How to send a price list to customers (and get orders back)

aiprice blog · for manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors · October 2026

In short.

A price list does its job only when it turns into orders. Pick the format by what the customer has to do next: look, compare or order.
Before sending: date at the top, one price tier per file, prices as numbers, SKUs on every row, no hidden sheets.
If you resend the file every week, a catalog link is easier: aiprice is not a CRM and not an online store. It is a private catalog only for your trade partners: it opens only through your link, it is hidden from search engines, and each partner sees their own price by their phone number.

Sending a price list sounds trivial: attach the file, hit send. In wholesale it is where a lot of orders get lost. The customer can't open the file on their phone, has last month's version, sees someone else's price tier, or has to type the order out in a message that a sales manager then retypes.

Here are the five common ways to send a price list, what each is good for, a checklist for the file itself, and an email template you can copy.

Five ways to send a price list

Way	Good for	Watch out for
Excel attachment by email	customers who build orders in spreadsheets	old versions keep circulating; photos make the file huge; hard to read on a phone
File in WhatsApp, Telegram or Viber	fast contact with small shops	gets lost in the chat; orders come back as voice notes and photos of handwritten lists
PDF	looking and printing, trade shows	can't be ordered from; forwarded freely, so trade prices leak
Shared Google Sheet	one always-current version	everyone sees the same prices; easy to copy or edit by accident; no cart
Catalog link	customers who should order on their own	needs a tool; check that it is private and that orders arrive in a format you can process

Checklist before you press send

Date and validity at the top: "Prices valid from 1 November". Customers mix up versions more often than you think.
One price tier per recipient. Never send the file with dealer, chain and retail columns side by side. See price tiers.
Prices as numbers, one currency per column, and an RRP column if you sell through dealers.
A SKU on every row and no duplicates, so the order comes back with codes rather than descriptions.
Case pack and minimum order stated in the file, so you don't have to correct quantities afterwards.
No hidden sheets with costs or old prices: a customer can unhide them with one click.
Run the file through the free price list checker. It finds missing prices, duplicate SKUs, mixed currencies and hidden sheets in about 30 seconds, in your browser.

An email template you can copy

Subject: Price list from 1 November: 3% increase on brand X, new items in cookware

Hi Anna,

Attached is our price list valid from 1 November. What changed: prices on brand X are up 3%, and we added 14 new items in cookware (highlighted in the file). Everything else is unchanged.

Minimum order is $300; items ship in full cases (case pack in column E). To order, fill in the "Qty" column and reply to this email, or order from the catalog: [link].

Orders placed by Thursday ship on Friday.

Best regards,
Max, sales

When to stop sending files

If you send the same price list to dozens of customers every week, the file has become the bottleneck: every change means a new round of emails, and every order means retyping. A catalog link fixes both. The customer opens it on a phone, finds products by name or SKU, sees photos and their own price, and sends an order with a cart that respects case packs and the minimum order. You update prices by uploading the new file once.

That is what aiprice does with an existing Excel price list in 1 business day. Orders reach you as an Excel file ready to import into your accounting software (1C, BAS or another system), with no direct integration needed. Plans start at $19 a month by number of SKUs, and the first 30 days are free with no card.

Our own numbers, from one wholesale business. We built aiprice for our own trade first. In the three months after our trade customers moved to the catalog, about a quarter of turnover was ordered by customers themselves, without a sales manager; every fifth order came in during the evening, at night or at the weekend; and the same customers bought 22% more than in the three months before. That is one company's result, not a promise.

FAQ

What is the best format to send a wholesale price list in?

If customers only need to look, a PDF is fine. If they need to order, send something they can order from: an Excel file with an order column, or better, a catalog link with a cart. A file is a snapshot; a link always shows current prices.

How often should I send an updated price list?

Whenever prices change, and say so clearly: the date in the file name or at the top, and what changed. With a catalog link you don't resend anything; customers see the update the next time they open it.

How do I send different prices to different customers?

With files you need one version per price tier and must be careful who gets which. A catalog that shows each customer their own price tier, for example by phone number as in aiprice, removes that risk.

Should I put the price list on my website?

Not if it contains trade prices. Anything public gets indexed and reaches retail shoppers and competitors. Keep wholesale prices behind a link or a login.

How do I write the email that goes with a price list?

Short: what is attached, from which date the prices apply, what changed, the minimum order and how to order. See the template above.

See what your customers would see. The demo catalog has made-up products, case packs, a minimum order and a cart. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Open the demo catalog →