Taking a trade counter online: ex VAT prices, trade accounts, quotes and a purchase wall

This guide is for a UK merchant or wholesaler with a trade counter and account customers, turning over £1m to £20m and selling online badly or not at all: builders’ merchants, electrical and plumbing wholesalers, salon, packaging and giftware suppliers. It covers what trade customers expect, what the three realistic routes cost today, how a trade account works on Orbit, and whether you need the plan it sits on. Disclosure: we build Orbit Commerce, so weigh those sections accordingly. Every outside figure was checked against its source on 8 November 2026.

What do trade customers expect from a merchant’s website?

The bar is set by everywhere else your customers’ staff already buy, and the platforms built for this market agree on most of the list (ShopWired’s and Shopify’s B2B pages, linked below). Six things matter most:

1. Prices ex VAT, with inc VAT alongside. The electrician compares one, the landlord buying a radiator the other.
2. Their own prices when they sign in, on the product page, in the basket and at checkout.
3. An account application on the website, with a human decision at your end and an email either way.
4. Reordering from history, because trade buying is repeat buying.
5. A quote for a big job, as a priced document with an easy way to say yes.
6. A company account with several buyers, each with their own login, and a cap on what each can spend.

Should a trade website show prices ex VAT or inc VAT?

Both, unless the site is genuinely trade only. Goods offered for sale to consumers “must have their price clearly indicated and be inclusive of VAT” under the Price Marking Order 2004, which covers sales to consumers, not trade-to-trade sales (Business Companion, Trading Standards guidance last reviewed April 2026, checked 8 November 2026). The advertising code allows VAT-exclusive prices only where everyone the price is aimed at pays no VAT or can recover it, with “a prominent statement of the amount or rate of VAT payable” beside them (CAP Code rule 3.18, asa.org.uk, checked 8 November 2026). So a trade-only site leads with ex VAT and says so; a mixed site shows inc VAT with ex VAT underneath, or a switch, and lets signed-in trade buyers default to ex VAT. Round your prices on the figure your customer reads; see markup vs margin for trade price lists. On Orbit the tax settings decide which figure leads, prices can show both, and a VAT switch flips every price on the page, on every plan.

What does a B2B website cost in 2026?

The table sets three realistic routes beside Orbit and shows what each includes. Figures are from each company’s own pages, checked 8 November 2026, ex VAT where the page says so.

ShopWired’s three standard plans each have a turnover limit, counted as payments received through your website over the last 365 days, with an automatic move up to the next plan when you pass it (shopwired.co.uk/pricing; features from shopwired.co.uk/b2b; both checked 8 November 2026).

Shopify’s UK page shows Plus “from £1,800” a month, without saying whether VAT is added (shopify.com/uk/pricing, checked 8 November 2026); the catalogue limits below Plus are on help.shopify.com, checked the same day.

Agency figures are vendor figures, so take them as the shape of the market. Bigfork says “a bespoke B2B website from an agency like Bigfork costs between £15,000 and £35,000” over four to six months (bigfork.co.uk, 15 October 2026). Design Box puts a store with “complex integrations, CRM/ERP connections” at £20,000 to £50,000 and more (designbox.co.uk, updated 30 August 2026). Shape Solutions puts system integrations at £2,000 to £10,000 each, with “B2B pricing” among the jobs that can pass £20,000 (shapesol.io, 25 August 2026). All checked 8 November 2026. After launch you own the upkeep.

How do trade accounts work on Orbit?

Everything below runs in the same store as your retail sales: one catalogue, one Orders list, different rules per company, and trade customers use your ordinary storefront.

Companies, buyers and a price list per company

Each trade customer becomes a company with a tax ID, your reference and as many buyers as it needs, each with their own login and permission switches, with Admin, Buyer and Viewer presets. Every order is listed under the company, and the company’s admin invites colleagues and sets what each can do and spend from their own account page. The company’s price list holds fixed prices or a percentage off, per product or variant, plus rules for a whole category, brand, tag or product type; a per-product override always wins, and a price preview shows what the company will pay before you switch it on. Signed-in buyers then see those prices on the product page, in the basket and at checkout, and a restricted list limits what the company sees to the products on it.

Applications and the purchase wall

Switch customer registration to Approval required and add a company name field to your sign-up form. A buyer applies where they shop, with name, email and company name and no password yet. Each request lands in Customers, then Registration requests, where you approve it into an existing or new company with permissions and a spending limit, or decline it with a reason. One email goes out either way in your store’s branding, and the form can ask for a VAT number through a custom field. For a trade-only shop, turn on the purchase wall: product pages, prices and search stay public, but only verified buyers from an active company can add to basket and check out.

Payment, spreadsheets and your ERP

A buyer over their per-order spending limit is stopped at checkout with a message that says why. Trade buyers pay at checkout by card, or by bank transfer or another manual method you switch on; Enterprise pays the Pro card rates (1.5% + 25p on a UK personal card, 2.8% + 25p on a UK business card) with nothing added on top (payments). For the counter and the phone, staff create a draft order and send a payment link. Companies, buyers, permissions, spending limits and each company’s price list assignment import from a CSV, and with an ERP the public API creates and updates companies by your own external ID so the ERP stays the master, and signed webhooks report company, catalogue and order changes.

