Debt Collection in Wholesale

What causes unpaid invoices in wholesale?

In the wholesale sector, unpaid invoices often stem from more than simple unwillingness to pay. Payment issues may arise due to:

• Large clients leveraging your dependency on their business
• The sector's relatively long payment terms
• Customers' supply chain disruptions
• Inadequate monitoring and follow-up
• Disputes over quality, quantity or delivery 

The complex nature of these situations makes recovering debts in this industry a challenging task for regular debt collection agencies.

As such, you will want to entrust the collection of your unpaid invoices to experts with in-depth legal knowledge and a deep understanding of how companies within the sector operate.

Preventing debt collection in wholesale

Because the situations leading up to debt collection in the wholesale sector are often complex, companies may wonder if there is anything they can do to protect themselves against non-payment. To answer this question, our experts have compiled 7 essential tips:

• Protect your margins by limiting your exposure
  Wholesalers operate on tight margins, making any non-payment disproportionately damaging. Companies should use strong contractual credit controls, enforceable retention-of-title clauses, and require deposits or guarantees for large orders. Real-time order-level credit checks, combined with tools like standby letters of credit or escrow arrangements, help ensure that major deliveries do not expose the business to outsized financial or liquidity risks.
• Mitigate customer concentration risk
  Dependence on a few key customers heightens exposure if one defaults or delays payment. Companies should secure transactions through guarantees, letters of credit, and tighter contractual terms for high-exposure buyers. Regular financial disclosure obligations and periodic credit reviews also help detect early warning signs. Diversifying the customer base and maintaining flexible termination or renegotiation rights significantly reduces concentration-related vulnerabilities.
• Shorten payment terms
  Long payment terms shift financing burdens onto wholesalers and increase default risk. To counter this, companies should negotiate commercially supported payment structures, introduce incentives for early settlement, and include statutory or contractual penalties for late payment. Where extended terms are unavoidable, suppliers should demand collateral, parent guarantees, or bank-backed instruments. Legally vetted supply-chain finance solutions can also secure predictable cash flow.
• Protect yourself against your customers' supply chain disruptions
  When buyers face disruptions, liquidity issues can quickly translate into unpaid invoices. Suppliers should use contracts that prevent payment obligations from being suspended under force majeure and allow for renegotiation or additional security if disruptions occur. Monitoring buyer solvency, building alternative distribution arrangements, and creating rapid contract-adjustment mechanisms ensure continuity of payment even during logistical or geopolitical stress.
• Implement real-time credit monitoring
  Without continuous monitoring, deteriorating credit quality often goes unnoticed until a default occurs. Companies benefit from automated legal-credit alerts covering insolvency filings, litigation, director changes, and asset pledges. Contractual financial reporting obligations, periodic KYC reviews, and integration with early-warning insolvency tools help detect emerging risks. A structured monitoring regime ensures the business reacts before payment problems escalate.
• Optimise your collections processes
  Slow or inconsistent collections dramatically reduce recovery rates. Companies should implement a legally compliant dunning cycle, automate reminders, and escalate overdue accounts to counsel when predefined thresholds are reached. Maintaining robust documentation, such as delivery notes, inspection reports, and shipping records, strengthens enforceability. Streamlined processes, paired with cross-border enforcement expertise, prevent small delays from evolving into persistent defaults or costly disputes.
• Be prepared for disputes
  Buyers often use disputes, genuine or tactical, to delay payment. Clear product specifications, tight acceptance deadlines, and detailed quality-control procedures reduce ambiguity. Contracts should require prompt written notice of defects and shift the evidentiary burden to buyers. Fast-track arbitration or litigation clauses help resolve conflicts efficiently. Strong documentation ensures disputes cannot be exploited as a pretext for non-payment.

What to do if a client still does not pay?

Even if you have done everything correctly, there is always a chance that some customers may not pay. When that happens, working with a trusted debt collection partner can help you recover what you are owed efficiently and professionally.

Why wholesale companies choose Bierens

Our firm has a long history of debt recovery in the wholesale sector, our international team of 115+ in-house lawyers and debt collection specialists is able to pursue claims strategically, ensuring our clients’ financial interests are protected efficiently and effectively.

Other reasons why wholesale companies entrust their debt collection cases to Bierens include:

• An out-of-court success rate of 95%
• No Win No Fee debt collection
• In-house expertise with national and international lawyers
• A detailed Web Portal for 24/7 tracking of your case
• Both extrajudicial and judicial debt collection

Our working method – No Win No Fee

During the extrajudicial phase, we work based on No Win No Fee. We believe it is important to try to solve the case during this phase, without court intervention. You will only have to pay €185 for administrative costs.

Should legal action be necessary, then we can help you perform a credit check and analyse your debtor’s financial status. We will discuss the costs with you and will only start working on your case after receiving your permission.

Debt collection lawyers in wholesale

We understand the difficulties that companies in the wholesale sector face. Therefore, we believe that it is important to provide practical advice that is as close to normal business operations as possible. For instance, we look at your operations and see how we can build in checks and balances. In addition, we also ensure that these checks and balances are implemented and executed in the right way.

Our specialists are ready to recover

For decades, Bierens has helped many companies across different industry sectors. Our team of debt collection lawyers also specialise in international debt collection. Whether you have a debt collection case in your own country or abroad, our lawyers have the expertise and knowledge to help you.

So do you operate in the wholesale sector and has your client left your invoice unpaid? Then send us your invoice right away. Our specialists will immediately start working on your case.