Wholesale Glossary

Breaking into wholesale can feel like learning an entirely new language. From payment terms to production jargon, understanding the vocabulary of wholesale retail will set you on the right path toward building strong partnerships with buyers, manufacturers, and retailers.

That’s why we’ve built this Wholesale Terms Glossary. Think of this as your go-to resource on your journey toward wholesale growth.

Whether you’re new to wholesale or just need a refresher, these definitions will help you feel confident in conversations with retailers, factories, and distributors.

Come back often as we plan to update this with phrases we've missed and new ones that come up as technology evolves. 

Net Payment Terms (Net 30 / Net 50 / etc.)
The agreed-upon window between delivery and payment due date. Net 30 means a retailer has 30 days from receipt of goods to pay their invoice. Strong net terms can be the difference between a retailer placing an order or walking away — and platforms like RepSpark make it easy to attach and communicate your terms directly within the ordering experience so there's never ambiguity.

Factor
A third-party financial service that purchases your outstanding invoices and guarantees payment, even if a retailer defaults. Factors run credit checks on buyers to assess risk before extending terms. For brands scaling quickly, factoring provides cash flow certainty without the guesswork. RepSpark integrates with leading factoring services so credit approvals and order flow stay connected in one place.

Terms
The broader payment arrangement between a brand and its trading partners — covering timing, structure, and conditions. Terms might mean payment upfront, net on delivery, or installments spread across the season. New retailers often start on prepay terms until a track record is established. RepSpark lets brands configure and display custom terms by retailer, so your wholesale team always presents the right conditions to the right buyer.

Margin
The percentage of profit a retailer keeps after purchasing and reselling your product. Most specialty retailers target 50% or higher. Before setting your wholesale price, know what margin your retail partners need to run a healthy business — then work backward. When your line sheet lives in RepSpark, buyers can see retail and wholesale pricing side by side, making the margin story transparent and easy to act on.

Keystone Markup
The traditional retail pricing benchmark: wholesale cost doubled to arrive at retail price, yielding a 50% margin. A product wholesaling at $18 keystones to $36 at retail. It's a useful starting point for pricing conversations, though premium and specialty categories often push beyond keystone. RepSpark's digital catalogs display your wholesale and suggested retail prices together, so buyers can instantly validate the math.

MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price)
The retail price a brand recommends its wholesale partners charge end consumers. MSRP isn't legally binding, but it sets expectations for how your product is positioned in the market and protects pricing consistency across channels. Brands using RepSpark can surface MSRP alongside wholesale pricing in every order, keeping all parties aligned on where the product should land on the shelf.

MAP (Minimum Advertised Price)
A brand-set floor on the price retailers are permitted to advertise — online, in print, or in promotions. MAP doesn't dictate what a retailer can sell for, only what they can show publicly. It's one of the most important tools for protecting brand equity in an omnichannel world. RepSpark helps brands enforce MAP awareness at the point of ordering, so retail partners understand your pricing policies before they ever receive product.

Buyback / Guaranteed Order
An arrangement where a brand agrees to accept returns of unsold inventory at the end of a season. It lowers the risk for retailers taking a chance on a new vendor or category, and can be a powerful tool for getting onto shelves that would otherwise pass. Brands can outline buyback policies directly in their RepSpark showroom, reducing back-and-forth and giving buyers the confidence to commit to larger opening orders.

Markdown Allowance
A credit or discount a brand provides to offset a retailer's margin loss when products are put on sale. Markdown allowances are often negotiated upfront as part of a seasonal agreement. Keeping a clear record of these commitments matters — brands managing their wholesale relationships through RepSpark have a single source of truth for order history and account notes, making allowance conversations easier to track and resolve.

Markdown Money
Similar to markdown allowance, but typically requested after the fact — when a retailer has already discounted product at season's end and comes back to the brand for financial support. Common in larger wholesale relationships. Clear terms set at the start of a season, documented within RepSpark, can prevent markdown money disputes from becoming relationship-damaging surprises.

