop-ship purchase order, and common for furniture and bulky items.

Terms from T to W

Trade account

An account for a business customer, usually opened after an application and approval, giving access to trade prices and, where agreed, payment on terms.

Two-man delivery

Delivery by a crew of two, for items too heavy or awkward for one person to carry safely, such as desks, pedestal drawers and storage. It usually costs more than a single-driver courier and is often booked to a date.

VAT invoice

The invoice a VAT-registered business must give another VAT-registered business for standard-rated or reduced-rated supplies, normally within 30 days. Among other things it shows a sequential number, the tax point, your VAT number, the customer’s name and address, a description, quantity, VAT rate and amount ex VAT, and the total VAT in sterling; for supplies of £250 or less a simplified invoice is allowed if the customer agrees (gov.uk VAT Notice 700, section 16, checked 29 October 2026).

Wholesaler

A business that buys from manufacturers in bulk and sells on to dealers and resellers, often with next-day delivery and product data. Changing yours has knock-on effects for your website, covered in changing wholesaler without wrecking your website.

Questions people ask about office trade terms

What is list less discount?

A way of pricing from a list price instead of from cost. Suppose a chair lists at £200 ex VAT, you buy it at list less 45% (£110) and sell to a contract customer at list less 30% (£140): you make £30, a 21.4% margin. The figures are illustrative.

What is a buying group?

A membership organisation that negotiates trading terms with wholesalers and manufacturers for independent dealers, and often provides catalogues and marketing. Nemo Office Club, for example, signed improved trading terms with Spicers for its members in July 2023 (therecycler.com, checked 29 October 2026).

What does two-man delivery mean?

Delivery by a crew of two people, used for heavy or bulky items such as desks and storage. It is often combined with room of choice delivery and costs more than a standard courier.

What is a drop-ship purchase order?

A purchase order that tells the supplier to deliver straight to your customer’s address. You sell and invoice; the supplier picks, packs and delivers.

What is the difference between margin and markup?

Margin is profit divided by the selling price; markup is profit divided by cost. Buy at £60 and sell at £100, and the margin is 40% while the markup is 66.7%.

Where Orbit fits

Orbit Commerce is the ecommerce platform we build for UK dealers. On every plan, suppliers on Orbit can be connected so their ranges import with images and specifications and are priced by your markup or margin rules, shoppers can switch prices between ex VAT and inc VAT, and customers can reorder past orders. Company accounts, trade sign-up with approval, per-company price catalogues and per-buyer spending limits are on the Enterprise plan (£999 a month, or £749 billed yearly, ex VAT). More on Orbit for the office industry.