From online orders to the big chains
The business makes apparel and merchandise for people who love books. It started out selling online, where a customer pays when they order and the money arrives with the sale.
Then a big bookstore chain wanted the range on its shelves, and a second, bigger chain followed. Wholesale is a different business. The chains place large purchase orders, the stock has to be made and shipped first, and they pay on terms that run close to two months from the invoice, often longer in practice.
The owner has learnt to time the invoice itself. The chains run on an end-of-month cycle, so the date on the invoice decides when the clock starts.
“...I’ve kind of worked out that I’ve got a sweet spot for when I send my invoice out that starts the clock on the shortest amount of time.”
From a call with the FundTap team, October 2025
The next order before the last is paid
The gap is on the stock side. A chain’s order has to be paid for, made and delivered long before the chain pays for it. By the owner’s reckoning, the stretch from money out to money in runs well past the terms on the invoice.
The chains don’t wait for that cycle to finish. The next purchase order arrives while the last one is still unpaid, and that stock needs paying for too. The wholesale side grew faster than the owner had planned for.
When they signed up in October 2025, the owner told the FundTap team the next big purchase order was ready to go, but the money for it was tied up in retailer invoices still waiting on their terms.
“...The cashflow timing, I learned that very quickly with the wholesaler side of it. They came to me like I wasn’t planning on it, so I was wildly underprepared...”
From a call with the FundTap team, October 2025
Funding the wholesale invoices
The business signed up in October 2025 and funded its first invoice that month. Once a chain order has shipped and been invoiced, the owner can fund that invoice rather than wait out the terms.
What mattered to the owner was choosing. They fund the invoices they want to, see the fee before committing to each one, and pay nothing on the ones they leave alone. The chains still pay the business directly, on their usual terms.
“...I like that I get to retain that relationship piece, but I also like that I get to choose if I want to use it or not use it. I don’t get locked into every invoice has to run that way...”
From a call with the FundTap team, October 2025
Both chains kept stocked
With a funded invoice, the money from one order can go into the stock for the next. That is what supplying two big chains asks of a small brand: the next purchase order placed and paid for while the last is still on its terms.
The orders kept coming. June 2026 was the busiest month, with nine invoices funded, and in September 2026 their funding limit was raised as the wholesale side grew.
Built into the business now
By August 2026 the wholesale invoices were a settled part of how the business runs, written into its own cashflow reporting alongside everything else.
They have funded 19 invoices in their first year, 17 of them in 2026. A month with no chain invoice to fund is a month with no fee.
“...FundTap is a core part of how we fund our wholesale invoices...”
From an email to the FundTap team, August 2026
The timeline
- October 2025 Signed up with a big chain order to pay for, and funded their first wholesale invoice.
- June 2026 Connected Xero, in their busiest month so far with nine invoices funded.
- August 2026 Told the FundTap team the wholesale invoices were now part of their own cashflow reporting.
- September 2026 Funding limit raised as the wholesale side grew, with four more invoices funded.
In numbers
- 60 days net: the bookstore chains’ terms, and often longer in practice
- 19 invoices funded since October 2025, the wholesale ones the business picks
- 9 invoices funded in June 2026, the busiest month
- 17 invoices funded in 2026 to September, up from two in 2025
Invoices funded each month, as a table
| Month | Invoices funded |
|---|---|
| October 2025 | 1 |
| November 2025 | 1 |
| December 2025 | 0 |
| January 2026 | 1 |
| February 2026 | 0 |
| March 2026 | 1 |
| April 2026 | 0 |
| May 2026 | 0 |
| June 2026 | 9 |
| July 2026 | 1 |
| August 2026 | 1 |
| September 2026 | 4 |
Sound like your business?
Wholesale means paying for the stock long before the chain pays you. Fund the invoice once the order ships, and the next one can go in.
Fund the next order without waiting on the last one.
Invoice finance for makers and distributors • All case studies
