Wholesale Payment Terms: How to Get Paid and Avoid Getting Stiffed

Your first big wholesale order is exciting right up until the moment you realize you are about to ship a few thousand dollars of product to a business you have never worked with, on the strength of an email. Getting the wholesale payment terms right is what separates a durable B2B channel from a slow-motion cash-flow disaster. This guide covers how the money actually moves, and how to structure it so you get paid without scaring off good buyers.

Wholesale is different from Amazon retail in one important way: on Amazon, the platform collects the money and pays you. In wholesale, you are the one extending trust. That trust has to be structured, not assumed.

The core question: who takes the risk

Every payment term is really a negotiation about who is exposed if something goes wrong. Three positions exist:

• Payment before shipment. The buyer takes the risk. You have the cash before the product leaves your hands.
• Payment on delivery (COD) or on invoice. Split risk. The product ships, and payment follows quickly.
• Net terms (net 15, net 30, net 60). You take the risk. You ship, then wait weeks to be paid.

New brands should start as far to the left as they can and only move right for buyers who have earned it. A buyer who insists on net 60 for a first order from an unproven supplier is asking you to finance their business. That is not a deal you have to accept.

Deposits: the single best protection for a first order

For any first order from a new buyer, ask for a deposit. A 50% deposit up front, 50% before shipment is standard and reasonable, and most legitimate buyers will not blink at it. It does two things: it covers your production or fulfillment cost so a cancelled order does not leave you holding inventory you bought on their behalf, and it filters out the tire-kickers who were never going to pay.

Here is the math on why deposits matter. Say a buyer orders 500 units at a 4 dollar wholesale price — a 2,000 dollar order. Your landed cost is 1.60 dollars per unit, so 800 dollars of that order is your own cash sunk into product. A 50% deposit of 1,000 dollars covers every dollar you have at risk. If the buyer vanishes after the deposit, you are not out of pocket. Without it, a cancelled order costs you 800 dollars and a pile of product you now have to resell.

Purchase orders: get the commitment in writing

A verbal "yes, send me 500" is not an order. A purchase order (PO) is. The PO is the buyer's written commitment specifying the products, quantities, agreed price, and terms. It protects you if the buyer later disputes what they agreed to, and it protects them by locking your price.

Never begin fulfillment on a first order without a signed PO or a paid deposit — ideally both. We walk through the full flow in Purchase Orders 101, but the short version is: no PO, no production.

Net terms — when (and when not) to offer them

Established buyers, especially larger retailers and distributors, expect net terms. Net 30 means they pay within 30 days of the invoice. Offering net terms can be the thing that wins a bigger account, but it is a form of unsecured credit, so treat it that way.

Rules that keep net terms from hurting you:

1. Earn it first. Require one or two prepaid orders before you extend any net terms. Payment history is the only credit check that matters at this scale.
2. Start short. Offer net 15 before net 30, and net 30 before net 60. You can always extend the window later; clawing it back is awkward.
3. Cap the exposure. Set a credit limit per buyer — for example, no more than one open invoice at a time until they have paid three on time.
4. Price the cost in. Money owed for 30 days is money you cannot use. A common move is a small early-payment discount, like "2/10 net 30" (2% off if paid within 10 days), which nudges buyers to pay fast without you chasing them.

For a deeper look at whether net terms fit your brand at all, see Net 30 payment terms for wholesale.

What to actually put on the invoice

A clean invoice prevents most payment disputes before they start. Include:

• Your business name, address, and a clear "remit to" payment method.
• The buyer's PO number, so their accounts-payable team can match it.
• Line items, quantities, unit price, and total.
• The exact due date, not just "net 30." Write the calendar date.
• A late-payment note if you use one (a 1.5% monthly fee on overdue balances is common and legal in most US states).

Payment methods that protect you

• ACH bank transfer is the workhorse of B2B — low fees, direct, and traceable. Preferred for larger orders.
• Credit card is convenient and gives you money instantly, but the 3% processing fee eats margin on big orders. Consider passing it through or reserving cards for smaller buyers.
• Wire transfer for large or international orders. Confirm receipt before shipping.
• Avoid checks where you can. They clear slowly and can bounce after you have already shipped.

Never ship against a payment method you have not confirmed as cleared. "The check is in the mail" and a pending ACH are not the same as money in your account.

A simple policy you can adopt today

Put this in your line sheet and your first reply to every buyer, and you will avoid almost every payment problem:

First order: 50% deposit to confirm, balance due before shipment. After two paid orders: net 15 available up to a set credit limit. Established accounts: net 30, with a 2% discount for payment within 10 days.

That single paragraph does the work of a legal department. It is fair to the buyer, it protects your cash, and it gives good buyers a clear path to better terms as they prove themselves.

Let the deals come to you

Sorting out payment terms is the easy part once you have real buyers in your inbox actually asking to place orders. Finding those buyers is the hard part — and it is exactly what ASINBuyer is built to do. You paste an Amazon ASIN, five AI agents find matching B2B buyers, write and send the outreach in your voice, and book the calls, so the conversations you are handling are about terms and quantities instead of cold prospecting.

Get the payment structure right, and a single wholesale account can pay you for years. Start with a deposit, get it in writing, and let buyers earn their way to net terms.