Single Product, Multiple Variants...Help Plz!

[LesVents]

I'm building out my new store for 1 of a kind handmade greeting cards.  In doing so, I want to offer a variety of pre-defined messages inside of the cards for a small fee.  I've found that I can add variants that reflect the different messages, but am hitting a snag with the inventory.  Because there is only 1 card and I'm effectively listing different variants (with each message), it makes the inventory think I have more than just 1 card when I do not.  I fear that I'll sell the card in one variant and someone else will then buy it in another, but, again, I only have the 1 card.  Any help is MUCH MUCH appreciated.  I'd very much prefer not to pay monthly for another Integration App.

Thanks,

Lauren

[Rae]

Hi, @LesVents. 

This is Rae from the Shopify team. Thanks for reaching out with this question, and welcome to the Community! 

I understand how using variants isn't ideal with your products, and the inventory you currently have. With this in mind, there are a few workarounds I can suggest to set up your products in a way that allows customers to add messages to the cards they order. 

The first potential solution I can offer is following this tutorial to add customization information to your products. Similar to the way this tutorial uses engraving as an example, line item properties can be used to allow customers to elect which message they would like to add to their card. However, this is an advanced coding tutorial, so if you aren't comfortable with implementing this code yourself, I recommend reaching out to Shopify Experts for additional help with this.  

Another option is to enable order notes on your cart page that allows customers to type which message they would like added to their products. If you're using a free theme developed by Shopify, then our Theme Team may be able to assist with adding this feature to your account. If you would like to discuss this further, please let me know. 

I know you also mentioned that you would prefer to not pay for an app to integrate this option, but for customizations like this, apps can oftentimes offer great solutions. With that said, I do want to share a few apps with you that can be used to add this feature, such as: 

• Infinite Product Options - offers a free plan 
• Infinite Options - requires a paid plan 
• Bold Product Options - requires a paid plan 

It's important to keep in mind that the above apps are all third party integrations developed by teams who are external to Shopify. So, if you have any questions about setting up the apps to perform exactly to your needs, please reach out to the app developers directly for more information. The developers will also be able to provide more information surrounding the billing of their apps if you have further questions regarding this. 

Let me know if there is anything else I can assist with and I'll be glad to lend a hand!

[MakerWatchCo]

Thanks for posting and responding. Wondering if there are any plans in the roadmap to solve this within shopify variants vs using a 3rd party app?

[Rae]

Hi, @MakerWatchCo! 

Thanks for joining this thread. 

This is a great suggestion that I can absolutely pass along to our teams for further review. Can you tell me a bit more about your use case, and how this would benefit your business? That way, I can share these details with our teams, as well. 

In the meantime though, if we have any updates to share on this we'll post these on our changelog, along with our other product updates. I also recommend keeping an eye on our Announcements page for more details, too, as this is where we share any new and exciting changes coming to our platform. 

Best, 

[sinucreation]

I would also really love this feature. I make one of a kind earrings but I offer a choice of earring hook type to go with the earrings. So although there is only one pair of earrings, at the moment I have to put two online, one for each type of earring hook. I then have to hope that if someone purchases the earrings I can take the other option down before someone else buys it. This is obviously the main problem but I also worry that people will think that the earrings aren't one of a kind, as I am advertising them, as when they purchase them they do not set as sold out on my website. Which obviously doesn't look good for my shop. 

I have sold on etsy before and they make it pretty simple, when you select that you have more than one variety there is a button you can select which says whether each variety has their own quantity or if you want to set an overall quantity for all the variations

[Rae]

Hi, @sinucreation! 

Thanks for reaching out and sharing more details about your products, and your use case behind this request. I can definitely see how a feature similar to this would benefit your business, so I'll share your thoughts on this with our teams directly. 

If any other Community users would like to request this as well, please reply to me here with more details on how your business is impacted, and I'll be happy to pass along your feedback. I will 'like' your post once I've done this to indicate that your thoughts have been shared with our teams. 

Thanks! 

[madisondoyle]

Hi there! I was ecstatic to find this post because I am having a similar issue with my shop. I have yet to try the other suggestions above, so maybe one of those will be helpful, but would love for this to be an available feature.

I sell hand-poured candles, of which come in six fragrance options. The candles are poured in re-used and vintage containers, which all are very different, and offer a variety of looks. Candles are a great thing to have in your space, but most of the time have obnoxious stickers and branding. I offer something that is unique and will blend into someones space.

I don't want people to feel pigeonholed into a scent or vessel just because it's what I pre-made. Doing made-to-order allows me to keep waste at a minimum. I am trying to be as sustainable as possible.

Today was my first launch day, and over-all it went pretty smoothly. There were 2 product instances (of 20 sales) where someone purchased something that was already sold out. I was basically watching over my computer as sales went in to prevent this. But this is not a viable solution in the future.

