How to Create a BOGO Offer on Shopify

A buy one get one offer, usually shortened to BOGO, has no dedicated discount type in Shopify. You build it with the Buy X get Y discount and set both sides to the same product. That works well, but a handful of settings decide whether a shopper who buys six units gets one free, three free or none. This guide to a BOGO offer on Shopify goes through the settings field by field, the traps in each, and a test-order checklist to run before you tell anyone about the offer.

BOGO in Shopify terms

Shopify's Help Center describes a Buy X get Y discount in two halves. The "Customer buys" half is the condition: the page says it sets a minimum quantity of items or a minimum purchase amount, and the products or collections that count. The "Customer gets" half says how many items receive the discount, which products or collections are eligible, and the discounted value.

For a BOGO, X and Y are the same product (or the same collection): buy one, get one more at a discount. "At a discounted value" offers three choices. Percentage needs a rate. Amount off each takes a fixed amount off each item. Free makes the item free. A true "buy one, get one free" uses Free. A softer "buy one, get one 50 percent off" uses Percentage with 50.

One rule from the same page matters here. If the product or collection in the "gets" section is the same as the one in the "buys" section, the page says the lower-priced item the customer chooses is the item discounted. With a single product at a single price this changes nothing. With a collection of items at different prices, the shopper's cheapest item is the one that goes free, which is good to know before you put a 60 dollar item and a 15 dollar item in the same collection.

Settings, field by field

Assume a sock brand running "buy a pair, get a second pair free". These are the choices, in the order the admin asks for them.

The page also says a minimum purchase amount, if you use one in "Customer buys", counts product prices only: shipping and taxes are excluded, and products count at full price, before other discounts. A product already reduced by a combinable product discount does not count at all. That matters if you pair a BOGO with a sale collection.

Once per order or once per qualifying item

This is the setting most BOGO problems come from. Shopify's Help Center says "Maximum uses per order" caps how many times the promotion can apply within a single order, and that the cap is set by checking "Set the maximum number of uses per order" and entering a number on desktop. The page describes the free item as offered either once per order or once per qualifying item, so decide which one you want.

Think through what that means for your offer, with arithmetic, before you launch:

• A shopper adds 2 pairs of socks. One pair is bought and one pair is free. That is the intended case.
• A shopper adds 6 pairs. If the offer repeats, that is three bought and three free. If you capped uses at 1, that is five bought and one free.
• A shopper adds 3 pairs. The shopper has one full pair-and-pair, plus a third pair that has no partner.

Neither behavior is wrong; they are different offers. "Buy one, get one free, every time" fits a consumable people stock up on. A cap of 1 fits a high-cost item where six free units would hurt. Shopify's help page illustrates the setting with a hat example, one free hat for the whole order versus one for each T-shirt, but gives no numbers for repeated BOGO, so confirm your configured behavior with a test order of the exact quantity you worry about. The checklist below includes it.

Code or automatic for BOGO

Both versions require the shopper to add every product themselves. Shopify's page is explicit: for a code discount, customers add the products and enter the code at checkout; for an automatic discount, customers add the products and the discount applies automatically. In both cases the free or discounted item is never added to the cart for them.

For a BOGO on one product this is mostly harmless, since the shopper adds a second unit by raising the quantity. The difference shows up elsewhere:

• Automatic suits a store-wide promotion. Shopify's combinations help says you can have at most 25 active automatic discounts, app-based discounts included, so a catalog of per-product BOGO offers can hit that ceiling.
• Code suits a campaign you want to track by channel, or one you only want shown to a list. Shopify's usage limits include limiting a code to one per customer, which it tracks by email address or phone number.
• POS. The Buy X get Y page says automatic discounts apply only at locations with a POS Pro subscription, and that discounts created in the admin do not apply on the post-purchase page at checkout.

Combinations and stacking pitfalls

Shopify's discount combinations page sorts every discount into one of three classes: product, order or shipping. The BOGO is a product discount. Discounts only combine when each one's Combinations setting allows it, and the Buy X get Y page notes that a discount that cannot be combined with your BOGO never applies at the same time as it.

Practical consequences for a BOGO:

• Product discounts apply first, then order discounts on the revised subtotal, then shipping, according to the combinations page. A free pair of socks reduces the subtotal before a 10 percent order discount is calculated.
• The same page says a customer can use up to 5 product or order discount codes and 1 shipping discount code per order, so a BOGO code competes for those slots.
• Two product discounts on the same line item are a Shopify Plus capability. A BOGO plus a separate percentage discount on the same sock is therefore not something to promise on a non-Plus plan.

If you plan to run a BOGO and free shipping together, the page says all merchants can combine product with free shipping. Decide first whether you want to, because the margin on a free pair plus free shipping can be thin.

Testing checklist

Run these in the store with the offer active, using a test order or draft order flow where you can inspect totals, before you announce anything.

1. Exactly one unit. The discount should not apply. The cart should not suggest it did.
2. Two units. One is free, the cart shows the right total.
3. Three units. Confirm whether the third is full price.
4. Six units. Confirm whether it is three free or one free, matching your "Maximum uses per order" choice.
5. Mixed prices. Add a cheap and an expensive item from the eligible collection; confirm the lower-priced item is the one discounted.
6. Stacking. Apply every other code and automatic discount you run, one at a time, and confirm the combination matches your intention.
7. One-per-customer. If you limited it, place a second order with the same email and confirm it does not discount again.
8. Sold-out free item. Shopify says that if the inventory of free products drops to zero, the products display as sold out, so check stock for the gift units before launch, not after.
9. Mobile checkout. Check the banner and the discount line in the mobile cart. Shopify gives separate desktop and mobile steps for the discount, so check the mobile admin steps if you set the offer up from a phone.

Say what the offer is

Under the FTC's guide on the word "free" (16 CFR 251.1), the conditions of a "Free" offer should be disclosed "clearly and conspicuously at the outset", and it lists "Buy 1-Get 1 Free" among the offers that "must be made with extreme care". In practice: put the condition in the banner ("Buy a pair, get a second pair free, one free pair per order"), do not hide the cap behind a link, and do not raise the base price when the offer starts. This is not legal advice.

Using the BOGO template

If you would rather not assemble the discount by hand, the Buy one, get one (BOGO) template in Freebies Engine by Log Studio Lab is described as "Buy a product, get another copy free." Start from it, set the product and the dates, and then run the checklist above. For a gift that is a different product, read What Is a Free Gift With Purchase?; for a cart-value trigger, see Free Gift With Purchase on Shopify, Explained. Plan requirements are on the pricing page.