Faire Alternative: Faire vs Shopify Wholesale for Growing B2B Businesses

If you've built a successful wholesale business on Faire, there often comes a point when you start asking a different question:

Should Faire remain my main wholesale channel, or should I build my own wholesale store on Shopify?

Faire can be an excellent platform for discovering brands, connecting with retailers, and getting a wholesale business started.

But once your business has stable customers and repeat orders, marketplace fees, limited control over the buying experience, and dependence on a third-party platform can become bigger considerations.

That's why more growing businesses start looking for a Faire alternative—or, more accurately, an additional wholesale channel they own.

For many merchants, that alternative is Shopify combined with a dedicated B2B solution such as BMT B2B Wholesale Pricing.

So how does Faire vs Shopify wholesale actually compare?

And when does it make sense to move some of your wholesale business to Shopify?

Faire vs Shopify Wholesale: What's the Main Difference?

The biggest difference is simple.

Faire is a marketplace. Shopify is your own ecommerce infrastructure.

Faire connects brands and wholesale buyers within Faire's marketplace.

Shopify lets you create your own storefront, customer experience, pricing strategy, and sales process.

That means the two platforms solve slightly different problems.

Faire is especially strong for:

• Marketplace discovery
• Connecting with new wholesale buyers
• Finding brands and suppliers
• Simplifying wholesale purchasing
• Providing an established marketplace experience

Shopify is stronger when you want:

• Your own branded storefront
• Direct customer relationships
• Flexible pricing
• Greater control over products
• Custom shipping rules
• B2B and B2C from the same store
• Your own marketing and customer acquisition
• Less dependence on one marketplace

For many growing businesses, the answer doesn't necessarily need to be Faire or Shopify.

It can be Faire + Shopify.

Why Businesses Start Searching for a Faire Alternative

Consider a typical growing wholesale business.

The company starts sourcing products through Faire and gradually builds strong relationships with four or five important vendors.

Sales grow steadily.

Eventually, monthly revenue exceeds $5,000.

At that stage, the owner starts thinking beyond simply placing orders through a marketplace.

They may want to:

• Increase margins
• Reduce platform dependency
• Own more of the customer experience
• Create custom pricing
• Build direct relationships
• Sell retail as well as wholesale
• Create their own brand

Marketplace economics can also become more noticeable as volume increases.

For sellers, Faire can charge marketplace commission on orders it generates. Shopify's 2026 overview notes that, for North American brands, standard marketplace sales can carry a 15% commission, while Faire Direct can provide zero-commission ordering for customers the brand brings itself.

That makes an important distinction:

Faire can be extremely valuable for discovery.

But once you already have established customers, building a channel that you control becomes increasingly attractive.

Is Shopify a Faire Alternative?

Yes—but not in exactly the same way.

Shopify doesn't replace Faire's marketplace.

Shopify doesn't automatically bring wholesale customers to you.

Instead, it gives you the infrastructure to build your own wholesale channel.

That distinction matters.

With Faire:

Marketplace → Buyer discovers you → Order happens through Faire

With Shopify:

You attract the buyer → Buyer visits your store → You control the relationship and buying experience

So Shopify is best thought of as an owned-channel alternative to Faire, rather than another wholesale marketplace.

Why This Merchant Chose Shopify

For one growing wholesale business, the decision came after building a stable operation through Faire.

The business already had relationships with several vendors and more than $5,000 in monthly recurring revenue.

The merchant wanted to reduce dependency on Faire and create its own ecommerce channel.

Shopify was the logical platform.

But there was another requirement.

The business didn't only want a wholesale site.

It also wanted to start selling directly to retail customers.

That meant one store needed to handle both:

B2B wholesale customers

and

B2C retail customers

Shopify was well suited to that model.

The challenge was implementing the merchant's more specific B2B requirements.

Why Shopify Native B2B Wasn't Enough for This Business

Shopify's native B2B offering became significantly stronger in 2026.

Basic, Grow and Advanced merchants can now use features such as company profiles, payment terms, quantity rules, volume pricing and up to three active B2B catalogs.

For many businesses, that's enough.

But this merchant needed more flexibility.

The biggest limitation was the merchant's pricing structure.

They already wanted different arrangements for more than four wholesale customers.

On Shopify Basic, Grow and Advanced, merchants can assign up to three active B2B catalogs across their B2B markets. Unlimited catalogs and direct catalog assignments to individual companies and company locations remain Shopify Plus capabilities.

For a business at this stage, moving to Shopify Plus simply to unlock more B2B flexibility didn't make financial sense.

That's where BMT B2B Wholesale Pricing became useful.

