A merchant sells products with variants (switch types and cable lengths) but stocks switches and cables as separate inventory items. They need a way to display these as a single product listing while tracking individual component stock levels.
Problem identified:
Shopify’s Combined Listings app (referenced in help documentation) no longer works
Single product listings can’t track stock for individual components
Suggested solutions:
Bundling apps or Shopify Functions to link separate products
Custom line item properties via theme modification to add components as separate cart items
Duplicate listings with cart automation using Shopify Flow (Plus only) or custom scripts
Variant Robot app for automated product linking based on product data
Current status:
The original poster declined app-based solutions due to cost concerns, expressing frustration with Shopify’s subscription expenses and considering alternative platforms. The discussion remains open without a final resolution.
Summarized with AI on October 26.
AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
We currently sell a product that has a number of variants (e.g. switch type and cable length) but they actually comprise and are stocked as individual switches and cables.
The issue with a single product listing is that it can not track stock of the cables or switches so presumably the solution is to add a listing for the switch and a seperate listing for the cable, then “combine” the listing. If you search for this feature you find this - https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/combined-listings/create-combined-listing however it seems out of date as the app does not work anymore
So my question, what is the correct way to achieve this now?
Shopify removed the Combined Listings app, so the method from that help article is outdated. But you can still achieve this using bundling apps or Shopify Functions
Use a Bundling App
Custom Line Item Properties – If you don’t want an app, you can modify your theme to let customers choose the switch and cable as options, then add them as separate line items in the cart while still making it feel like one product.
Duplicate Listings + Cart Automation – Another option is to list switches and cables as separate products but use Shopify Flow (if you have Shopify Plus) or a simple custom script to ensure both get added to the cart together when a customer picks a switch.
Big chance that our app Variant Robot can automatically link your seperate listed products, that are presented as variants on your shop, without having to insert any code: https://apps.shopify.com/variant-robot
Variant Robot can automatically link seperate products together, based on your product data.
The app also supports multiple display modes such as: Images, blocks, dropdowns, or auto-color swatches.
No need for any manual mapping, this is an automated solution that only requires one-time setup.
Appreciate the offer but I’m not really interested in adding any more subscriptions. Shopify is already costing me a lot more than it should to the point where I am already considering going an alternative route.