A line sheet is the document wholesale buyers order from. Learn what a line sheet includes, how it differs from a catalog, and how to make one.
In this article
What is a line sheet?
A line sheet is the document wholesale buyers use to place an order. It lists your products with images, SKUs, wholesale prices, variants, order minimums and terms — everything a retailer needs to decide what to buy and how much of it.
It is less polished than a lookbook and more focused than a catalog, because it is built for one job: getting the order placed. A buyer should be able to open your line sheet, scan it, and know exactly what to write on the purchase order without emailing you a single question.
What a line sheet includes
A complete line sheet covers five things:
Product details — name, clear product image, a short description, and every variant (colour, size, scent, finish).
Identifiers — one SKU per variant. Not per style. Per variant. This is what makes an order unambiguous for both sides.
Pricing — the wholesale price, plus the RRP or MSRP so the buyer can see their margin at a glance.
Order rules — minimum order quantity or value, pack and case sizes, lead time, and any volume or buyer-specific pricing.
Terms and contact — payment terms, shipping and delivery expectations, how to order, and who to reach.
The common mistake is turning a line sheet into a brochure. Big lifestyle photography, no prices, minimums buried in a footnote — if a buyer has to hunt for the price or the minimum, the document is working against you. Beauty helps, but clarity is what closes.
Line sheet vs catalog vs sell sheet vs price list
These four get used interchangeably, and they are not the same thing:
Line sheet — the ordering document. Every product, every price, every rule, structured for buying.
Catalog — broader and more visual. Tells the brand story across a full range, often seasonal.
Sell sheet — a one-pager on a single hero product or new launch, used to open a conversation.
Price list — pricing only, no imagery or context.
Most brands with a modest stockist base do not need all four. They need one strong line sheet that is genuinely current.
Why line sheets matter
Your line sheet is rarely read in isolation. It sits in a buyer's inbox next to five other brands competing for the same open-to-buy budget. A clear, current line sheet earns trust and makes the order easy to write. A stale one — old prices, discontinued styles, sold-out colours — costs you the order and some credibility with it.
That is also why the format matters as much as the content.
Static vs digital line sheets
PDFs work fine, right up until a price changes or a product sells out. Then every copy already sitting in every buyer's inbox is wrong, and you re-export, re-send, and hope people use the new one.
A digital line sheet lives online, updates in real time, and lets buyers order directly from it. Same information, different behaviour: the PDF is where the conversation starts, the digital line sheet is where the order finishes. Full comparison here: digital line sheet vs PDF.
How to make a line sheet
There are three routes, depending on how much your range changes:
Start from a free wholesale line sheet template in Excel, Google Sheets or Canva — the fastest way to get something buyer-ready today. Grab the free template →
Build it yourself, following the steps in how to make a line sheet.
Use line sheet software that turns your catalog into a portal buyers order from directly.
Put simply: you can build a line sheet manually from the template, or create one automatically with Orderchamp Cloud, which turns your product catalog into a branded B2B portal with per-buyer pricing, minimums and live stock — one line sheet you update once, instead of a file you rebuild every season.
Not sure what good looks like? See line sheet examples first.
Frequently asked questions
What is a line sheet in wholesale?
What is the purpose of a line sheet?
Who uses line sheets?
Is a line sheet the same as an order form?
Do line sheets include wholesale prices?