Faire vs Shopify + BMT Wholesale

The merchant wasn't looking for another marketplace.

They wanted to reproduce their existing wholesale business on infrastructure they controlled.

BMT added the B2B layer required to make Shopify work for their specific business model.

1. More Flexible Wholesale Pricing

Different wholesale customers had different commercial relationships.

Some customers required standard wholesale discounts.

Others might receive negotiated pricing.

Larger customers could receive better pricing based on volume.

The merchant therefore needed pricing that could vary across multiple customer groups.

BMT allowed the merchant to configure customer-specific and group-specific pricing without making Shopify Plus a prerequisite.

This was particularly important as the number of wholesale customers increased.

2. Customer and Variant-Level Product Visibility

Not every customer needed access to every product.

In some cases, customers also needed different access at the product variant level.

For example:

Wholesale Customer A

Can buy:

• Product 1
• Product 2
• Variant A of Product 3

Wholesale Customer B

Can buy:

• Product 2
• Product 4
• Variant B of Product 3

This level of visibility was important to the business.

BMT gave the merchant more granular control over which products and variants specific wholesale customers could access.

That made the Shopify store behave more like a personalized B2B portal.

3. Customer-Specific Shipping

Wholesale shipping is often more complicated than retail shipping.

One customer might receive free shipping.

Another might pay a negotiated flat rate.

A third customer may have different terms based on geography or order value.

The merchant therefore wanted:

Wholesale customer-specific shipping rules.

BMT enabled the business to configure different shipping experiences for different wholesale customer segments.

4. Wholesale Registration and Approval

The merchant also wanted Shopify to become a channel for acquiring new wholesale buyers.

That required more than simply having a login button.

New wholesale customers needed to apply.

The merchant wanted a process such as:

Visit website

↓

Submit wholesale registration form

↓

Merchant reviews application

↓

Customer approved

↓

Wholesale pricing and products become available

BMT's registration and approval features allowed the merchant to build this workflow directly into Shopify.

Instead of depending entirely on marketplace discovery, the business could start converting visitors into its own wholesale customers.

5. Net Payment Terms and Draft Orders

Wholesale transactions don't always work like retail transactions.

Trusted buyers often expect payment terms such as:

• Net 15
• Net 30
• Net 60

The merchant wanted to support these relationships without forcing every customer to pay immediately at checkout.

Using BMT's B2B workflows and draft-order capabilities, the merchant could create orders that better reflected traditional wholesale buying processes.

Shopify also supports payment terms natively across its B2B plans, so the choice here wasn't simply about whether payment terms existed. It was about combining them with the merchant's broader pricing, visibility and workflow requirements.

6. B2B and B2C on the Same Shopify Store

This was one of the biggest advantages of the Shopify approach.

The merchant didn't want separate systems for wholesale and retail.

Instead:

A retail shopper could:

Visit the site → See normal retail prices → Add products to cart → Check out normally

A wholesale buyer could:

Log in → Receive their applicable wholesale pricing → See relevant wholesale products → Receive their shipping rules → Order using the applicable B2B terms

That allowed the merchant to operate two revenue channels from the same Shopify foundation.

Faire vs Shopify Wholesale: Comparison

Is Shopify Cheaper Than Faire for Wholesale?

It depends on how customers find you.

This is one of the most important things to understand when comparing Faire vs Shopify wholesale.

Faire can justify its marketplace fees when it is actually acquiring customers for you.

You're effectively paying for:

• Discovery
• Marketplace infrastructure
• Trust
• Buyer network
• Transaction convenience

But if you're bringing customers yourself, the economics change.

Faire Direct already addresses some of this by allowing qualifying direct customers to order without marketplace commission.

Shopify goes one step further by giving you an independent store.

Your costs shift away from marketplace commission and toward:

• Shopify subscription
• Apps
• Payment processing
• Marketing
• Customer acquisition
• Store operations

That means Shopify isn't automatically cheaper.

But as direct sales grow, the economics of an owned channel can become increasingly attractive.

Shopify B2B Without Shopify Plus

This is another reason Shopify has become a more realistic Faire alternative.

Historically, Shopify's native B2B functionality was closely associated with Shopify Plus.

That changed in April 2026.

Shopify extended foundational B2B capabilities to Basic, Grow and Advanced plans.

That means smaller businesses can now access:

• Company profiles
• B2B catalogs
• Volume pricing
• Quantity rules
• Payment terms
• B2B ordering

without immediately upgrading to Plus.

However, there are still limitations.

Basic, Grow and Advanced currently support up to three active B2B catalogs.

Shopify Plus provides unlimited catalogs and lets merchants assign catalogs directly to specific companies and locations.

