TLDR
Wholesale marketplaces like Faire and JOOR charge 15-25% commission per order. No-commission wholesale platforms charge a flat monthly fee regardless of order volume. For any operation doing $50,000+ in annual wholesale, the commission savings typically exceed the platform cost many times over.
OrderDock
Flat-rate B2B wholesale ordering portal with native net terms, matrix ordering, and customer-specific pricing. Built for manufacturers and distributors who want a direct channel without marketplace overhead.
Pros
- ✓ $20-99/mo flat, zero per-order fees
- ✓ Native net-30/60 terms
- ✓ Matrix ordering for variants
- ✓ Buyer accounts with custom pricing
- ✓ You own the buyer relationship and data
Cons
- × No built-in buyer discovery network
- × Recently launched
- × Smaller third-party integration ecosystem
Pricing: Launch $20/mo, Scale $49/mo, Enterprise $99/mo
Verdict: Best for established wholesale operations moving away from phone/email ordering or commission-based marketplaces.
Shopify Plus (B2B channel)
Enterprise Shopify with a wholesale channel add-on. No per-order commission, but high base cost.
Pros
- ✓ No commission on orders
- ✓ Large app ecosystem
- ✓ Established platform with strong uptime
Cons
- × $2,300+/mo base cost
- × B2B features require apps (net terms, matrix ordering)
- × Retail platform overhead
Pricing: $2,300+/mo
Verdict: Commission-free, but expensive. Worth it only if you need DTC and wholesale on one platform.
BigCommerce B2B
Revenue-based SaaS platform with strong B2B features. No per-order commissions.
Pros
- ✓ No per-order commissions
- ✓ Stronger native B2B than Shopify
- ✓ Good API
Cons
- × Revenue-based pricing penalizes growth
- × Enterprise sales process required
- × Long implementation
Pricing: Custom revenue-based
Verdict: Commission-free with good B2B features, but pricing opacity and revenue-scaling costs are drawbacks.
WooCommerce B2B
WordPress-based ecommerce with B2B plugins for wholesale pricing and customer management.
Pros
- ✓ Open source, low licensing cost
- ✓ Flexible with plugins
- ✓ No per-order commissions
Cons
- × Requires hosting and developer to maintain
- × B2B features via plugins, not native
- × Security and maintenance overhead
Pricing: Free + hosting ($20-100/mo) + plugins ($100-500/yr)
Verdict: Lowest cost option if you have developer resources. High ongoing maintenance burden for non-technical teams.
Faire Direct
Faire's zero-commission tier for buyers you bring to the platform yourself via your own link.
Pros
- ✓ 0% commission on your own buyer relationships
- ✓ Buyers still get Faire's net 60 terms
- ✓ No separate platform setup required
Cons
- × Still on Faire's platform — buyer data stays with Faire
- × Limited customization
- × Restrictions on migrating buyers if you leave
Pricing: Free (0% commission for Faire Direct buyers)
Verdict: Useful interim step if you're already on Faire and want to reduce commission costs while evaluating alternatives.
Why Commission Matters at Scale
The commission model makes sense at the beginning. A marketplace takes risk to connect you with buyers you couldn’t find yourself. Taking a cut of that first order is a fair fee for the introduction.
The math changes with reorders. Once you have established retail accounts who know your catalog and order on a regular cadence, the commission on each order is not paying for discovery. It’s a recurring tax on a relationship you already own.
At $100,000 in annual reorder volume through a 15% commission platform, you’re paying $15,000/year to route orders you would have received anyway. A flat-rate portal at $99/mo costs $1,188/year. The difference is $13,812 in recovered margin.
The Trade-Off: Discovery vs Margin
No-commission platforms don’t have built-in buyer networks. Moving off a marketplace means taking responsibility for new buyer acquisition yourself. That’s a real trade-off.
The calculation: how much of your current volume is from buyers who were discovered through the marketplace, vs. buyers who were relationships before you joined? If most of your volume is established relationships, the commission math strongly favors a direct channel.
If you’re still actively growing your retailer count and the marketplace is driving new accounts, a hybrid approach makes sense: marketplace for discovery, direct portal for reorders.
What to Look for in a No-Commission Platform
The feature checklist for wholesale ordering: customer-specific pricing tiers, net terms per account, PO workflow with reference number support, matrix ordering for variant-heavy catalogs, and a buyer portal simple enough that dealers use it instead of calling your sales team.
Verify that net terms are native, not an add-on app, before you commit. That’s where most retail-based platforms fall short.
Q&A
How much do commission-based wholesale platforms really cost?
At 15 to 19 percent per order, a brand doing 200,000 dollars per month in wholesale pays 30,000 to 38,000 dollars annually in commissions. A flat-rate platform at 20 to 300 dollars per month saves tens of thousands per year for brands with established buyer relationships.
Q&A
What are the trade-offs of no-commission wholesale platforms?
No-commission platforms charge flat monthly fees but do not provide marketplace buyer discovery. You need your own buyer relationships. For brands with established dealer networks, the trade-off is straightforward: pay a flat monthly fee and keep 100 percent of your order margins.
Frequently asked