CB2 Trade Program: Requirements & How to Apply (2026)

Quick answer: The CB2 trade program gives design professionals 20% off full-price items across CB2, Crate & Barrel, and Crate & Kids, with no minimum purchase. Applications are reviewed in 2–3 business days. You'll need a business license or resale certificate — or a membership number from a professional design association.

What the program includes

The 20% discount is the headline, but the program spans all three Crate brands under one account, which matters if your projects mix CB2's modern pieces with Crate & Barrel's staples or Crate & Kids for family projects. Members also get:

• A dedicated trade concierge (trade.concierge@cb2.com / 800-606-6498)
• Free fabric swatches on request
• White-glove delivery and installation options
• Access to contract-grade furniture (BIFMA-standard) for commercial work
• Special financing and payment terms
• Tax-exempt checkout if you hold a resale certificate
• Consolidated ordering across all three brands

The discount applies to full-price items only. That's a bigger caveat than it sounds — when a piece you've specified goes on promotion, the trade discount doesn't stack, so your effective savings on a real sourcing list will average below 20%.

Who qualifies

CB2 lists interior decorators, architects, landscape designers, members of professional staging organizations, set decorators, and contractors working on residential or commercial projects. Notably, you don't need a design degree or an NCIDQ — this is one of the more accessible trade programs in the industry.

What you'll need

CB2's application form asks for two things — but the form understates what operating as a trade professional actually requires. Both layers matter.

What the application asks for:

1. Proof you're practicing: a company website, an active social media account, or a business card. In practice, a real company website that presents you as a trade professional is what reads as credible in review.
2. Proof you're a business: a business license or resale certificate, or the name and membership number of a professional design association you belong to.

What running it yourself actually looks like. Getting approved is step one of five. Managing a trade program directly, end to end:

1. Set up the business. A business license means choosing between forming an LLC (state filing, fees, annual reports) or operating as a sole proprietor — where every client order rides on your personal liability. Then an EIN from the IRS.
2. Register for sales tax in every state you'll charge it. Your home state first — that registration is what makes you eligible for a resale certificate at all. Then each state you deliver to: furniture is taxed where it lands, and roughly a quarter of states — including California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington — don't accept out-of-state certificates, so a project there means registering with that state's revenue department before you order.
3. Get your exemption form on file with CB2 — for the right state — before each project. Every retailer needs your certificate for every state you buy into, kept current as certificates expire. Miss one and you pay tax at checkout that's hard to claw back.
4. Collect and remit the tax yourself. Buying tax-exempt makes you the seller. When you invoice your client at markup, you collect sales tax on that invoice and remit it on monthly or quarterly returns in every state you're registered.
5. Place and track every order through CB2's trade account. Sign in for the discount to apply, manage deliveries and claims — then repeat this entire cycle for every other brand you source, each with its own portal, paperwork, and rules.

(Rules vary by state; an hour with an accountant who knows designer sales tax is money well spent.)

How to apply

1. Go to cb2.com/trade-program and complete the online application: name, company details, email.
2. Upload your documentation (website link, license or certificate, or association membership number).
3. Non-tax-exempt applications are reviewed within 2–3 business days; tax-exempt organizations take 48–72 hours.
4. Once approved, your discount applies at checkout when you're signed in to your trade account, online or in stores.

Questions during the process go to the trade concierge at trade.concierge@cb2.com or 800-606-6498.

The fine print worth knowing

• 20% applies to full-price items only; sale and clearance items are excluded.
• The discount is for professional use — client projects and business purchases.
• Keep your documentation current; programs periodically re-verify.

CB2 is one of many trade programs a working designer ends up managing — each with its own application, documents, login, discount rules, and renewal cycle. On Suede, procurement across all of them runs through us, on your behalf — along with the invoicing, the sales tax, and the payments. Join the waitlist here.

Program details are as published by CB2 as of July 2026; verify current terms at cb2.com/trade-program.