This creates an interesting middle ground.

If Shopify's standard B2B features cover your business, use them.

If you need more flexibility but aren't ready for Shopify Plus, a B2B app such as BMT can help fill those gaps.

When Is BMT a Good Faire Alternative?

BMT isn't a replacement for Faire's marketplace discovery.

It's better suited to businesses that have already started building their own wholesale relationships.

Consider Shopify + BMT when you find yourself saying:

"I already have repeat wholesale customers."

"I want customers ordering directly from my website."

"I need different pricing for different buyers."

"I need more than three B2B pricing structures."

"Certain customers should only see certain products or variants."

"I want different shipping rules for wholesale customers."

"I want customers to apply for wholesale access."

"I want B2B and retail customers using the same Shopify store."

"I don't want to upgrade to Shopify Plus yet."

If those requirements sound familiar, building your own B2B channel can make sense.

Should You Leave Faire Completely?

Not necessarily.

In fact, for many businesses that would be the wrong strategy.

Faire and Shopify can serve different purposes.

A more balanced approach is:

Use Faire for:

• Brand discovery
• Supplier discovery
• New wholesale relationships
• Marketplace-generated business

Use Shopify + BMT for:

• Direct relationships
• Repeat wholesale buyers
• Custom pricing
• Customer-specific catalogs
• Controlled product visibility
• Custom B2B workflows
• Retail sales
• Building your own brand

This avoids treating the decision as:

Faire vs Shopify

and instead turns it into:

Faire for discovery + Shopify for ownership.

The Real Advantage of Building Your Own Wholesale Store

The biggest reason to create your own Shopify wholesale channel isn't simply saving commission.

It's ownership.

You own:

The website.

The customer journey.

The customer relationship.

The pricing strategy.

The merchandising.

The marketing funnel.

The B2B experience.

And potentially most importantly:

You aren't dependent on a single marketplace for your entire wholesale business.

Faire Alternative FAQ

What is the best alternative to Faire for wholesale?

There isn't one universal best alternative.

If you want another marketplace, you should evaluate alternative wholesale marketplaces.

If you already have customers and want your own direct wholesale channel, Shopify can be a stronger option because you own the storefront and customer relationship.

Adding a B2B app such as BMT can provide additional wholesale flexibility.

Can Shopify replace Faire?

Shopify can replace the ecommerce and ordering side of your wholesale business, but it doesn't replace Faire's buyer marketplace.

Faire helps merchants discover each other.

Shopify gives you the infrastructure to sell directly once you have—or can acquire—your own customers.

Can I use Faire and Shopify together?

Yes.

Shopify offers Faire integrations for both brands and retailers. Products, inventory and orders can sync between Shopify and Faire depending on how you use the platform.

This makes a hybrid strategy possible.

Is Shopify B2B available without Shopify Plus?

Yes.

As of 2026, Shopify offers foundational B2B functionality on Basic, Grow and Advanced plans.

However, those plans currently have a limit of three active B2B catalogs, while Shopify Plus supports unlimited catalogs and direct catalog assignments to companies and company locations.

Why use BMT instead of Shopify native B2B?

BMT can make sense when your wholesale requirements go beyond what Shopify's non-Plus native B2B configuration comfortably supports.

Examples include:

• More flexible customer-specific pricing
• Multiple customer pricing groups
• Customer-specific product visibility
• Variant-level visibility requirements
• Wholesale-specific shipping
• Registration and approval workflows
• Running B2B and B2C together
• Avoiding a Shopify Plus upgrade solely for additional B2B flexibility

The best option depends on your business structure.

Final Verdict: Faire vs Shopify Wholesale

Faire is excellent at something Shopify isn't designed to do:

Help wholesale buyers and sellers discover each other inside a marketplace.

Shopify is excellent at something Faire isn't designed to fully replace:

Helping you build an ecommerce business that you control.

For a new wholesale business, Faire can be an excellent starting point.

But once you've built predictable revenue, repeat customers and established relationships, relying on one marketplace becomes less attractive.

That's when creating your own Shopify wholesale channel starts making sense.

And if your requirements exceed Shopify's standard B2B capabilities—but your business isn't ready for Shopify Plus—BMT B2B Wholesale Pricing can provide the flexibility needed to make Shopify work around your wholesale business rather than forcing your wholesale business to work around Shopify.

Use Faire to find opportunities. Use Shopify + BMT to build the channel you own.

Current BMT capabilities

BMT helps merchants build an owned wholesale channel with customer-specific pricing, product visibility, registration and approval, shipping rules, payment terms, Request for Quote, and B2B plus B2C selling from one Shopify store.