Packs, reorders and paying

Sell a pack as its own variant (“Box of 10”) with its own SKU and price, and give it a company price in their list like any other line. Buyers reorder from a past order in their account. Trade orders are paid when placed. Payment terms and invoices sit in the API for an ERP or a small integration to use, which is something to agree with your account manager.

How do quotes work for a big job?

Our post on quote or buy now works through which products should get a basket and which a quote. On Orbit, a signed-in customer presses Add to quote on a product page and builds a quote request in their account: lines, quantities, an optional delivery method and a message. You price it line by line in the dashboard, with a delivery charge, a validity period and a note. The customer downloads a priced PDF in your branding (logo, accent colour, terms, a signature block) and presses Accept or Decline. Accepting fills their basket with the quoted lines, locked at the quoted prices, and takes them to checkout to pay.

How do you handle delivery for trade customers?

Your own vans, a carrier for everything else and collection from the counter are all shipping zones and methods, on every plan. A method carries rules on weight, basket value, item count, category, postcode and even the day of the week, so “Local van delivery” can be offered only to the postcodes your vans cover. Handling days, transit days and an order-by time put a delivery date beside the price at checkout. Which day your van reaches each town goes on your delivery page as copy; keep it short and true.

A local pickup method at £0, named for the counter, is click and collect. In an MRA Reports survey of 300 branch managers at UK general builders’ merchants, over three quarters already offer it and 67% expect those sales to rise over the next twelve months (Builders’ Merchants News, 13 August 2026, checked 8 November 2026). Carrier labels come from the order, on Orbit Shipping or your own carrier account (shipping and fulfilment).

Do you need Enterprise for a handful of trade accounts?

Not always. Enterprise is the plan for company accounts, so ask three questions:

1. Do different accounts get different prices?
2. Does any account have more than one buyer?
3. Do you need to approve who buys at trade prices?

If the answers are no, you do not need company accounts. On Solo at £25 a month (£19 a month billed yearly), create a discount code for a percentage off the order and restrict it to the specific customers you pick, who sign in to use it, so it stays with the trade. Tag or group those customers so you can find them; they reorder from their account, prices show ex and inc VAT with a switch, and draft orders with payment links cover the phone. The moment one account needs its own prices, a second buyer or an application you have to vet, the spreadsheet comes back and Enterprise earns its keep. The sums are in selling wholesale without a second platform; office dealers have their own version in trade accounts and contract pricing.

Where Orbit fits

If any of the three questions came back yes, Orbit’s B2B lives on the Enterprise plan: £999 a month ex VAT, or £749 a month billed yearly, with the 14-day trial and no card. For that you get everything in this guide (B2B and wholesale), the rest of the plan (Enterprise: unlimited staff accounts, 1TB of storage and a dedicated account manager) and the back office a merchant usually buys separately (operations: reorder points, purchase orders, pick lists and scan-verified packing).

Delivery is on every plan, as are the customer records and groups behind the trade tag. Two themes in the theme store are drawn for this shop: Conduit, a trade counter theme for a merchant selling to the trade and the public from one shop, and Brigade, a trade-only wholesale theme for catering suppliers, ex VAT first with the account application front and centre (theme store). Book a 30-minute call and we will go through your trade accounts and price lists with you, or start the Enterprise trial and import your companies from a spreadsheet.

Read next: getting your wholesale range into UK online shops, reorder points and purchase orders and taking phone orders and deposits with a payment link.

Questions people ask about taking a trade counter online

Can I show trade prices only to trade customers?

Yes. A company’s price list applies the moment one of its buyers signs in, on the product page, in the basket and at checkout, and retail shoppers never see it. Retail prices stay public for everyone to browse, and the purchase wall decides who can buy.

Can trade customers apply for an account on the website?

Yes. Set customer registration to Approval required and add a company name field to the register form. Each application appears under Registration requests, where you approve it into a new or existing company with permissions and a spending limit, or decline it with a reason. Both send an email in your store’s branding.

How do trade customers pay on Orbit?

Trade orders on Orbit are paid when placed, by card or a manual method such as bank transfer, and a draft order with a payment link covers phone orders. Payment terms and invoices exist in the API for an ERP or a small integration to use, which is something to agree with your account manager.

How do I sell packs and trade quantities on Orbit?

Sell a pack as its own variant, a box of 10 with its own price and SKU, and price it per company in their list, so a trade quantity carries a trade price. Buyers reorder from a past order in their account.

How much does a B2B website cost in the UK?

It depends on the route. Shopify’s direct company catalogues need Plus, from £1,800 a month. UK agencies quote bespoke B2B builds at £15,000 to £50,000 and more. Orbit’s B2B is part of Enterprise at £999 a month ex VAT, with the operations suite and an account manager included. All checked 8 November 2026.

Start with the ten accounts that order most. The 14-day free trial, no card required, is long enough to import your companies, set their price lists and take a real trade order before you decide.