I’d like to deal with this problem without an app, but I am not sure if it’s possible.
Let’s say I want to create a bundle called Cleaning Set. It will contain a product, Percarbonate, that we sell as a separate product with SKU 001. The second product will be an essential oil that the customer can choose from. We also sell these essential oils as separate products, Eucalyptus with SKU 002 and Citrus with SKU 003. So basically, I want these products in the bundle as variants of the essential oil. But the priority is for the SKU to be the same. So if customers buy the Eucalyptus as a separate product or part of the set, it will reduce the same inventory.
I can create variants, and I can add the same SKU, which will have the warning that the other product have same SKU. But it will not link them.
Does Shopify not track or update inventory for products that are added to a bundle? I know bundlea are taken as a product of its own, but just to confirm.
Hi, it does. It wouldn’t be a problem if I just added the essential oils as separate products. But the thing is, the customer should have the option to choose just one essential oil. So one solution is to create two sets (percarbonate + eucalyptus and percarbonate + citrus), which is not ideal. Or, as I thought, to create the product called Essential Oil and use the existing products (with their SKU) as variants. And just create a bundle percarbonate + essential oil. But that does not seem to be possible.
I honestly don’t know how much of your requirement i understand but i did create a simple fixed price bundle kind of feature which lets you choose products from different collections to create a bundle. How many products users get to choose is something you can decide. But one limitation to this now is the product selected is the first variant available and does not go in depth to let users select a variant of the product.
password: reafur
Check this out. Look for a product called bundled discounted collection or just check out the second section of the home page.
Thank you, Shadab, I really appreciate it. Yeah, I think it might theoretically work. I would create the bundle in the backend and add just the products that are fixed, and then add this option to choose from those specific products.
Can you please provide this solution you just did? I might be able to just customize it to my specific needs.
Sure I will make a doc for you of what I did in steps so it would be easier for you to get a grasp of it.
Also i would definitely not give this to anyone without a price tag since this is some days of work and effort. I will though in your case not set a price because this doesn’t really fulfill your requirement even though this might give you a starting point.
You sound a developer yourself and I am sure you will understand the work behind it. So I will let you decide for a compensation for this.
I am starting on the doc and will share the link you once done.
You’re awesome, Shadab. But I really don’t want to take hours from you. So if it’s too much work, you don’t have to do this. You already provided help, because it literally didn’t occur to me that I could approach it like this. I know it’s a lot of work and time flies (just researching this already took hours from my life:)
Haha, no it wouldn’t take me hours to send a doc to you, it’s already built, I meant it took me some good hours trying to set this up when I started working on this.
Hope this helps out. I would definitely be waiting to see how you go about customizing this and i am sure you are gonna do well. Be happy to answer any doubts
Am I right to assume that you’re using the native Shopify Bundles app?
It only supports creating bundles with a fixed set of products where customers can choose variants of each component. This won’t work in your case as the two essential oils(Eucalyptus, Citrus) are separate products, not variants of a single product.
I understand that you would prefer not to use an app, but you might want to consider trying Bundles Inventory. You can create a bundle product with two variants and assign percarbonate + eucalyptus to one variant, and percarbonate + citrus to the other.
Here’s a simple demonstration:
Create the bundle product from Shopify admin, with an option for choosing essential oil.
Yes, this is definitely possible! You can use the JTDL: Bundles & Discounts app to group those 3 products into one listing. It allows customers to pick variants for each section while keeping the inventory synced perfectly at the SKU level. Highly recommend it for this setup.
If your products have multiple sizes and colors, the total combinations will exceed 100 very quickly, and the Shopify native app will stop working.
To handle this without limits, I recommend using the third-party app, BOGOS. Here is why it’s a better fit for your Cleaning Set:
BOGOS links your products into one Shopify SKU. This means your customers can pick any variant of the oils (Eucalyptus or Citrus) without you ever worrying about Shopify’s technical ceilings.
Since the actual individual products hit the checkout, your stock for SKU 002 or 003 is deducted correctly at the source, whether sold alone or in the set.
Great question! This is a super common challenge with bundles.
What you’re looking for is called inventory syncing where the bundle pulls from the same inventory as your standalone products, so selling Eucalyptus in the bundle OR as a separate product reduces the same stock.
Here’s the thing: Shopify doesn’t natively link inventory across products just by using the same SKU (as you’ve noticed with that warning). The SKU is really just a label it doesn’t actually connect the inventory counts.
Two ways to solve this:
Use a bundle app with inventory sync: Most bundle apps automatically deduct inventory from the original standalone products when a bundle sells. So your Eucalyptus (SKU 002) inventory stays accurate whether it’s purchased alone or as part of the Cleaning Set.
Use Shopify Bundles (native app): If you’re looking for a free option, Shopify’s own Bundles app does sync inventory from the component products. It’s more limited in features but handles this exact use case.
The key question to ask any bundle app: “Does it break down the bundle at checkout and deduct inventory from the original products?”
I’m from Simple Bundles and this is exactly how our app works, we sync inventory automatically so you don’t oversell But definitely explore what fits your store best!
Hope that helps! Happy to answer any follow-up questions.
You can use the same SKU across different products or variants in Shopify, but Shopify does not actually link the inventory between them. So even if the SKU is identical, buying the oil as a standalone product won’t reduce the stock of the same oil inside your Cleaning Set bundle.
Without using an app, the only real workaround is to create the bundle as its own product and manage the inventory manually, which can become difficult as orders increase.
Because of that, many merchants use a bundle setup that pulls inventory from the original products, so if someone buys Eucalyptus separately or inside the bundle, the same stock gets deducted. Shopify does not support this type of inventory linking natively, so it usually requires a bundle app or a custom setup.
So technically, you can duplicate the SKU, but Shopify won’t automatically sync or link the inventory between those products. I also shared an image above that shows how this setup usually works.
Check out how it works in action here: 
But definitely explore what fits your store best!