Currently I have the vessels listed as the item in the shop, and the variances are the scent options. Each item now has 6 variances. I am optimistic that one of the apps can help me, but I may have to switch to the line-item option to prevent further issues.

[eotteson]

I’m in that same boat. I have one pendant but a chain length choice. As said above Etsy makes it easy for this option. Then once that pendant is sold it doesn’t leave another variant option in chain length available with that necklace to be sold again when there was only one to begin with. I think this is an option many businesses would use. I don’t want to use a 3rd party app when not all my listings this is necessary for. $15/month for an add on isn’t worth a handful of listings. 

[kbalboni]

We would also really like to see Shopify include this type of feature. We have a similar situation to many other users - certain products (jewelry items) of ours are made from different components. (And these various components are shared across different products.) For one example, we sell a necklace with a bead attached. Before shipping out, we create the necklace by hand by attaching a bead to a chain (of the customers chosen length) We do not want to sell the chain and bead separately to customers, so in this case the upset would not work. On Shopify, we need to be able to track the inventory for the chain and bead separately so as to not oversell the item. 

[LittleHomestead]

AGREED! Etsy makes this so easy. And the prices for multi-variant packs are set very easily there, without having to make different variant quantities/prices a separate product. I'm surprised Shopify doesn't have this feature, to be honest. It would be so easy to integrate without having to pay for *more* separate apps.

[Secretgarden09]

Yeah totally agree I was shocked they didn’t have that ability since the majority of the Shopify setup has so much more complex detailed options with everything to do with running a store and this is such a basic need I’m suprised it isn’t possible!

[nexuscommerce]

Hi,

I work with clients who like to offer limited quantities of a product with multiple variation options. For example a shirt release where customers can select their size. A one quantity for multiple variants option would ensure that orders for a product are capped after a certain amount. 

Please let me know if I can provide any more details about our use case. I was pleased to find this thread and active conversation regarding the feature! 

[Secretgarden09]

I am also setting up my Shopify store and having the exact same issue as I sell handmade one of a kind polymer clay earrings. I sell on Etsy too and need that same ability to list the one pair of earrings with multiple options for the customer to choose if they want hooks, studs etc

[ShelbyI]

I have a similar issue. I have one pendant available, but I can offer multiple chain lengths. And people can buy just the pendant OR they can buy the pendant with the chain (at different lengths). But the pendant and chain option has a different price than just the pendant. So I can do the "add a note at check out" for the length of the chain and use only two variants: "pendant only" and "include chain", but I still have it listed as 2 items in my inventory when I still only have ONE pendant.

Any workaround for this?

[Rae]

Hi, @ShelbyI! 

Thanks for jumping in and providing these details on how your store is set up, and the products you're offering. 

It sounds like you may benefit from using an upsell app to sell chains to customers who are already purchasing pendants. This option would allow your pendants to remain as one product, and your chains as another separate product, to help ensure accurate inventory across your stock.

In addition to this, upselling is a great way to show customers relevant products that they may be interested in purchasing by making these products easy to find, and giving customers a fast way to add these items to their existing cart. You can learn more about the benefits of upselling in this blog post. 

If you'd like to check out some upsell apps, I recommend these options: 

• Upsell Recommendations
• Bold Upsell 
• Candy Rack - One Click Upsell

These are also all third-party apps, so if you have any questions about using them, please make sure to reach out to the app developers directly. 

Let me know if you think this option will suit your business, or if you'd like to discuss this set up further! 

[epsesyal]

I do the same as well &  it's so annoying that this still has not been resolved by Shopify!

[Hwyl_NZ]

I have just paid upfront for 1 year shopify- because I heard reviews that said despite it being alot more expensive, it's worth it for the shop side of the website... this in my opinion is a big downfall for shopify. Being that due to covid we are trying to make more local based manufacturing styles, so money stays within the same market. To have to then add a third-party app that charges extra on top of the price we are paying for Shopify seems like a huge fault. Obviously I will pay for the app add on for this year because without it - I cannot sell my products easily. But this will be a deal-breaker for me when I look at renewing my membership.

All of my products are handmade to order, for example- I order 10 metres of fabric and can offer 10 pairs of pants, but in those 10 pairs I want to be able to offer different sizing and different lengths etc, all from the same stock. 

[partyhappier]

I am interested in this as well. As an example, I sell mini note cards. I want to offer customers the option to buy the cards with envelopes or without envelopes. I want to have one set quantity regardless of whether or not they want envelopes, because the quantity is based on how many note cards I have, not the variations. Let's say I have the ability to make 10 note cards sets, I can make them all with envelopes, all without, or some combo of the two. But if I put 10 for each of the two variants, it shows that I have 20 total available rather than 10. This functionality seems really basic, and clearly people have been asking for it for years. I sell on Etsy and they do this with no problems. Are there any plans to fix this?

