How to set up Net 30 payment terms for B2B customers on Shopify with credit limits, auto-invoicing, and EU tax compliance.
TL;DR: Net 30 payment terms let B2B customers order now and pay within 30 days. On Shopify, making this work means combining eligibility rules, credit limits, automatic invoicing, and order enrichment into a single workflow. This guide walks through all eight steps. For the full picture on B2B operations, see our Shopify B2B portal guide.
Here’s what happens when a purchasing manager at a German manufacturing company finds your Shopify store. They like your products. They want to order 200 units. Then they hit the checkout and see “Pay now with credit card.” They close the tab. That’s not how their company buys things.
Purchasing departments at established businesses work on invoices. They submit a purchase order, receive goods, get an invoice, and pay within an agreed window. Net 30 is the standard. Net 60 for larger accounts. Asking a B2B buyer to pay upfront with a credit card is like asking a restaurant to pay their food suppliers before delivery. It just doesn’t happen.
The merchants who offer net terms consistently see three things: higher conversion rates from wholesale buyers who’d otherwise bounce, larger average order values because teams buy with budgets instead of personal cards, and stronger retention because switching away from an established credit relationship has a real cost.
Shopify doesn’t have native net 30 built into its checkout for non-Plus merchants. So you need infrastructure around it. The customer places an order. Instead of paying at checkout, a draft order is created. The merchant reviews and approves the credit request. An invoice is sent automatically. The customer pays within the agreed terms. The order completes.
Behind the scenes, you need rules for who qualifies, how much credit they get, what happens when the invoice is sent, and how orders get tagged for your accounting system. Skip any of these pieces and you’ll end up chasing payments manually.
Not every customer should get payment terms. Credit is a privilege you extend to approved B2B accounts. Tie eligibility to your approval workflow: only companies that pass your vetting process (VAT validation, manual review, or country-based auto-approval) should see the option to pay on terms.
If you’re handling VAT exemption for EU B2B customers already, the same approval gate works for net terms eligibility. One approval, multiple benefits.
Start with Net 30 as your default. It’s the industry standard and sets clear expectations. You can always extend to Net 60 for high-value accounts on a per-company basis later, but having a sensible default means you don’t negotiate terms with every new customer.
This is where merchants get burned. Without credit limits, a newly approved company could place a 50,000 EUR order on day one and disappear. Set a default maximum credit exposure per company. Something conservative to start, say 2,500 EUR, that you can raise once a customer proves reliable.
Credit limits should account for all outstanding unpaid orders, not just the latest one. If a company has 2,000 EUR outstanding on two previous orders and their limit is 2,500 EUR, they can only place a new order up to 500 EUR on terms.
Every net terms order should trigger a merchant notification. For smaller orders within credit limits, auto-approval might be fine. For orders that push against the credit ceiling, you want a human reviewing before the order proceeds. The goal is awareness, not bottlenecks.
Manual invoicing is where net terms workflows die. The order gets approved on Monday. Someone means to send the invoice on Tuesday. By Thursday, nobody remembers. The customer doesn’t pay because they never got a bill.
Automate it. The moment an order is approved, the invoice goes out. The 30-day clock starts. No gaps, no forgotten emails.
When payment comes in and you mark the order as paid, it should auto-complete. This closes the loop in your order management and updates credit availability for the customer’s next order. One less thing for your team to track manually.
Your finance team or invoicing software needs clean data. Every B2B order should carry: company name, VAT number, PO reference, contact details. Set up order note templates with placeholders that populate automatically. Tag orders with identifiers like “b2b-net30” so your accounting system can filter them.
This matters even more for EU cross-border sales where reverse charge rules apply. Your invoices need to reference the correct tax treatment, and that data has to flow from the order.
Buyers on payment terms often need to reference commercial terms, payment policies, or current price lists before placing orders. Make these available in their account, not buried in email threads. A document sharing setup tied to your B2B portal keeps everything in one place.
Net terms for EU merchants come with tax complexity. You need to know:
| Setting | Recommended default |
|---|---|
| Eligibility | Approved B2B customers only |
| Payment term | Net 30 (from invoice date) |
| Credit limit | 2,500 EUR per company (adjustable) |
| Invoice trigger | Auto-send on order approval |
| Order completion | Auto-complete when payment received |
| Order tags | b2b-net30 (for accounting filters) |
| Notifications | Merchant alert on every credit order |
Giving terms to unvetted accounts. Someone signs up, gets approved automatically, and places a large credit order before you’ve done any due diligence. Always tie net terms eligibility to your B2B approval process, and start with conservative credit limits.
No credit limits at all. “We trust our customers.” Great. One bad debt at 15,000 EUR will change your mind. Credit limits exist to protect you, not to insult your buyers.
Manual invoicing. If a human has to remember to send the invoice, invoices won’t get sent on time. Late invoices mean late payments. Automate it.
Missing order data. Your finance team gets an order with no company name, no VAT number, no PO reference. They can’t create a proper invoice. They email the sales team. The sales team emails the customer. Three days lost. Enrich orders at checkout, not after.
Ignoring EU tax specifics. Charging VAT to a reverse-charge-eligible customer on a net terms invoice creates a refund headache. Get the tax treatment right from the start.
Net 30 isn’t just a payment option. It’s a system: eligibility rules, credit controls, automated invoicing, enriched order data, and tax compliance working together. Get one piece wrong and the whole thing creates more work than it saves.
Our Shopify B2B portal guide covers how net terms fit alongside the other nine features you need for EU wholesale operations: approvals, VAT validation, catalog mode, discount automation, document sharing, and more. Start there if you’re building a complete B2B workflow.