B2B product feed essentials for UK wholesale suppliers

What to take away

Why retail feed guides fall short

Almost every product feed tutorial assumes one shopper buying one item at list price. Wholesale is a different relationship, and the definition of business-to-business selling points at why: the buyer is a business trading on agreed terms, not a consumer clicking add to basket.

That changes the data model. A trade catalogue needs case quantities, tier prices and account-gated visibility, and a standard consumer schema has no place to put them.

The UK fields that decide whether your feed works

UK trade prices are quoted excluding VAT, so the feed must say so. Carry a net price in one field and a separate tax rate beside it, not a single gross figure.

EORI numbers belong on the buyer account, not the product record. Some platforms accept them as a trade attribute, but they should never publish into an open catalogue.

Trade-only categories do most of the work. Mark a category as gated so the platform withholds price until the account is approved.

Product data also carries GB market obligations. If you place manufactured goods on the market in Great Britain, conformity marking details belong in the catalogue. GOV.UK guidance on placing manufactured goods on the market explains which entries apply.

Pricing and terms inside the data

Trade pricing is a ladder, not a number. A wholesale feed may need one price per quantity band, plus a minimum order quantity and a carriage-paid threshold that changes the true cost.

Suppliers can publish a recommended resale price, but they cannot force a buyer to charge it. The Competition and Markets Authority treats resale price maintenance as anti-competitive, so label recommended figures as guidance.

Lead times and carriage terms belong in the feed, not in a phone call. Buyers compare landed cost, so a case price without delivery terms is half an answer.

Building the feed: five steps

Work through the data before you touch a platform.

Most feed tools assume a consumer catalogue, so check what a plugin actually exposes before you commit. A WooCommerce product feed plugin comparison shows which tools allow the custom trade attributes described above.

Keeping trade orders in step

A feed is only the shop window. Once approved trade buyers start ordering, stock, invoices and carriage have to line up across every channel you sell through.

Give each channel its own price list. A marketplace listing and a trade portal rarely share the same terms, and mixing them creates margin errors that are hard to trace.

Trade customers also expect paperwork: a purchase order reference, a VAT invoice and a credit note trail. Wholesale suppliers who sell through marketplaces as well as a trade portal often lose track of stock, and multichannel order sync across eBay and Amazon covers the plumbing that keeps orders and invoices aligned.

Common questions

Do B2B feeds need different fields from retail feeds?

Yes. Expect net prices, quantity bands, minimum order quantities and pack sizes, none of which appear in a standard consumer schema.

Should trade prices include VAT in a wholesale feed?

No. Publish a net price with a separate tax field, then let the platform or the invoice add VAT at the applicable rate.

Where does an EORI number belong?

On the buyer's trade account record, not the product catalogue. Treat it as a gated attribute if the platform supports cross-border trade fields.

Can one feed serve both consumer and trade buyers?

Not well. Gated prices and public listings follow different visibility rules and different price logic, so split them.