A buyer asks if you sell wholesale. You say yes — and then they ask for your linesheet. If you don't have one ready, a rambling email with a few photos attached is not a great substitute, and it's a fast way to lose a buyer's attention. A linesheet is a specific, expected document, and putting one together is simpler than it sounds.
What Is a Linesheet?
A linesheet is a document you send to retail buyers showing your products, wholesale prices, and ordering terms — a catalog stripped down to exactly what a buyer needs to decide whether to order. It's not a lookbook and it's not a pitch deck. It's a reference: clean, scannable, built for someone comparing your range against a dozen other suppliers.
What to Include on a Linesheet
Brand basics. Your logo, brand name, and a way to contact you. Linesheets get forwarded and saved — make sure yours still says who you are three steps later.
Product listings. For each product: name, SKU, a one-line description, retail price, wholesale price, minimum order quantity, and a clear photo. One product per row or card, laid out consistently, is enough.
Ordering terms. Minimum order value, payment terms, accepted payment methods, and your shipping policy. Buyers need these rules up front, not after they've already decided to order.
Availability notes. If your range is seasonal or limited, say so — buyers plan ahead and will ask.
How to Format It
Keep it short — buyers scan linesheets, they don't read them cover to cover. Use a consistent grid for products, crop photos to the same ratio, and use your brand colors sparingly so the products stay the focus. This is exactly what Make My Linesheet is built for: upload your products, arrange them into branded pages, and you're done — no design software required.
Once it's built, you get both formats a buyer might ask for: a shareable link they can open on any device, and a print-ready PDF export for email or upload elsewhere — including as a PDF catalog on Faire.
Pricing Your Wholesale Products
The most common mistake is setting wholesale price by simply halving retail. That "keystone" convention only works if your retail price already reflects your real costs. Start from your actual cost per unit — materials, packaging, your time — then apply your target margin from there. As a rough starting point, many makers price wholesale at 2–2.5x cost, with retail around 2x wholesale. If that math doesn't leave room in your current retail price, the fix is usually the retail price, not the linesheet.
Setting a Minimum Order Quantity
Your MOQ should follow how you produce, not a rule of thumb. If you batch-produce in runs, set a MOQ that matches a batch. If products need shelf-ready packaging, a higher MOQ spreads that per-unit cost. A common starting range for small-batch makers is a $150–$200 minimum order value with a handful of units minimum per product — a starting point to adjust as you learn what works for your business.
Sharing Your Linesheet
Once it's built, share it however the buyer prefers: a link for a quick look, a PDF attached to an email, or uploaded as a catalog to a marketplace like Faire. The point of building it once, properly, is that you're not rebuilding a new file for every channel — you're just reusing the same one.
Frequently asked questions
What is a linesheet?
A linesheet is a document — usually a PDF or a web page — that shows wholesale buyers your products, wholesale prices, and ordering terms. It is a reference tool built for someone scanning dozens of these a week, not a marketing brochure.
What's the difference between a linesheet and a lookbook?
A lookbook is styled, image-heavy, and meant to convey a brand feeling. A linesheet is functional: it needs to answer a buyer's ordering questions — price, minimums, SKU, availability — as fast as possible.
Do I need design software to make a linesheet?
No. Tools like Make My Linesheet let you upload product photos and details and arrange them into branded pages without any design experience — then export the result as a PDF or share it as a link.
Should wholesale price be half of retail?
That's the common "keystone" convention — wholesale roughly half of retail — but it only holds up if your retail price already covers your real costs. Start from your true cost per unit, then apply your margin, rather than assuming a 50% split will work.