PURCHASE LIMITS / GUIDE 04

How to choose a Shopify purchase limit type

Compare Shopify order, collection, product, variant, total sales, product access, and purchase combination rules.

2 min read

First decide which items are counted and what is measured. A maximum of three items has different results when it applies to the whole order, a collection, each product, or each variant.

Choose by calculation scope

Your goalRule typeHow it is evaluated
Limit an order's quantity, value, or weightOrder limitAdds up the cart items in the rule's scope
Limit items in selected collections togetherCollection limitAdds up matching collection items
Limit products individually or as a groupProduct limitUses the per-product, per-variant, or combined setting
Limit one specific product optionVariant limitEvaluates the targeted variant
Cap units sold across customers and ordersTotal limitTracks sold, reserved, and available quantity
Decide who can buy selected productsProduct access ruleEvaluates blacklist or whitelist conditions
Control how items can be bought togetherPurchase combinationChoose one, shared limit, or buy together

Choose the measurement

Order, collection, product, and variant limits support quantity, value, or weight, with applicable minimum or maximum thresholds. Total limits cap cumulative quantity across orders. Product access rules answer whether a purchase is allowed; they do not use a standard quantity threshold.

Two examples that are easy to confuse

Example 1: No more than three items from Collection A in total. Choose a collection limit. If the cart has two units of Product X and two units of Product Y from that collection, the combined four units exceed the cap.

Example 2: No more than three units of each product in Collection A. Choose a product limit scoped to the collection with per-product evaluation. Two units each of X and Y stay below the cap for both products.

Before saving a rule, write down one cart that should pass and one that should fail. After saving, use the verification guide to test both.

Next: Set order limits or Set product limits.

Keep going

Use a test product or cart to check the outcome before applying this setup across your store.

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