MOQ and Wholesale Terms Explained (Plain English for Brand Owners)

The first time a buyer replies to your wholesale pitch, they'll talk in a language you may not speak yet. "What's your MOQ? Do you offer Net-30? Is that price FOB?" If you freeze or fudge those answers, you look unready, and a buyer who thinks you're unready quietly moves on.

None of these MOQ and wholesale terms are complicated. They're just jargon for simple business questions. This guide is the plain-English decoder so you can answer any buyer's terms question with confidence — and set terms that protect your margin instead of quietly eating it.

MOQ — minimum order quantity

MOQ is the smallest order you'll accept from a buyer. That's it. If your MOQ is two cases, a buyer can't order one unit to "try it out" — they commit to two cases or nothing.

MOQ exists to protect your time and shipping economics. Picking, packing, and invoicing a single unit costs you almost as much as a full case, so a too-low MOQ turns wholesale into unpaid work. Set it high enough that every order is worth fulfilling, but low enough that a cautious first-time buyer will still say yes. A common pattern: a low MOQ for a first order (to lower the barrier) and a higher one for reorders.

Express MOQ in whatever unit you actually ship — units, cases, or dollars ("$250 minimum order"). Dollar minimums are often cleanest because they scale across a mixed order.

Case pack

A case pack is how many units come in one sealed case. If your product ships 12 to a case, the buyer orders in multiples of 12. Case packs matter because buyers plan shelf space and reorders around them, and because you rarely want to break a case open to ship loose units.

State the case pack on every line of your line sheet — it's one of the required fields we cover in how to write a line sheet for wholesale. MOQ and case pack work together: "MOQ 2 cases, 12 per case" tells a buyer the smallest order is 24 units.

The payment terms — Net-30, Net-60, and deposits

This is the one that scares new sellers, and for good reason: it's where you can get burned.

• Net-30 means the buyer pays you within 30 days of the invoice — after you've shipped. You're effectively lending them the goods for a month.
• Net-60 is the same, stretched to 60 days. Larger retailers often demand it.
• Prepaid / credit card means they pay before you ship. Safest for you, and what you should offer first-time buyers.
• Deposit terms — e.g. "50% upfront, 50% on delivery" — split the risk on a large custom order.

Rule of thumb: don't extend Net terms to a buyer you've never worked with. Prepaid or credit card for the first order or two, then offer Net-30 once they've reordered and you trust them. Established retailers will push for Net terms, and that's normal — just know that offering Net-30 means you're financing their inventory, so price and cash-flow accordingly.

FOB and shipping terms

FOB — "free on board" — tells everyone who pays for shipping and who owns the goods in transit. The two you'll hear:

• FOB Origin (or "FOB [your city]") — the buyer pays freight from your dock, and the goods become theirs the moment they leave you. If it's damaged in transit, that's the buyer's problem.
• FOB Destination — you pay freight and own the goods until they arrive. The buyer's risk starts at their door.

Most small wholesale deals are FOB Origin: you hand off at your warehouse, the buyer arranges and pays shipping. State your shipping terms on the line sheet so there's no surprise about a freight bill.

Pricing-related terms: MSRP, keystone, and MAP

• MSRP — manufacturer's suggested retail price. The price you recommend the buyer sells at. Buyers use the gap between your wholesale price and MSRP to see their margin at a glance.
• Keystone — the classic retail markup where the retail price is double the wholesale cost (a 50% margin). Many buyers expect roughly keystone or better, which shapes what wholesale price you can set. That math is the heart of how to price wholesale products.
• MAP — minimum advertised price. A policy that forbids a retailer from advertising your product below a set price. MAP protects your brand from a race to the bottom and keeps your other retailers happy. If you sell on Amazon and wholesale at the same time, a MAP policy is how you stop a distributor from undercutting your own listing.

Distributor vs. retailer vs. wholesaler — quick note

These terms describe who you're selling to, and they change everything downstream — margins, MOQ, terms. A distributor buys deep at the lowest price and resells to many retailers; a retailer buys to sell to end consumers. Your terms should differ for each. We unpack the whole hierarchy in what is a distributor vs wholesaler vs retailer — worth reading before you quote anyone, because a distributor asking for your "MOQ" expects a very different number than a boutique.

A few more you'll hear

• PO — purchase order. The buyer's official order document. When you get one, the deal is real.
• Lead time. Days from order to shipment. Buyers plan around it; be honest, because a blown lead time loses reorders.
• SKU — stock keeping unit. Your unique code for each product/variant, so a PO references the exact item.
• Reorder. The whole point. The first order proves the product; reorders are where wholesale becomes a business.

Set your terms before you pitch, not during

The mistake isn't using the wrong term — it's not having answers ready. Before you send a single outreach email, write down your MOQ, case pack, payment terms, lead time, and FOB terms. Put them on your line sheet. Then when a buyer asks, you answer in one line and look like a pro.

That readiness is half of closing wholesale. The other half is getting in front of the right buyers in the first place — which is what ASINBuyer handles: paste an Amazon ASIN, and five AI agents find matching B2B buyers, write the outreach in your voice, and book the calls. You set the terms; the platform brings the buyers who'll agree to them.

Know your terms, put them on paper, and you'll never freeze on a buyer's reply again. Ready for buyers to reply to? Start with your ASIN.