Managed Markets & Merchant of Record
Does Managed Markets support B2B/wholesale international orders, or is it DTC-only?
Short answer
Managed Markets is direct-to-consumer (DTC) only: it doesn't support business-to-business (B2B) or wholesale orders. Shopify says "B2B orders aren't supported by Managed Markets", so you act as your own merchant of record for wholesale (Shopify Help Center, October 2026). International wholesale runs through Shopify B2B instead, on every plan from Basic up since April 2026 (Shopify Changelog, October 2026).
- Managed Markets and B2B orders
- Not supported; you are merchant of recordShopify: “B2B orders aren't supported by Managed Markets.” The same page makes you merchant of record for zero-value orders too.Source: Shopify Help Center (Requirements and considerations for using Managed Markets)
- Who Global-e sells to
- Individual customersGlobal-e's Managed Markets service terms have it sell, as merchant of record, “directly to individual customers”, so the model is built for consumer orders.Source: Global-e (Service Terms for Shopify Managed Markets)
- Shopify B2B below Plus
- Basic, Grow and Advanced since 2 April 2026Up to 3 active catalogs across all B2B markets, assigned through Markets. Plus keeps unlimited catalogs and direct company catalogs.Sources: Shopify Changelog (Key B2B features now available on non-Plus plans); Shopify Help Center (Shopify B2B features by plan)
- Self-managing one market
- Plus only on one Shopify page; no plan on anotherThe partial market management page reserves self-managed markets for Plus; the deactivation page lets a store drop Managed Markets for one market and names no plan.Sources: Shopify Help Center (Partial market management on Managed Markets, Deactivate Managed Markets)
Deploi’s call
Managed Markets is direct-to-consumer (DTC) only, an architecture constraint to plan for on day one, not a gap to work around. A brand with meaningful international wholesale is likely to end up with its own registrations in its main destination markets unless its buyers import the goods themselves, so plan for that and let Managed Markets cover DTC only.
WaitKeep Managed Markets for DTC and invoice wholesale yourself while
- Wholesale abroad is a few accounts on business-to-business (B2B) draft orders, invoiced with you as merchant of record (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
- International sales sit below about $2M a year or spread across many countries, where our cross-border stack record scores Managed Markets WAIT (the record's illustrative estimate, October 2026).
- The store runs one business entity, because Managed Markets doesn't support several in a single store (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
CustomizeOwn the cross-border stack in your wholesale markets when
- Wholesale buyers need your company on the invoice, which our Zonos and Managed Markets record scores BUY for tooling that keeps you seller of record (October 2026).
- International sales pass about $2M a year in a few concentrated markets, where the cross-border stack record scores your own stack CUSTOMIZE (the record's illustrative estimate, October 2026).
- You're on Shopify Plus, so partial market management lets you self-manage your wholesale markets and keep Managed Markets for the rest (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
Basis: Build Your Cross-Border Stack or Use Managed Markets on Shopify?, our Build vs. Buy decision record, scored DEPENDS.
Does Managed Markets accept B2B or wholesale orders?
Managed Markets doesn't accept business-to-business (B2B) or wholesale orders. Shopify says "B2B orders aren't supported by Managed Markets" and "You need to act as your own merchant of record for B2B orders" (Shopify Help Center, October 2026). The contract explains why. Under its Managed Markets service terms, Global-e, "acting as the merchant of record, will be the legal seller of products" from your store "directly to individual customers" (Global-e, October 2026). So the model is built for a consumer sale, which means a wholesale order to a buyer with its own tax number, on net terms, falls outside it. Whether the Managed Markets fee pays its way under $5M of international sales is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) question, because wholesale revenue never runs through that fee.
How does one store run DTC on Managed Markets and wholesale on Shopify B2B?
One Shopify store runs both channels side by side: Managed Markets takes international direct-to-consumer (DTC) orders, and Shopify business-to-business (B2B) takes wholesale orders with you as merchant of record. Shopify B2B has run on Basic, Grow and Advanced since 2 April 2026, with up to 3 active catalogs assigned through Markets, while Plus keeps unlimited catalogs (Shopify Changelog, October 2026). How catalogs count against that cap decides whether three is enough. On a B2B order, the market, taxes and duties follow the buyer's shipping address, and selling B2B in more than one currency needs Shopify Payments (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
| Order type | Merchant of record | Duties and tax | Plans |
|---|---|---|---|
| International DTC on Managed Markets | Global-e | Guaranteed at checkout and remitted by Global-e | Basic or higher, with Shopify Payments |
| International B2B on Shopify B2B | You | Yours as merchant of record, set by the buyer's shipping address; registration depends on the destination | Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus; 3 catalogs below Plus |
The two channels share a store but never an order, so every wholesale order abroad is yours to tax and document. On Shopify Plus you can deactivate duties and import taxes at checkout for a B2B market (Shopify Help Center, October 2026), which suits wholesale buyers who clear their own imports.
Which other limits hit a brand that sells wholesale beside Managed Markets?
Subscriptions, zero-value orders and multiple business entities are the other Managed Markets limits that hit a brand selling wholesale beside it, and Klaviyo adds an email-platform limit. Each Managed Markets limit rules out an order type or store design that wholesale brands often use (Shopify Help Center, October 2026):
- Subscriptions. "Managed Markets doesn't support subscriptions. Subscriptions work only for domestic orders." Shopify lists subscriptions as incompatible with business-to-business (B2B) selling too (Shopify Help Center, October 2026), so wholesale replenishment needs scheduled standing orders instead.
- Zero-value orders. "Free orders that have a value of zero aren't supported by Managed Markets", and you act as merchant of record for them. Samples and seeding parcels abroad are the usual casualty.
