What does net 60 mean on a furniture quote?

That you pay 60% of the list price — a 40% discount. Be careful: on an invoice's payment terms, "net 60" instead means payment is due in 60 days. Context decides which meaning applies, and quotes and invoices routinely use both words on the same page.

Do I have to give the client my trade discount?

Only if your contract says so. Under cost-plus you disclose net cost and add an agreed percentage; under the retail method you quote one price and the discount is your margin. Both are legitimate — what is not is describing one and billing the other.

Is a trade discount the same as keystone?

No, and they operate on opposite sides of the transaction. The trade discount is what you take off list to get your cost; keystone is a markup you add to that cost to get the client's price.

DefinitionUpdated July 31, 20262 min read

Trade discount: list price, net price, and how chained terms really work

A trade discount is the percentage off list that a manufacturer extends to credentialed buyers. How to read terms like 50/10, what net price means, and why chained discounts multiply rather than add.

By Idan Mann, founder of NYA

The short answer

A trade discount is the percentage off a manufacturer's list price extended to credentialed trade buyers. The result is your net price — what you actually pay. Terms are quoted either as a discount off list ("40% off") or as the net itself ("net 60"), and chained terms such as 50/10 multiply rather than add.

Every price a designer sees comes in two versions: what the public pays and what the trade pays. The gap between them is the trade discount, and it is the mechanism the whole purchasing side of an interior design business runs on — it is what makes cost-plus possible and what a client is really buying access to.

List, net and the words in between

Term	Means	On a $4,000 list price
List / MSRP	The published retail price	$4,000
40% off list	You pay 60% of list	$2,400
Net 60	You pay 60% of list — the same thing, said backwards	$2,400
50/10	50% off, then a further 10% off the remainder	$1,800
Net price	What you actually pay before freight	The figure in the right column

50/10 is 55% off list, not 60%. The discounts multiply: 0.50 × 0.90 = 0.45 of list.

Chained discounts multiply. Adding them is the most common arithmetic error in the trade, and it always errs in the vendor's favour. Our furniture markup calculator takes both discounts and does it correctly.

What a trade account usually requires

Proof that you are a business — registration, and in most US states a resale certificate, which is also what lets you buy without paying sales tax on goods you resell.
Sometimes a portfolio, a storefront, or a professional credential, depending on the line.
Frequently a minimum opening order, and terms that start at deposit-with-order until you have a payment history.

Discounts are not uniform, and they are not confidential to the point of being unnegotiable: they vary by line, by volume and by how long you have been buying. What stays constant is that the discount is yours, not the client's — which is why your tearsheets should never show net cost.

Common questions

What does net 60 mean on a furniture quote?: That you pay 60% of the list price — a 40% discount. Be careful: on an invoice's payment terms, "net 60" instead means payment is due in 60 days. Context decides which meaning applies, and quotes and invoices routinely use both words on the same page.
Do I have to give the client my trade discount?: Only if your contract says so. Under cost-plus you disclose net cost and add an agreed percentage; under the retail method you quote one price and the discount is your margin. Both are legitimate — what is not is describing one and billing the other.
Is a trade discount the same as keystone?: No, and they operate on opposite sides of the transaction. The trade discount is what you take off list to get your cost; keystone is a markup you add to that cost to get the client's price.

Keep reading

Trade discount: list price, net price, and how chained terms really work

A trade discount is the percentage off list that a manufacturer extends to credentialed buyers. How to read terms like 50/10, what net price means, and why chained discounts multiply rather than add.

By Idan Mann, founder of NYA

The short answer

List, net and the words in between

Term	Means	On a $4,000 list price
List / MSRP	The published retail price	$4,000
40% off list	You pay 60% of list	$2,400
Net 60	You pay 60% of list — the same thing, said backwards	$2,400
50/10	50% off, then a further 10% off the remainder	$1,800
Net price	What you actually pay before freight	The figure in the right column

50/10 is 55% off list, not 60%. The discounts multiply: 0.50 × 0.90 = 0.45 of list.

What a trade account usually requires

Proof that you are a business — registration, and in most US states a resale certificate, which is also what lets you buy without paying sales tax on goods you resell.

Sometimes a portfolio, a storefront, or a professional credential, depending on the line.

Frequently a minimum opening order, and terms that start at deposit-with-order until you have a payment history.

Common questions

What does net 60 mean on a furniture quote?: That you pay 60% of the list price — a 40% discount. Be careful: on an invoice's payment terms, "net 60" instead means payment is due in 60 days. Context decides which meaning applies, and quotes and invoices routinely use both words on the same page.
Do I have to give the client my trade discount?: Only if your contract says so. Under cost-plus you disclose net cost and add an agreed percentage; under the retail method you quote one price and the discount is your margin. Both are legitimate — what is not is describing one and billing the other.
Is a trade discount the same as keystone?: No, and they operate on opposite sides of the transaction. The trade discount is what you take off list to get your cost; keystone is a markup you add to that cost to get the client's price.