EXPLOREINDUSTRIESGUIDESLEARNGLOSSARYBOOKSWHITEPAPERTOOLSRESOURCESPIONEERMARKETSCOUNTRIESFEESMISSION FUNDPASSPORT
SUPPORTLOGINJOIN THE PROTOCOL →
GETREADYANDJUMP.COM · BUILT IN DETROIT

WRITE A
LINE SHEET.

The document a buyer orders from: what goes on every line, what goes on the front page, what to leave off.

JOIN THE PROTOCOL →
Guide

HOW TO WRITE
A LINE SHEET.

Reference

A line sheet is the document a buyer orders from. Everything the buyer needs to decide is on it, because everything missing from it becomes an email, and a week of email per order is why small brands lose the reorder. It is not a lookbook and it is not a catalog; it is a price list with pictures, built to be ordered from.

What goes on every line

One row per SKU. Name, style number, a photo the buyer can recognise on the shelf, wholesale price, suggested retail, case pack, minimum and available date. If a size or colour changes the price or the pack, it is its own row. A buyer should be able to fill an order form from the sheet without asking a single question.

  • Product name and SKU
  • One clear product photo per row
  • Wholesale price and suggested retail
  • Case pack, MOQ and ship date

What goes on the front page

Your terms, once: minimum first order, minimum reorder, payment terms, shipping policy, lead time and who to contact. The terms belong on the sheet, not in a separate PDF nobody opens, because the buyer decides on the terms as much as on the product.

  • Minimum first order and reorder
  • Payment terms: prepaid, net 30, what unlocks terms
  • Shipping: who pays, free over what threshold
  • Lead time and contact

What to leave off

Your story, your founder photo, your press. Buyers read that on your site, not while they are trying to fill a purchase order. A line sheet that opens with three pages of brand story is a line sheet the buyer skips to page four of, and page four had better be complete.

  • No brand story past one line
  • No lifestyle photography where a product shot belongs
  • No prices the buyer cannot actually order at

Keep it live

A line sheet goes stale the day a price or a ship date changes, and a buyer ordering from a stale sheet is a dispute on the first order. On the protocol the line sheet is generated from the product records, so the price on the sheet is the price on the order, and a change to the product changes every sheet at once.

  • One source: the product record, not a designed PDF
  • Prices and dates on the sheet are the prices and dates on the order
  • Reps sell from the same sheet the buyer orders from
Where to go next
/catalog/brand/guides/brand/guides/how-to-sell-wholesale-to-boutiques/tools/case-pack-calculator/glossary
Build a catalog buyers order from