- Multiple business entities. "Managed Markets doesn't support multiple business entities in a single store." A brand that wholesales through a second legal entity should settle the store design before it activates Managed Markets.
The B2B split also reaches your email platform, because Klaviyo "does not currently sync B2B or Retail Markets" (Klaviyo Help Center, October 2026). Klaviyo's other limits on Shopify Markets have their own answer.
When should international wholesale move a market off Managed Markets?
International wholesale should move a market off Managed Markets when wholesale and direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales there justify your own registration, so the merchant-of-record fee buys nothing you lack. Our cross-border stack record scores Managed Markets WAIT below about $2M of international sales a year, the record's illustrative estimate (October 2026). The same record lists business-to-business (B2B) arrangements "a merchant of record doesn't cover" among what owning the stack adds. Our Zonos and Managed Markets record scores B2B and wholesale cross-border BUY for tooling that keeps you seller of record, because business buyers need your entity on invoices (October 2026). On Shopify Plus, partial market management makes you "your own merchant of record" in the markets you self-manage while Managed Markets runs the rest (Shopify Help Center, October 2026). Who qualifies for Managed Markets at all is a separate answer.
When is restructuring around Managed Markets' B2B gap the wrong move?
Restructuring around Managed Markets' business-to-business (B2B) gap is the wrong move when wholesale abroad is small, or when the real problem isn't cross-border at all.
Managed Markets' B2B, subscription, zero-value and multiple-entity limits are Shopify's published product limits as of October 2026. Cross-border B2B tax treatment depends on the jurisdiction, so confirm registration and reverse-charge obligations with a tax adviser.
Deploi’s point of view
Our own position, from building on Shopify. Kept apart from the sourced facts above.
- What we’ve seen
- In the cases we've seen, the B2B limit isn't in the business case, because the business case is written by the DTC team. It surfaces partway through implementation, when someone asks where the wholesale orders go, and by then the fee model has already been approved on a blended GMV number that included wholesale.
- Where we disagree
- Vendor material describes merchant-of-record services as covering your international sales, unqualified. On Shopify the qualifier is load-bearing: consumer orders only, no subscriptions, no zero-value orders, one business entity. We would rather a merchant read those four lines before signing than discover them in sequence.
- What this page adds
- The parent weighs the Managed Markets fee for direct-to-consumer sales. This page shows how a store runs wholesale beside it on Shopify B2B as its own merchant of record, why Global-e's contract stops at individual customers, which other Managed Markets limits catch wholesale brands, and when partial market management or your own stack should take a wholesale market.
Decision records behind this answer
When this answer changes
- Shopify starts supporting B2B orders on Managed Markets, or Global-e's service terms reach beyond individual customers.
- Shopify changes the 3-catalog cap on Basic, Grow or Advanced, or which plans include B2B.
- Shopify states plainly whether self-managing one market beside Managed Markets needs Shopify Plus.
- Managed Markets starts supporting subscriptions, zero-value orders or several business entities in one store.
- Klaviyo starts syncing Shopify B2B markets.
Related questions
This follows from Is Managed Markets worth it for a brand doing under $5M in international sales, or is that too small to justify the fee?
- Is Managed Markets exclusive to Shopify Plus, or can Advanced-plan merchants use it too?
Managed Markets, Shopify's merchant-of-record service for cross-border sales, is not exclusive to Shopify Plus, because Shopify requires only the Basic plan or higher: Basic, Grow and Advanced stores pay 3.5% per transaction, against 3.25% on Plus (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
- For a brand at $20M GMV where B2B/wholesale is 10%-30% of revenue, is Advanced's 3-catalog limit already a real constraint?
Shopify Advanced's 3-catalog limit binds a $20M brand with 10% to 30% wholesale at its fourth catalog.
- Does Klaviyo support Shopify Markets for a multi-currency, multi-language mid-market brand?
Klaviyo supports Shopify Markets for region markets, syncing each customer's locale and a catalog localized by language and currency (Klaviyo Help Center, October 2026).
- Should we bundle subscriptions with our new B2B wholesale channel, and does any Shopify subscription app support company-level recurring orders?
No subscription app can sell subscriptions on Shopify's business-to-business (B2B) channel: Shopify lists Subscriptions as incompatible with B2B (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
- What's the actual breakeven point where a dedicated B2B expansion store starts making more sense than a blended single store?
A dedicated business-to-business (B2B) expansion store has no revenue breakeven, because Shopify Plus charges no platform fee for one B2B store per contract (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
- What currencies can net payment terms actually be issued in? Does this work the same for international B2B buyers?
Net payment terms on Shopify carry no currency: a term is a type and a day count, so it runs in whatever currency the order is in (Shopify developer docs, October 2026).
Sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these. Official and vendor pages are checked on the date shown; Deploi records are our own published decisions.
- Shopify Help Center, Requirements and considerations for using Managed Markets
- Shopify Help Center, Overview of Managed Markets
- Global-e, Service Terms for Shopify Managed Markets
- Shopify Help Center, Shopify B2B features by plan
- Shopify Changelog, Key B2B features now available on non-Plus plans
- Shopify Help Center, Selling internationally in B2B
- Shopify Help Center, Partial market management on Managed Markets
- Klaviyo Help Center, How to use Shopify Markets with Klaviyo
- Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing
- Shopify Help Center, Requirements and considerations for using B2B
- Shopify Help Center, Collecting international duties and import taxes at checkout
- Shopify Help Center, Deactivate Managed Markets
- Deploi Build vs. Buy, Build Your Cross-Border Stack or Use Managed Markets on Shopify?
- Deploi Build vs. Buy, Zonos vs. Managed Markets: Merchant of Record or Not?
- Deploi Build vs. Buy, Build or Buy a Blended DTC + B2B Storefront on Shopify?