What you need to open a wholesale vinyl account
VAT numbers, trade verification and pricing groups. The practical checklist for opening a B2B account with a vinyl distributor in Europe.
2 min read
Most shops that get in touch have the same first question: what do you actually need from me before I can order? Here is the honest answer, in the order it happens.
1. Proof that you are a trade buyer
Wholesale pricing exists because you are reselling. That means we have to establish that you are a business before we can show you a price. In practice this comes down to two things: a registered company and a valid VAT number.
For EU buyers, the VAT number is checked against the VIES register. If your registration is new and not yet showing up there, a copy of your registration certificate bridges the gap. For buyers outside the EU, an equivalent trade registration does the same job.
2. A sense of what you sell
This decides your pricing group. A shop turning over a hundred LPs a week and a chain buying by the pallet sit in different brackets, and they should be looking at different price lists. A short note about your genres, your floor space and roughly what you expect to order per month is enough.
It also tells us what to flag for you. If you are heavy on dance, we will let you know when a 12-inch allocation comes in rather than leaving you to find it.
3. A delivery reality check
Two questions worth settling early:
- Parcel or pallet? Weekly restocks usually go as tracked parcels. Larger one-off orders usually work out cheaper per record on a pallet; ask us where the line sits for your volumes.
- Who receives it? Vinyl suffers on a hot loading bay. If your shop has no daytime staff, arranging a delivery address that does is worth the trouble.
What happens next
Once the application is approved your account opens in our B2B platform, with live stock levels and your own pricing. From that point on you order whenever it suits you, including after closing time.