Create an auto-approve rule
Approve, decline or route wholesale applications automatically based on email domain, billing country, tax ID, expected volume or your own questions.
Rules check each new application as it arrives. When every condition in a rule matches, the rule approves the application with a preset, declines it, or leaves it for a person. Applications that match no rule wait in To review as usual.
Approving rules need at least one approval preset, because the preset says what terms and pricing the buyer gets.
Start from a template
Go to Automation and click Create rule. Three templates cover common cases:
| Template | What it sets up |
|---|---|
| Approve applicants from trusted email domains | Approves buyers with an email at a domain you list |
| Send large accounts to a person | Sends applications expecting at least $20,000 a month to a reviewer, and runs first |
| Approve businesses that give a tax ID in your country | Approves applicants in your store’s country who give a tax ID |
Add conditions
An application has to match all of a rule’s conditions. Click Add condition and pick one:
| Condition | Matches when | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Email domain is one of | The applicant’s email is at one of your domains | One per line, like northwindcafe.com. Pasted emails and website addresses work too. Subdomains don’t match. |
| Billing country is one of | The billing address is in one of your countries | Uses the billing country, not the shipping country. |
| Tax ID or VAT number is given | The applicant filled in a tax ID | “The number isn’t checked with a tax authority.” Pair it with a format rule on the form. |
| Expected monthly volume is at least | The applicant’s volume range starts at or above your amount | “$5,000 - $20,000” counts as $5,000. Answers starting with “Under” count as 0. |
| Answer to a custom question | A custom question has the answer you choose | Not case-sensitive. For checkbox lists, matches when your answer is one of the ticked choices. File questions can’t be used. |
Choose the action
| Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| Approve with a preset | Creates the company, contact and location in Shopify with the preset’s terms and pricing, and sends the welcome email. Applicants who may already be a company still go to a reviewer. |
| Send to a reviewer | Leaves the application for a person. Rules after this one don’t run. |
| Decline | Declines the application and emails the applicant your declined email. Nothing is created in Shopify. |
Name, order and switch it on
- Rule name shows on each application the rule decides, like “Rule: Trusted cafés”.
- Priority runs from 0 to 10,000. Lower numbers run first, and the editor tells you where the rule falls, like “This rule runs 2nd of 3.”
- Rule is on controls whether it runs. Rules that are off never run.
The Summary in the sidebar reads the rule back as one sentence, for example: “When an application has a billing address in the United States and includes a tax ID or VAT number, approve it with Wholesale · Net 30.”
Save the rule. Before turning it on, check it against real applications with Test against recent applications. See How rules run.