Advertising Co-Op
A cost-sharing arrangement where a brand contributes funds toward a retailer's marketing in exchange for prominent placement — in catalogs, email campaigns, end caps, or digital ads. Co-op spending can drive significant lift but needs to be tracked carefully against actual sales results. Brands building their wholesale program on RepSpark keep all account activity organized in one place, making it easier to tie co-op investments to order performance and decide where to spend next season.

Chargeback
A financial penalty deducted directly from your invoice when you fail to meet a retailer's compliance requirements — wrong labels, incorrect packaging, missed ship dates, or routing violations. Chargebacks can quietly erode your margins if you're not paying close attention. Before fulfilling any major account, make sure your team has reviewed their vendor compliance guide front to back. Brands using RepSpark can attach compliance notes and account-specific requirements to retailer profiles, keeping your fulfillment team informed before a single box ships.

Vendor Compliance
The full set of rules a retailer requires you to follow when shipping to them — covering everything from label placement and carton dimensions to routing guides and EDI requirements. Every major account has their own standards, and ignorance isn't an excuse when the chargeback hits. Storing retailer-specific compliance details within RepSpark means your wholesale team always has the right requirements on hand when an account is placing or confirming orders.

Packing List
The document that travels with a shipment and tells the receiving team exactly what's inside — broken down by style, color, size, and quantity per carton. An accurate packing list speeds up receiving at the distribution center and reduces disputes over short shipments. It's a small document with a big impact on how professional your brand looks to retail partners.

Freight Forwarder (FF)
A logistics specialist that manages the movement of goods across international borders — coordinating carriers, handling customs documentation, and navigating import regulations on your behalf. A good freight forwarder is worth their weight in cleared customs. For brands manufacturing overseas and selling domestically, your FF is a critical operational partner that sits between your factory and your wholesale accounts.

FOB (Freight on Board)
The cost of your goods at the point of origin — typically your factory or warehouse — before freight, insurance, and duties are added. FOB pricing is the starting point for most wholesale and import negotiations. When you're quoting FOB, you're telling a buyer what the product costs before it moves. Everything that happens after it leaves the dock is a separate conversation, which is where landed price comes in.

Landed Price
The true all-in cost of a product once it reaches its destination — FOB price plus freight, insurance, customs duties, and any other fees incurred along the way. For retailers importing goods or brands selling internationally, landed price is the number that actually matters for margin calculations. Knowing your landed costs before setting wholesale pricing is non-negotiable, and it's a figure RepSpark-connected brands can factor into how they present pricing to different regional accounts.

HTS Code (Harmonized Tariff Schedule)
The internationally standardized numerical code used to classify products for customs purposes. Your HTS code determines what duty rate applies when goods cross a border. Get it wrong and you risk delays, penalties, or unexpected import costs. Brands selling into multiple countries need to know their HTS codes cold — they affect landed price, compliance, and the accuracy of every commercial invoice your freight forwarder files.

Shipping Window
The range of dates within which an order must be shipped — defined by a start-ship date (earliest you can send) and a cancel date (last day the retailer will accept delivery). Shipping outside this window can mean rejected shipments, lost orders, or automatic cancellation. RepSpark's order management tools give brands clear visibility into open orders and shipping windows, so your team can prioritize fulfillment and avoid costly misses.

Distribution Center (DC)
The centralized warehouse hub where large retailers receive, sort, and route inbound shipments to individual store locations. Shipping to a DC is fundamentally different from shipping to a storefront — volume expectations, labeling requirements, and routing guides are all more rigorous. Understanding how a retailer's DC operates is essential before you ship your first pallet. Orders flowing through RepSpark arrive with the account detail your logistics team needs to fulfill correctly the first time.

Drop Ship
A fulfillment model where your brand ships an order directly to a retailer's end customer, bypassing the retailer's warehouse entirely. Drop shipping lets retailers expand their digital assortment without holding inventory, but it shifts the operational burden — packaging, timing, tracking — entirely to you. Brands that drop ship need tight systems and clear expectations with retail partners. RepSpark helps brands manage retailer relationships and order specifics in one place, which is especially valuable when fulfillment responsibilities vary by account.

