Locksmith

Use case · Wholesale

Run retail and wholesale from one Shopify store.

Tag your approved buyers. Locksmith shows them wholesale products and pricing, asks everyone else to sign in or apply, and keeps wholesale-only items out of retail search.

Install Locksmith See the setup

The setup

One tag decides who's wholesale.

  1. Lock

    Your wholesale collection, plus any products tagged wholesale-only.

  2. Key

    One condition: the customer is tagged with wholesale.

  3. Everyone else

    Guests see a sign-in prompt. Signed-in retail customers see a message with a link to your wholesale application.

Prices and add-to-cart buttons can stay hidden from guests across the rest of the store.

Set it up

Five steps to a wholesale storefront.

  1. Tag your wholesale customers

    Add a wholesale tag to approved buyers in Shopify. Moving an existing list over? Import customers in bulk with the tag already applied.

  2. Lock the wholesale catalog

    Create one lock that covers your wholesale collection and any products tagged for wholesale. Add a key with one condition, "customer is tagged with wholesale", then turn on Hide from lists so those products stay out of retail collections and search.

  3. Hide prices from guests

    Lock your products with price and add-to-cart hiding turned on. Locksmith checks your theme for compatibility and shows a "Log in to purchase" prompt where the buy button was. No theme code required.

  4. Protect checkout

    Use checkout validation so products tagged for wholesale can only be bought by customers tagged wholesale, even through cart permalinks.

  5. Offer wholesale payment terms

    Show or hide payment methods by customer tag, so Net 30 or invoice payment is only offered to wholesale accounts.

The full walkthrough is in the guide: Creating restricted wholesale products.

Go further

Tiers, approvals, and the fine print.

Price tiers

Use one tag per tier (for example tier-1 and tier-2) and give each tier its own collection and pricing.

Price tiers tutorial →

Approve before buying

Let anyone register, then tag the accounts you approve. Locksmith keeps the wholesale catalog closed until the tag is there.

Approvals tutorial →

Hide pricing everywhere

Keep products visible so shoppers can browse the catalog, and hide prices and add-to-cart until a wholesale buyer signs in.

Hiding prices tutorial →

Questions

Before you set it up

Does this use Shopify's B2B features?

No. Locksmith's wholesale setup uses customer tags in the Online Store channel. It doesn't use Shopify B2B companies or catalogs, and it doesn't work in Shopify's separate Wholesale channel.

Do I need to edit my theme?

For most stores, no. Locks, hidden lists, and price hiding are set up in the app. Locksmith scans your theme and tells you if anything needs attention. For partial locks inside a template, see manual mode.

What do wholesale buyers see at checkout?

Shopify's normal checkout. Checkout validation and payment-method rules make sure only tagged customers can buy wholesale items or use wholesale payment terms.

Put the first lock on your store today.

Your price follows your Shopify plan, not the features you use. Every plan starts with a 15-day free trial.

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