Net terms vs. B2B BNPL vs. factoring for Shopify B2B

Three ways to let buyers pay later

If your wholesale buyers want to pay 30 days or more after they order, you can give them that time in three ways: extend the credit yourself, have a B2B pay-later (BNPL) or trade-credit provider extend it, or extend it yourself and sell the invoices to a factoring company. The buyer gets similar terms each way. What changes is who carries the risk if they don't pay, when you get your money and what it costs.

The costs below are published ranges or figures that providers report about themselves, not quotes. Providers price each merchant individually, so get a written quote before you compare.

At a glance

• Your own terms: you carry all of the risk and you're paid when the buyer pays. There's no financing fee, but you wait one to three months for your money.
• B2B BNPL or trade-credit provider: the provider checks the buyer and usually takes the risk on orders it approves. You're paid soon after the order ships, minus a fee of a few percent of the order.
• Invoice factoring: you sell the invoice and get most of it upfront, minus fees that often grow the longer the invoice stays unpaid. With recourse factoring you still carry the risk; non-recourse costs more.

Option 1: your own net terms with a credit limit

Native Shopify B2B lets you set payment terms for each company location: Net 7, 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90, or due on fulfillment. An individual draft order can also have a fixed due date. Since April 2026 this works on the Basic, Grow and Advanced plans as well as Plus. The buyer orders now and pays later, from their customer account, by bank transfer, or with a card or US bank account they saved with you.

Shopify doesn't check the buyer's credit or cap what they can owe, and it doesn't charge a saved card or bank account when the terms run out unless you set up a Shopify Flow workflow for it (see our guide on payment reminders and auto-charge, linked below). You carry all of the risk: if a buyer doesn't pay, the loss is yours. You're paid when the buyer pays, which on Net 30 to Net 90 terms is one to three months after the order, or later if they pay late. A credit limit doesn't change who carries the risk; it caps how much of it each buyer can run up.

There's no financing fee. The cost is the cash you wait for and the invoices that go unpaid. For scale: Atradius, a trade-credit insurer, reported in 2026 that overdue invoices average 23% of B2B receivables in North America; nearly half of the suppliers it surveyed put bad debt below 1% of receivables, and fewer than one in four above 2%.

It fits when:

• You sell to repeat buyers you know.
• Your margins can absorb an occasional unpaid invoice.
• You have the cash to wait one to three months for payment.
• You're willing to chase late invoices yourself.

Option 2: a B2B BNPL or trade-credit provider

The provider checks the buyer at checkout, often in real time, and if it approves the order, the buyer pays the provider instead of you, on terms such as 30, 60 or 90 days. For approved orders the provider usually takes the risk that the buyer doesn't pay. Read the contract for exceptions such as disputed or returned orders, and check that the provider works with Shopify's B2B checkout and in the countries you sell to.

You're paid soon after the order ships, not when the buyer pays: providers describe payouts from right after shipment to a few days later. Some pay only part of the order upfront and the rest once the buyer has paid.

The cost is a merchant fee: a percentage of each order, sometimes plus a small fixed fee per transaction. Few providers publish a rate. Trade press in 2023 reported about 1% to 3.5% at one US provider, depending on term length. Others quote each merchant based on term length, industry, volume and payout timing, and longer terms cost more. Some charge for disputes, cancellations or early termination, and some offer a lower rate if you agree to a monthly minimum.

Providers can also leave the market. In April 2026 the trade press reported that a London-based B2B BNPL provider, which had financed more than €500 million of invoices, had shut down. If your provider stops, you need another way to offer terms quickly.

It fits when:

• You sell to new or one-off business buyers you can't assess yourself.
• A single unpaid order would cost you more than a fee of a few percent.
• You need the cash soon after shipping.

Option 3: invoice factoring

You offer terms as usual, then sell the invoice to a factoring company. The factor pays most of the invoice upfront, typically 70% to 90%, and the rest, minus its fees, when your buyer pays.

Factoring is usually disclosed: your buyer gets payment requests from the factor and pays it instead of you. Invoice discounting is a confidential version in which you keep collecting from your buyers yourself.

With disclosed factoring, keep Shopify out of the collecting. Shopify doesn't know you sold the invoice, so its payment reminders and an auto-charge workflow in Flow would still email or charge your buyer for an order they now pay to the factor. Make sure neither runs for a factored order, and mark the order as paid once the factor confirms the buyer has paid. Until then it still counts as unpaid, including toward a credit limit.

With recourse factoring you're still liable if the buyer doesn't pay. Non-recourse factoring moves most of that risk to the factor for a higher fee; check whether it covers disputes and late payment or only a buyer's insolvency.

Fees are a percentage of the invoice, charged once or for each week or month it stays unpaid. Published ranges: about 1% to 5% of the invoice per month (NerdWallet); 0.5% to 4%, which may be charged once or each week or month (Bankrate); and 1% to 6% of the invoice, with no period stated (American Express). Monthly fees add up: NerdWallet's example of a 3% fee per 30 days on an 85% advance works out to roughly 42% a year.

Some factors add monthly minimums, account maintenance or cancellation fees. In the UK, the British Business Bank says a traditional whole-ledger facility generally doesn't suit businesses with less than about £300,000 in annual turnover.

It fits when:

• You already sell on terms to established businesses and need the cash before they pay.
• Your buyers are comfortable paying a factor.
• Your margins can carry a fee for every month an invoice stays open.

What Shopify offers itself

Shopify does not currently offer financing for your B2B buyers. Its payment terms set due dates; the credit risk and the collecting stay with you. Shopify Capital is financing for merchants, repaid from a share of your sales, and Shop Pay Installments is a pay-later option for consumers, not net terms for business buyers.

Where Wholora fits

Wholora is for the first option. It lets you set a credit limit for each company location and enforces it at Shopify checkout: a buyer can't place an order that would take their unpaid balance over the limit. Limits work on every plan: Free and Growth for up to 3 company locations, and Pro for any number. Pro can also block new orders while an invoice is overdue and shows a receivables aging report.

Wholora doesn't check a buyer's credit, finance invoices, send payment reminders or collect payments. It limits how much each buyer can owe you; the risk stays yours.

You can also mix approaches: your own terms with a limit for buyers you know, and a BNPL provider (or card payment upfront) for new or one-off buyers.