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A B2B ordering portal lets your resellers order on their own, on their terms, without email or phone back-and-forth. A focused portal costs $6,800 to $22,400 (€6,000–€20,000)excl. VAT; connected to an ERP, with online payment and several brands, allow $16,800 to $39,200 (€15,000–€35,000)excl. VAT.
Many brands that sell online to consumers also sell to shops, resellers or distributors. That B2B channel often runs on email, a PDF order form and manual re-entry. A B2B ordering portal ends this back-and-forth. Here is what it should do, when your store’s B2B module is enough, and what a custom portal costs.
What a B2B portal should do
A reseller does not buy like a consumer. They know your SKUs, often reorder the same products, in bulk, and expect their own terms. So the portal should give them:
- restricted access, with accounts approved by your team;
- their own prices and discounts, not the retail price;
- fast ordering: entry by SKU, file upload, reordering a previous order;
- sales rules: minimum order, case quantities, free shipping threshold;
- suitable payment options: card, bank transfer, or net terms for approved accounts;
- their history: orders, shipment tracking, invoices and credit notes to download;
- your resources: product sheets, images, sales material for resale.
On the brand side, the sales team approves accounts, follows orders and sees what each reseller buys.
Your store’s B2B module or a custom portal?
Start by checking what your platform offers. Shopify, for example, now opens its B2B features to the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus plans: company profiles, net payment terms, quantity rules, volume pricing. Non-Plus plans are limited to three active B2B catalogs, and assigning a catalog to a specific company, along with deposits and partial payments, is limited to Shopify Plus, according to Shopify’s page on B2B features by plan (checked October 2026). On WooCommerce, B2B relies on marketplace extensions such as B2B Pricing, which handles prices by customer role ($99 for one year, checked October 2026).
| Situation | What I recommend |
|---|---|
| Few resellers, one price list, payment at checkout | The store’s B2B module or an extension |
| A few price lists, simple terms | B2B module or extension, test it first |
| Customer-specific prices, discounts by product family, net terms, credit limits | Custom portal |
| Orders that must reach the ERP, invoices issued by accounting | Connected custom portal |
| Several brands or entities with separate catalogs | Multi-space custom portal |
Custom software becomes relevant when your commercial terms no longer fit the boxes, or when the portal has to talk to your back-office systems. The pricing logic is covered in customer-specific prices, discounts and terms.
Budget and timelines
These ranges exclude VAT and cover a first version running in production. They follow my public price list; the quote becomes fixed after scoping.
| Portal | What it includes | Indicative budget | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focused portal | Approved accounts, catalog and customer prices, quick ordering, history | $6,800 to $22,400 (€6,000–€20,000)excl. VAT | 1 to 3 months |
| Connected portal | The above + online payment, ERP or accounting connection, invoices | $16,800 to $39,200 (€15,000–€35,000)excl. VAT | 3 to 5 months |
| Multi-brand platform | Several catalogs, entities or countries, sales and partner areas | Custom quote | 3 to 6 months and more |
An example of how my estimator builds it: accounts and roles ($1,700 (€1,500)excl. VAT), customer area ($2,800 (€2,500)excl. VAT), online payment ($1,700 (€1,500)excl. VAT), ERP connection ($2,300 (€2,000)excl. VAT) and admin back office ($2,300 (€2,000)excl. VAT) are added to the base price, with a 1.1 multiplier above 10 users. The estimator runs this calculation for your case, and how much a B2B portal costs details each item.
You still pay for hosting, payment provider fees and your e-commerce platform subscription if you keep it.
When it is not the right choice
- Twenty or so resellers on identical terms. Your platform’s B2B module or an extension will do the job for far less.
- Rare, heavily negotiated orders. If every order starts with a custom quote, a quoting tool is more useful than an ordering portal.
- Commercial terms that are not written down anywhere. Before building, price lists and rules need to be formalized. Scoping helps with that, but the decisions remain commercial ones.
- A budget under $6,800 (€6,000)excl. VAT. That is the floor for reliable business software.
How the project works
- A 30-minute call (free): your resellers, your terms, your current tools.
- Scoping (1 to 2 weeks): pricing rules, ordering journey, connections, fixed quote and schedule.
- Clickable mockups (1 to 3 weeks), which you can have two or three trusted resellers try out.
- Development in batches: catalog and ordering first, then payment, invoices and connections.
- Go-live, import of reseller accounts, training for the sales team, three months of included support.
This portal is a variant of the client portal I build for other uses: the technical foundation is the same, only the rules change.
Frequently asked questions
Can we use the same store for consumers and business customers?
Yes, some platforms allow it, but it mixes two very different journeys. A separate portal, connected to the same catalog and stock, keeps the consumer store simple and gives resellers a tool designed for them.
Do resellers have to install an app?
No. The portal is a web application that runs in a browser. It can be added to the home screen of a tablet or phone as a PWA, without going through an app store.
How should reseller account sign-ups work?
The most common setup is an online application, approved by your sales team, who then assign a price list and payment terms. The reseller only sees prices once the account is approved.
Can our sales reps use the portal too?
Yes. A rep can place an order on behalf of a reseller from the same tool, with the same prices. It is often a good way to avoid running two ordering tools side by side.