[Katieseeks]

I spent a whole evening trying to figure this out! This is the one feature completely letting shopify down for me I currently have a wix site and am trying to switch over to shopify and this is a huge stumbling block for me. I have one total in stock but there are varying ways eg length, size, colour you can purchase! Seems like such a simple feature to not have control of!

[eotteson]

I switched over from wix, I ended up finding an app that charges $2 a month and they will set up your variations (no charge) how you’d like them customized. It’s called Product infinite options. I’ve had it for a few months now and it’s been working great for me. 

[Rae]

Hi, @eotteson! 

Thanks for letting us know about the solution you found! 

To clarify, are you using this app? If so, please follow up with us here to confirm, as this information may help other merchants who are also looking to resolve this with an app. 

Cheers, 

[Katieseeks]

My issue is your platform is already more expensive than its competitors and for something like this I really don’t see why I should pay even more on top for something I think a platform should just be able to do, as I have paid for shopify this month I am considering adding this on and seeing how the platform performs overall before deciding whether to head back to wix for my hosting.

[eotteson]

Yes I’ve been using that app for 5 months 

[Rae]

Hi, @eotteson! 

Thanks for confirming. 

If any other Community users are interested in using this app, it can be downloaded via this link. 

Best, 

[pattscrivener]

I have the same problem. I sell original artwork and offer upsells like mounting paper paintings and adding frames to canvas. 

I would love it Shopify would integrate this into their platform. 

[PaulNewton]

I sell original artwork and offer upsells like mounting paper paintings and adding frames to canvas.

If the there is only the art variant for the product that leaves 2 options: paper and frames.

If your upselling as seperate products you just need to present those upells on the product page

Or in the cart like with the gift wrapping tutorial https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/themes/os/customize/add-gift-wrap-option 

There's also presenting such things as an order form 

https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-design/forms-add-an-order-form-to-your-store/td-p/613671 

The reality is most merchants do not need interconnecting systems like this built into products forcing other products, there are enough apps and api features that specific merchant needs can be built by those merchants.

Until shopify decides to change this for just invest in the proper tools, there are many customization services available and numerous apps for product personalization, upsells, etc

[BensonWong]

Hi there,

I found an interesting Shopify store and I also want to sell some T-shirts, the variants setting is awesome. here is the link: https://bonorganik.com/products/1-100-pubg-matching-tees-for-friends  (I am a rookie with the community, if it's not good to put the link here, notify me and I will remove this ). As we can see, there is a 'add more' button after the variant and people can click to pick up more items AND only need to click 1 time to add all of them to the cart! 

I tried to install dozens of Apps but nothing like that. I am not sure whether it is a third-party App or just coding in the theme. Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

[prismajewel]

I am facing the same problem too!

I am now trying to do listing for pearl studs but i am not able to list 1 pair of studs but provide 2 metal to choose from Sterling silver or gold filled without having to list them as 2 inventory.

And both metals comes in different prices..

[eotteson]

I found an app called PRODUCT INFINITE OPTIONS it’s $1.99/month and I’m able to customize like what you are trying to do. They will set up other customizations for you if you have more than one thing that needs customized. I use it for them to select necklace size. I’ve used them for 5 months now and it works well for this. 

[PaulNewton]

Per the original posters issue the where the inventory of variants make it seem like you have more inventory than the core product,

This is solvable with inventory sync apps, or automation tools like usemechanic that will keep the inventory the same for all "variants"

[Campionk]

I FOUND A SOLUTION!

My problem: I have a 2 part product, a pair of waders and the top is from a different supplier than the boots so the inventory count needed to be different. I had a limited number of top sizes that could be paired with any size pair of boots so adding them as variants to the product like normal did not work. 

Solution: The infinite options app allows you to add on another product that looks like a variant. So I created the waders as the product and only listed the boot size on the product page. Then I created another product that was the top and added sizes as a variant ($0.00) and then I used the app to create a drop-down selector on my waders page to select the size. So it almost looked like I'm bundling the products on the backend, but looks like one seamless product to customers.

https://apps.shopify.com/custom-options

[Littlepinktruck]

Has this issue been rectified? I am having the same problem. 

I have one piece of remnant fabric that could be made into different items but I do not have enough fabric to make ALL the items. Just 1 item but i need different prices for the options avaible for that 1 item. 

[Campionk]

Look at the above comment

[Littlepinktruck]

I tried that app and it doesn’t work for me as I need to charge different prices for my items. 

1 piece of fabric can be made into the following items for the following prices: 

infant-hoodie- $30

infant-cardigan- $25

infant-pants- $20 

toddler-hoodie- $35

toddler-cardigan- $30

toddler-pants- $25 

and so on for 5 different sizes and 3 different styles for each. 

this is how the built in variants are excellent but I only have 1 piece of fabric/1 product but multiple styles and sizes for varying prices. 

[eotteson]

I've switched over to product options by BSS its free and it may work for you. The other app stopped working for me when I changed my website layout and they wouldn't even get back to me on getting help to fix it.