Backordered
When an item is out of stock at the time of fulfillment but remains on the original order to ship once inventory is replenished. Backorders keep the sale alive without requiring a new purchase order, but they require clear communication with your retail partners about expected timelines. Brands with a clean order management workflow — like those running wholesale through RepSpark — can track backordered quantities by account and proactively update buyers before a follow-up email lands in your inbox.

ATS (Available to Ship) / Immediate
Inventory that's in your warehouse right now and ready to move. ATS orders skip the pre-book waiting game — retailers can place them and expect fulfillment within days, not months. For buyers who missed a pre-book window, blew through a top seller, or just want to test a brand before committing to a seasonal buy, ATS is a low-friction entry point. RepSpark surfaces your available-to-ship inventory directly to buyers in the platform, making it easy for retailers to browse and order what's ready without picking up the phone.

OTB (Open to Buy)
The purchasing budget a retail buyer has left to spend in a given season or period, after their core inventory commitments are locked in. OTB is what savvy brands compete for — it's discretionary, it moves fast, and buyers use it to test new vendors and fill gaps in their assortment. Getting in front of a buyer at the right moment matters as much as having the right product. Brands on RepSpark can reach buyers digitally and present ATS options that are easy to act on when OTB dollars are on the table.

WTD / MTD / STD / YTD
Shorthand for the sales reporting periods your wholesale team and retail partners live by: Week-to-Date, Month-to-Date, Season-to-Date, and Year-to-Date. These snapshots tell you how you're tracking against goals at any given moment — and which accounts, styles, or categories are driving or dragging performance. Brands that review these numbers regularly can have smarter reorder conversations with retail partners, and RepSpark's reporting gives your team the order history and account data to back those conversations up.

POS (Point of Sale)
Two meanings that matter in wholesale. First, it's the physical or digital moment where a consumer buys your product — the register, the checkout page, the tap of a card. Second, POS data refers to actual sell-through numbers from a retailer's floor, which is the truest measure of how your product is performing in the real world. Sell-through data informs reorders, future buys, and markdown conversations. Brands building strong retail relationships use POS data to show up as a strategic partner, not just a vendor.

Line Sheet / Product Line
Your wholesale catalog — the organized presentation of your full product offering, complete with style names, numbers, colorways, wholesale pricing, MSRP, and any relevant ordering details. A well-built line sheet does a lot of selling for you before a rep ever gets on a call. A cluttered or outdated one does the opposite. RepSpark replaces the static PDF line sheet with a dynamic digital catalog that stays current, looks sharp, and lets buyers browse, build orders, and check out in the same experience.

Vendor Minimums / MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity)
The smallest number of units per style that makes production economically viable. MOQs exist because manufacturing has fixed costs — setup, materials, labor — that don't scale down to one. For emerging brands, MOQs can be a real constraint when testing new styles. For retailers, they shape which vendors are practical to work with. Being upfront about your MOQs in RepSpark means buyers understand the rules of engagement before they start building an order, which reduces friction and wasted back-and-forth.

Order Minimum
The minimum dollar or unit threshold required to place or maintain a wholesale account. Order minimums protect a brand's operational efficiency — small orders can cost more to process than they're worth. They also signal to retailers that you're running a real wholesale program with real expectations. RepSpark lets brands set and display order minimums clearly within the buying experience, so retailers know exactly what's required before they submit.

Case Pack
The pre-configured unit grouping in which a product must be ordered — typically structured around efficient manufacturing or shipping quantities. If a style ships in case packs of six, a retailer orders six, twelve, or eighteen — not five or nine. Case packs simplify fulfillment and reduce pick-and-pack errors, but they require buyers to plan their assortments accordingly. RepSpark's ordering interface can reflect case pack requirements automatically, so buyers build compliant orders from the start rather than discovering constraints after the fact.