Unit price is the amount charged for a single unit of a product or service, measured before quantity, discounts, and taxes are applied. It is the base figure that every line item on a quote or order builds on. Multiply the unit price by the quantity ordered and you get the line total.
How it works
On any quote line, the math runs in a set order. Unit price times quantity gives a subtotal. Discounts (a percentage or a fixed amount) come off next, then taxes are calculated on the discounted figure. Because the unit price sits at the front of that chain, a small change to it moves every downstream number, so accuracy here matters more than anywhere else on the quote.
Why it matters in B2B
Business buyers rarely pay one fixed rate. The same SKU can carry different unit prices for different customers, contract tiers, or order volumes. In Shopify, this shows up through customer-specific catalogs and B2B price lists, where the unit price a buyer sees depends on the company they belong to. Quoting is often the moment where a negotiated unit price gets set before it becomes a firm order.
Example
A buyer requests 500 units of an item listed at 4.00 each. The unit price is 4.00, the line total is 2,000.00 before any discount. Grant a 10 percent quote discount and the line falls to 1,800.00, with tax applied after that.
When a quote request converts into a Shopify draft order, the unit price carries through to native checkout, so the price the buyer accepted is the price they pay. For related terms, see the B2B quoting glossary, and for plan details visit pricing.