Buy 2 Get 1 Free” Discount Logic Creates Poor Customer Experience — Needs Fix or Update

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

A merchant identified a usability issue with Shopify’s built-in “Buy X Get Y” discount feature. The problem: when setting up a “Buy 2 Get 1 Free” offer, customers must manually add all three items to their cart before the discount applies—the system doesn’t automatically add the free product after two qualifying items are added.

Key concerns raised:

  • Customers expect automatic application of such promotions in modern e-commerce
  • The current behavior causes confusion and potential cart abandonment
  • Shopify Support confirmed this is “expected behavior,” not a bug
  • The merchant argues this doesn’t align with real-world customer expectations

Current workaround:

  • A developer explained Shopify intentionally provides only the discount logic, leaving the user experience to theme developers or third-party apps
  • This approach offers flexibility across multiple sales channels (online store, POS, Headless)
  • Third-party apps like Hype Discounts can auto-add free items to cart

Status: The issue remains unresolved as a platform design choice rather than a planned fix.

Summarized with AI on October 23. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hi everyone,

I’ve been testing Shopify’s built-in Buy X Get Y discount feature and noticed a major usability problem that affects both customers and store owners.

Here’s the issue in simple terms:

When creating a Buy 2 Get 1 Free offer, the discount only activates after the customer manually adds three products to the cart. It doesn’t apply automatically when two qualifying products are in the cart. This means:

The customer has to figure out on their own that they must add a third item to receive the free one.

The system does not automatically add the free product, even when the conditions are met.

This causes confusion and cart abandonment, because in modern e-commerce, customers expect such offers to trigger automatically.

I’ve confirmed this behavior even on Shopify’s free themes with no apps or customizations installed, so it’s not related to theme code or third-party apps.

Shopify Support confirmed that this is “expected behavior” and not a glitch, but I strongly believe this logic doesn’t match real-world customer behavior. In practice, people expect:

“Buy 2 Get 1 Free” → Add 2 items, system automatically adds the 3rd free item.

Having to explain this in marketing text (“Add 3 items to your cart to get 1 free!”) is not practical for every product or collection. E-commerce has become too fast-paced for that kind of manual step.

I urge Shopify’s development team to treat this as a usability issue, not just a feature request. Automatically adding the “Get Y” item when the condition is met would improve conversion rates and reduce customer confusion across thousands of stores.

Thank you for reviewing this. I hope this behavior can be revisited in a future update to make Shopify’s discount system more intuitive and user-friendly.

Store: Golden Pearl Pakistan (f8b10a-7b.myshopify.com)

1 Like
2

I understand your frustration. Shopify’s BXGY discount only creates the discount logic and they expect you to reply on Theme developers or Apps to complete the experience.

This is how it has been since start. They want yo give you ultimate flexibility without having to build an experience which will be much less customizable. They also have multiple sales channel to bring this experience to if they build such a thing, like POS, Hydrogen, etc.

If you want to create a discount and get the gift auto added to cart you can use a third party app like Hype discounts to do this (this is our app)

4

Hi,

I completely understand your frustration.

With Shopify’s native discount feature, free gifts cannot be automatically added to the cart — customers need to manually select and add the gift themselves.

To achieve automatic free gift functionality, you’ll need to use a third-party app specifically designed for this, like BOGOS App. With BOGOS, all free gifts can be automatically added to the cart, and you can run a variety of offers, including:

  • Buy One Get One (BOGO)

  • Buy X Get Y

  • Free sample with purchase

  • Free gifts with purchase

  • Spend More, Get More

auto add to cart

You can also set up flexible conditions for customers to receive free gifts, such as:

  • Targeting offers based on purchase history, customer tags, or location

  • Triggering gifts via private links or subscription rewards

  • Boosting mobile app purchases with targeted promotions

You can start to try BOGOS for FREE here!

5

Hi @uptomark.co,

Totally agree, this “Buy X Get Y” behavior often confuses shoppers. Most expect the free item to appear automatically once they qualify.

If you want a smoother setup, try our new (and free) app G: Volume Discounts & Upsell. It lets you create Volume Discounts, Quantity Breaks, Free Gift and Upsell offers that show right on the product page, no manual cart steps.

For example, instead of needing to explain “Add 3 items to get 1 free,” you can display a clear offer selector like:

  • 1 item – Standard Price
  • 2 items – 15% off + Free Gift :wrapped_gift:
  • 3 items – 20% off

Quantity Breaks & Free Gift

DEMO (5)
DEMO (5)874×1039 132 KB

Quantity Breaks & Free Gift & Upsell

Giỏi (1)
Giỏi (1)1104×1472 229 KB

The widget updates pricing and gifts instantly as customers select quantities, no confusion, no manual cart steps.

Hope this helps,

Sophia from Tapita Team
G: Volume Discounts & Upsell is now Free to try on the Shopify App Store