---
title: An Upstock alternative for wholesale butchers in the US and UK
Metadescription: Upstock serves butchers, but it is an Australia and New Zealand platform pricing in NZD, with invoicing on its volume-quoted plan. The flat-fee comparison.
author: Dan Edwards
author_role: Founder
author_url: https://danedwardsdeveloper.com
author_linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-edwards-developer
published: 2026-08-26
updated: 2026-09-27
---

Token estimate: ~2,200

# An Upstock alternative for wholesale butchers in the US and UK

Upstock serves butchers - it runs a Meat & Butchers category, lists working meat suppliers, and its entry plan costs nothing. Two things decide against it for a butcher in the United States or the United Kingdom. It sells into Australia and New Zealand and prices in New Zealand dollars, so the subscription moves with the exchange rate. And the invoicing, packing slips, price lists and automation a butcher is shopping for all sit on the paid Logistics plan, which starts at NZ$99 a month and is then quoted against monthly order volume rather than published. Wholesale Handler charges a flat monthly fee, priced natively in your own currency rather than converted, with the invoicing and catch-weight billing included.

By **[Dan Edwards](https://wholesalehandler.com/about)**, Founder.

## Upstock's free plan does not include invoicing

The free plan carries three things: visibility in the Upstock directory, the full catalogue, and orders arriving by email. Automated invoicing, packing slips, custom price lists, card payments, minimum order values, standing orders and the AI purchase-order automation are all on Logistics. Turning orders into invoices without retyping them means the paid plan from the first week. [An Open Pantry alternative for wholesale butchers](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/open-pantry-alternative-for-wholesale-butchers) covers the other free supplier tier that holds back invoicing and per-customer price lists in the same way.

That matters more for a butcher outside Australia and New Zealand, because the directory is the free plan's main asset and the buyers in it are Australian and New Zealand restaurants, cafes, grocers and butchery accounts. A supplier in Texas or Yorkshire gets the listing and none of the traffic.

## The Logistics price is quoted, not published

Upstock states one number publicly, "starting at $99/month" plus GST, followed by "Pricing scales with your monthly order volume - book a demo for a quote". Until September 2026 it published the full ladder of order-volume bands. It no longer does, so the price a butcher will actually pay is not knowable before a sales call, and it rises with the thing the software is bought to grow. [Why is wholesale software so expensive](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/why-is-wholesale-software-so-expensive) covers how common that shape is in this category.

## Where a Logistics quote passes the Pro plan

| Monthly cost | Upstock Logistics | Wholesale Handler |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Subscription | From NZ$99 plus GST, then quoted on order volume | Flat, in your own currency |
| Currency | New Zealand dollars | US dollars or sterling |
| Per order | 1.9% on Australian cards, 2.75% plus NZ$0.30 on New Zealand cards, where payment is taken through the platform | None |

At recent rates NZ$99 converts to about US$56, so **Upstock's published floor is cheaper than the Pro plan, not dearer.** The crossing point is around NZ$190 a month. A quote above that and the flat fee is the cheaper of the two, with card fees landing on the Upstock side only. A quote below it and Upstock's subscription is.

## The subscription is set in a currency the butcher does not earn

One New Zealand dollar has been worth between 56 and 61 US cents over the past year, a spread of about 9%, so the same NZ$350 quote has been worth anything from US$196 to US$214 a month inside one year. Card-issuer conversion charges sit on top of whatever the rate is on the billing date, and the GST line is a New Zealand tax line on a New Zealand invoice.

Upstock's own pages are clear about the market: the meat supplier page is headed with butchers "across Australia & New Zealand", and neither the United States nor the United Kingdom appears on it.

## What Upstock does that Wholesale Handler does not

-   **Takes card payments inside the platform.** Wholesale Handler does not process payments. It tracks them: a customer declares a payment, the merchant confirms or disputes it, and every invoice carries a full payment history. [How to know which wholesale customers haven't paid you](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/how-to-know-which-wholesale-customers-havent-paid-you) covers how that reads day to day. It is also why there are no transaction fees to charge.
-   **A buyer marketplace.** Upstock's directory puts a supplier in front of buyers already ordering from other suppliers. Wholesale Handler has an optional public storefront page, which is one merchant's own page rather than a shared directory.
-   **AI order capture** from email, PDF, CSV and handwritten notes.
-   **Driver and sales-rep apps**, proof of delivery, freight and courier management.
-   **A live accounting connection.** Wholesale Handler exports invoice line items to CSV with chosen columns and a date range, which is an import step into the accounts package rather than a running sync.

## Catch-weight lines re-price on the weight recorded at picking

A whole shoulder, a side of lamb or a tray of chops is ordered by the piece and billed by the kilo, and the two numbers settle days apart. A catch-weight product in Wholesale Handler is ordered by count against a typical weight, so the customer sees a realistic price while they order. At the pick, the weight actually going out is recorded per line, and the order's subtotal, tax, delivery charge and total re-settle from it. The invoice then reads "5.1 kg at $4.00/kg" rather than the estimate, and no invoice can be raised while catch-weight lines are still unweighed.

Products can also be priced flat per unit, or by exact weight where the customer orders a kilo or pound amount directly. Upstock's meat supplier page names a production report, automatic invoicing and the digital catalogue, and no weight-based billing of any kind.

## What the flat plan covers for a butcher

-   A portal customers order through at any hour, with their order history and one-click repeats
-   Standing orders on a weekly, two-weekly, three-weekly or four-weekly cadence, paused, skipped or updated by either side. [What is a standing order in wholesale](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/what-is-a-standing-order-in-wholesale) covers the mechanics
-   Order profiles holding delivery days, the ordering cutoff, maximum lead time, delivery charge and minimum spend, assigned per customer and updated once for everyone on them
-   Named price lists per customer, with percentage pricing and rounding controls. [How to charge different prices to different wholesale customers](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/how-to-charge-different-prices-to-different-wholesale-customers) sets out how the assignment works
-   A production schedule built automatically from incoming orders
-   PDF packing slips and invoices, with one invoice raised from several uninvoiced orders at once and emailed out

The full list is [Features](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/features). One price covers all of it: no per-user charge, no per-order fee, no commission on order value.

## Q&A

**Q: Can I move my customers and products across without retyping them?**
A: Yes. Paste a block of rows straight out of Excel or Google Sheets, or drop a .csv, .tsv or .xlsx file onto the page, and each column lands in the right field by its heading. Every row is checked before anything is imported, and a row with a problem is fixed in place in the grid rather than holding up the rest. Imported customers are not invited automatically, so one page lists everyone still waiting and sends the invitations in a batch.

**Q: Does Upstock charge a setup fee?**
A: No. Upstock states there are no setup fees, on both its pricing page and its Xero App Store listing.

**Q: Is there a free way to try Wholesale Handler before paying?**
A: Yes, two. There is a free plan covering up to 3 customers with every feature on it, and there is a working demo that needs no email address, no card and nothing to install. The demo opens on an account already stocked with products, customers, orders and invoices, and a toggle switches between the wholesaler's view and a customer's view over the same data. Signing up turns that account into the real one.

**Q: Is there an app to download?**
A: No download is needed. Wholesale Handler installs directly to the home screen on iPhone and Android and opens in its own window, so merchants and customers can place and manage orders from a phone without going through an app store.