Trade price
A trade price is the price a supplier charges a retailer for stock, usually quoted before VAT, as opposed to the price a shopper pays.
- Wholesale price
- Cost price
- Buy price
What it means
The trade price is your cost: what the supplier charges you for each item, before your margin. It arrives in a supplier’s price list under a heading such as Trade or Cost, sometimes beside an RRP.
Trade prices are usually quoted without VAT. GOV.UK says price lists aimed at businesses only “do not usually include VAT, which is charged on top of the price shown”.1 Prices for shoppers work the other way round. Outside the US and Canada, Google’s specification says to “Include Value Added Tax (VAT) or goods and services tax (GST) in the price.”2
Two suppliers can quote different trade prices for the same product. That is a buying decision, not a data error, so keep each supplier’s code and price against the one product rather than choosing between them in the spreadsheet.
Think of it like this
A trade price is the cash and carry price, not the shelf price. It is what the shop pays to stock the item, and the shopper never sees it.
For example
A supplier lists a cordless drill at 89.00, ex VAT, and your product page sells it at £129.99. A feed built straight from the price list sends 89.00 GBP, which matches nothing on the page, and the product may be disapproved for Mismatched product price.3
Why it matters
Your margin is the gap between the trade price and your selling price, so the two must never swap places. A trade price in your price column sells stock at cost. A feed built from an ex VAT price list sits below your page by the whole of the VAT, and your margin too, which makes it a price mismatch.
Not to be confused with
Trade price and RRP can sit side by side in a supplier file, and neither is the price on your page. The trade price is your cost, the RRP is a suggestion, and the page shows your own price.
Sources
- GOV.UK. Tax on shopping and services: Where you see VAT.
- Google Merchant Center Help. Product data specification.
- Google Merchant Center Help. How to fix: Mismatched product price.