Issue: Apply a discount code to 100+ products but only specific variants (e-book format) without splitting variants into separate products and without expensive apps.
Key constraints and platform limits:
Shopify discount codes can target specific variants, but there’s a hard 100-variant limit. Collections work only at the product level, not variant level.
Cost sensitivity to ~$30/month apps.
Suggested solutions:
Apps with variant-conditional codes: Regios Automatic Discounts, Discount Kit (e.g., condition “Variant Title contains ‘E-book’”), plus Dr Volume & Bulk Discount, DiscountRay. Try free trials/test modes.
Custom approaches: Shopify Function or small script using a metafield (e.g., format=ebook) to apply discounts. “Metafield” = custom data field; “Shopify Functions” = server-side discount logic.
Theme/cart workarounds: bundle the ebook variant with a free item and discount the bundle; “sibling” products that act like variants; AJAX cart swap to a standalone discounted product for that variant. New “unlisted” product status may help presentation.
Visual fallback: use compare-at price to simulate a discount without a code.
Notes: One participant challenges expectations about built-in features and cost. No final resolution; next steps are to test apps or pursue a custom Function.
Summarized with AI on December 11.
AI used: gpt-5.
Hello, we are trying to find a way to apply a discount to more than 100 products, but only certain variants. The Discounty app lets us apply a discount to all the products we need, but we can’t create a discount code for that. The discount code we had set up in Shopify’s native discounts won’t let us select specific variants (in this case, a discount on e-book format, but not physical format).
Being a bookstore, we’d rather not split out the variants so that multiple versions of the same title show up, instead of one product and choose your format.
Are there any apps out there that can do this sort of thing without doubling the annual cost of our store? We can’t pay $30 a month for something that Shopify should already have built in.
Hi @Jason_A_Adams I’m @PaulNewton shopify partner, business consultant, & store customizer.
Merchants that need a built in approach to handle this situation in a themes can reach out to me if you need theme customization services. Click profile-oic on forums for options to connect.
A sidestep might be putting the variant in a bundle with some innocuous free item and discounting the bundle but scenarios and effort needed will differ.
Then there are options of using advanced theme customizations.
“sibling” products - multiple products can be presented as a singluar product with the separate products acting like variants; (aka combined listing generally for Plus plan stores)
make the cart using the ajax api to swap in a standalone product for a specific variant when it’s in the cart.
Clichés that merchants hurt themselves with:
One platform CANNOT do everything for everyone.
There’s 5 million+ merchants that each have some thing that “should just be built in” because they personally need it.
It’s outlandishly unreasonable, do you think your the first to expect another business to do it all for you.
Adjust expectations to reality , there is an api for merchants that need custom behavior.
Use the api to invest in building specific custom behavior that differentiates a business from the run of the mil.
Otherwise off the shelf apps should MAKE you money and save you time therefore make even more money.
When a business model doesn’t already generate enough revenue to pay for specific tools that make that business model possible then it is that business model is bad, it is not the tools.
READ: if your lowering prices but not even breaking $30 a month why waste a seconds thought on it, otherwise invest in your processes.
Look for apps like Regios Automatic Discounts or Discount Kit. They allow you to create a standard discount code but add a specific condition logic: “Apply only if Variant Title contains ‘E-book’.”
I believe that should do the trick. Hope this helps!
Shopify’s native discount system does support variant-level discounts, but it has a couple of big limitations that make exactly your use case difficult.
What’s the Shopify-native limitation
Variant limit for discount codes
When creating a native discount code in Shopify, you can choose “Applies to > Specific products or variants,” but there’s a 100 variant limit. Shopify Community+2Shopify Community+2
Collection limitation
Shopify discount collections don’t work at the variant level — collections are of “entire products,” not individual variants. Shopify Help Center+1
Built-in workaround is limited
Because of the 100-variant cap, if you have more than 100 e-book variants (across many products), you may hit that ceiling even before covering everything. As others in the Shopify community have noted, this is a real pain point.
Recommendation (Given Your Situation)
First, try a couple of the apps above in test mode (if they have a free tier / trial). Specifically, Dr Volume & Bulk Discount and DiscountRay seem most aligned to “variant-level discount.”
If those don’t meet your exact needs, look into a small custom script / Shopify Function (if you’re comfortable or have access to a developer) to apply discounts based on a metafield (“format = ebook”).
As a quick low-effort fallback: use the “compare-at price” trick for your ebook variant so it looks like a discount even without a code.
I’m 
Click profile-oic on forums for options to connect.