A trade range that the public can see is a trade range your retail competitors can price against. The free plugin hides products and categories from a role. That is the right idea, and it stops one step short of what a real trade catalogue needs.
Product Visibility Pro adds the parts that matter: several roles or named customers on one rule, “show only to these people” so a new product is private by default, and a softer option that leaves the product on the shelf with the price replaced by a form. A blocked buyer becomes an enquiry instead of a bounce.
What Pro adds
- Show only to the right peopleInvert a rule so a range is visible to trade accounts and nobody else. Add a product to that category later and it is private from the moment it is published — no rule to remember to update.
- Ask instead of a dead endSoft mode keeps the product listed and swaps the price and button for a short form. The buyer who went looking for your trade range becomes a lead with the product they wanted attached.
- Enquiries you can work throughRequests are stored with the name, company, email and product, emailed to you as they arrive, and marked done as you deal with them.
- Several roles, or one customerOne rule can cover guests and retail at once, or single out one named account.
- Target by tag as wellHide by product tag, not just category, for ranges that cut across your category tree.
- Actually hiddenHidden products are gone from search, archives, category menus, feeds and direct URLs — and cannot be added to a cart by pasting a link. Hiding a button is not a gate.
- ScheduledStart and end dates, for a range that goes public on launch day without anybody being awake for it.
Free vs Pro
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Hide products or categories from a role | Included | Included |
| Hidden from archives, search and direct links | Included | Included |
| Several roles on one rule | Not included | Included |
| Target named customers | Not included | Included |
| Show only to chosen people | Not included | Included |
| Soft mode with a request-access form | Not included | Included |
| Access requests stored and emailed | Not included | Included |
| Target by product tag | Not included | Included |
| Scheduled start and end dates | Not included | Included |
| Redirect instead of a 404 | Not included | Included |
Upgrading from free
Install and activate Pro and the free plugin is deactivated automatically. Both versions read the same data, so every setting and everything you have already created carries over untouched. There is no import step and nothing to reconfigure.
What happens without a license
Pro degrades to the free feature set rather than switching off. Your store keeps working, your Pro configuration is kept safe rather than deleted, and everything starts applying again the moment a key is activated. Losing a license should never cost you a sale.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between hiding and soft mode?
Hiding removes the product completely — it is not in the catalogue, not in search, and cannot be bought by pasting a URL. Soft mode leaves it visible but replaces the price and the button with a short form, so the buyer can see you sell it and ask for access. Most trade shops use both: hide the pricing-sensitive lines, soften the ones they would like enquiries about.
Can somebody get to a hidden product by guessing the URL?
No. Visibility is enforced on the server on every route in — the product query, the product page, the cart, and the add-to-cart handler. There is nothing to guess your way past.
What happens without a license?
Rules keep hiding things, because a catalogue that suddenly exposes your trade prices would be far worse than losing a feature. What stops is the Pro half: soft mode becomes a plain hide, multi-role and named-customer targeting falls back to the single role, and the request form closes.
What you get
- One year of updates, delivered inside your WordPress dashboard like any other plugin.
- Use on up to 2 sites — your live store and your staging copy.
- Priority support by email.
- A 7-day trial on any site: install it, run it properly, then enter a key.
Requirements
- WordPress 6.2 or newer
- WooCommerce 7.0 or newer — HPOS (High-Performance Order Storage) compatible
- PHP 7.4 or newer
- Works with classic themes and block themes, classic and block checkout
Part of B2B Managers Suite
One of 13 lightweight B2B extensions that work alone or together: role based pricing, tiered pricing, quotes, B2B registration, order rules, catalogue visibility, checkout control, quick ordering, VAT handling, purchase orders, company accounts, price lists and hidden prices. Install only what you need — each plugin is small and focused, with no extra database tables and no front-end frameworks.