Wholesale Invoice Template: What to Include, With an Example

A wholesale invoice is the bill you send a store, café or distributor for what you delivered: who it's from and to, an invoice number, the date, the store's purchase order number, each line with its quantity and price, the total, and when and how to pay. A good one also answers the questions that hold up payment before anyone asks them: which order it belongs to, whether it matches what arrived, and when exactly it's due. For a food maker, putting each line's lot and best-by date on the invoice, as well as the delivery note, makes it the store's record too. In the example below, an invoice for a grocer's order bills three lines for $390.72, due November 6, and says plainly that one case of lilikoi butter was short and isn't charged. Below is what to include, the example, the habits that get invoices paid on time, and a free template.

The short version

• Number every invoice, and date it the day you deliver.
• Quote the store's purchase order number; an accounts team may not pay without it.
• One line per item: code, product, lot, best-by, cases, case price, line total.
• Bill what was delivered, not what was ordered, and say what was short.
• Show the subtotal, delivery, any tax, and the total due.
• Write the terms and the due date itself, not only "net 15".
• TaroStack keeps the order, the lots and the delivery note behind every invoice. More below.

What a wholesale invoice includes

Whether to add sales tax depends on your state and on whether the store is buying for resale; ask your accountant once, and set the template up to match.

A filled-in example

Windward Roots, the made-up taro business I use in these examples, delivered Mānoa Grocer's order, PO MG-4471, on October 22. The order asked for four lines; the lilikoi butter batch came out short, so three were delivered:

Below the lines: "Payment due 6 Nov 2026, 15 days from the invoice date. Please quote invoice 2026-118." Then: "Short: LB-8 Lilikoi butter, 1 case, follows next week and isn't invoiced here." The subtotal is still over the $250 free-delivery level, so delivery is free. The order, its price list and its terms are in wholesale order form template, and why the lilikoi butter came out short is in batch yield formula.

Habits that get invoices paid on time

1. Invoice the day you deliver. Terms count from the invoice date, so a late invoice is a late payment.
2. Match the delivery note. Same lines, same lots, same quantities; a store that signed for three lines won't pay for four.
3. Quote their PO number. It's how their accounts team finds the order.
4. Put the due date on it. A date is harder to misread than a number of days.
5. Say what was short. A line for the missing case saves an email asking about it.
6. Follow up the day after it's due, politely, with the invoice number.

What net 30 and other terms cost you in cash, and when to offer them, is in net 30 terms.

Invoice or delivery note?

Both list the same lines. If a supplier ever recalls an ingredient, the lots on them are how you know which stores to call; how that works is in one up one back traceability.

Get the template

Download the wholesale invoice template. Type an item code and the product and case price come from the price list sheet; add each line's lot, best-by date and cases. The due date works itself out from the invoice date and your terms, and delivery is charged below your free-delivery level. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

An invoice typed from a delivery note typed from an order is three chances to get a line wrong. The kūlolo lot is copied from yesterday's invoice, the short case is billed anyway, and the store's accounts team holds the whole invoice until someone sorts it out. When a lot needs tracing, the answer is spread across a folder of invoices that may or may not match what was delivered.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps the stock side of every invoice: the order, what was picked, the lots, and the delivery note.

From order to delivery note, with lots. Each store is a customer with its own terms, shelf-life requirements and contacts. A sales order shows whether the stock to fill it is on the shelf while you're still typing, and picking takes lots that meet the store's shelf-life rule. Delivery notes print with each line's lot and best-before date, for what was actually shipped.

Every lot, traced to the store. Because shipping records which lots went where, one report shows every customer who got a lot, and returns go back into the lot they left in. A warning shows when an order you promised hasn't shipped.

And what each store is worth. Margins are reported by product and by customer, on what things cost, so the invoice total sits beside what the order earned. Your invoices stay in your accounting software; you can import your QuickBooks or Xero lists to start.

Customers, sales orders, picking, delivery notes, lots and margins by customer are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

What should a wholesale invoice include?

Your business details, the customer's, an invoice number, the invoice date, the customer's PO number, each line with its item, quantity, price and total, the subtotal, delivery and any tax, the total due, the terms and due date, and how to pay. Food makers often add each line's lot and best-by date.

What is a wholesale invoice?

The bill a maker or supplier sends a business that buys to resell, like a store or distributor, for goods delivered at wholesale prices, with the terms for paying it.

How do I write a wholesale invoice?

Number and date it the day you deliver, quote the store's PO number, list what was delivered line by line with prices, add delivery and any tax, and write the due date and how to pay. Note anything that was short.

Should an invoice match the delivery note?

Yes: the same lines, lots and quantities. Bill what was delivered, not what was ordered, so the store can match the invoice to what it signed for.