---
title: "Quantity breaks: buy more, pay less per unit"
description: "Show Buy 1, Buy 2, Buy 3 tiers on your Shopify product pages. Shoppers pick a tier and the discount applies automatically in the cart and at checkout."
url: "https://smart-bundles.io/features/quantity-breaks"
updated: "2026-11-02"
product: "SMART Bundles App & Upsells"
section: "Features"
---


# Quantity breaks: buy more, pay less per unit

A **Quantity breaks** offer in SMART Bundles shows tiers such as Buy 1, Buy 2 and Buy 3 as cards on your product page. The shopper picks a tier and adds it with your theme's own Add to cart button. The app's Shopify Function then applies the discount automatically in the cart and at checkout.

![Quantity breaks widget with three tiers for a serum: 1 at full price, 2 with a Save badge, 3 with a bigger saving, the middle tier selected](https://smart-bundles.io/screens/template-quantity-breaks.png)

*Quantity breaks: pick 1, 2 or 3, with the per-tier price and saving.*

## What the shopper sees

- **Offer cards** above your theme's Add to cart button, laid out **Stacked**, **Grid** or **Horizontal** (Design tab > General style > Layout).
- **A title, subtitle, badge and price on each card**, with the price before discount struck through. Text variables fill in real numbers, so a badge written as Save {{saved_percentage}}% reads "Save 10%".
- **The theme price follows the offer.** With **Update theme product price** on (the default), the price on your theme shows the offer total or the price per item (Settings tab > Theme integration > **Theme price shows**).
- **Variant pickers in the widget**, one per unit by default (**Pick a variant for each unit**), so a shopper can take 2 red and 1 blue. Each option can show as **Dropdown**, **Buttons**, **Color swatches**, **Image swatches** or **Variant images**.
- **No double quantity box.** Your theme's quantity selector is hidden while the selected offer sets the quantity.
- **More packs.** Tick **Show quantity selector** on a tier and shoppers can buy several packs of it.

## How the discount is worked out

- **Each product counts on its own, with its variants together.** 2 red and 1 blue of one shirt reach a 3-item tier. 2 of shirt A and 1 of shirt B don't. To pool different products, use a [Mix and match](https://smart-bundles.io/features/mix-and-match) offer. To count each variant on its own, turn off **Pick a variant for each unit** and tick **Count each variant separately** (Settings tab > Variant pickers).
- **The highest tier reached prices every unit.** With Buy 3 at 20% off and 4 in the cart, all 4 get 20% off.
- **Full packs only, if you want.** Tick **Only full packs of N get the discount** on a tier, and only full packs (3, 6, 9) are discounted. Leftover units pay full price.
- **Fixed total price is a pack price** ("2 for $30"), so it always counts full packs.
- **The cart decides, not the click.** Units of the product added another way, such as a quick add on a collection page, count too. To discount only what the widget added, tick **Apply the discount only to items added through the widget** (Settings tab > Discount rules).

### Discount types on a tier

| Discount | What the tier gets |
| --- | --- |
| **No discount** | The regular price. Useful for a Buy 1 card. |
| **Percentage off** | A percentage off each unit, up to 100. |
| **Amount off each item** | A fixed amount off every unit. |
| **Amount off total** | A fixed amount off the tier's total. |
| **Fixed price per item** | Every unit sells at your price. |
| **Fixed total price** | The pack sells at your price. |

Amounts are entered in your store currency and converted for shoppers who pay in another currency. If you sell in several currencies, the globe button next to **Value** (**Prices per currency**) sets your own amount per currency. Fixed prices must be above 0, and a discount never raises a price.

## What else a tier can carry

- **Texts:** Title, Subtitle, Badge and **Checkout name**, the discount name shown at checkout (the title unless you change it).
- **Appearance:** **Badge shape** (Square, Pill, Ribbon), **Badge position**, **Highlight this offer**, and **Show as sold out** ("Customers see the offer but cannot pick it.").
- **Image** (the product image or your own), **benefits** (up to 10 lines with icons), a free gift (**Add gift**) and add-ons (**Add upsell**).
- **Pre-selected offer**, so a tier is already picked when the page loads. The Quantity breaks template pre-selects Buy 2.

Bundle-wide extras such as a countdown, progressive gifts or a savings line are covered in [Upsells and extras](https://smart-bundles.io/features/upsells).

## Where it shows

- **Show this bundle on:** **All products** (the default for a new bundle), **Products** or **Collections**. With Collections or All products, **Exclude products** leaves out products by product, collection or product tag.
- **One bundle per product page.** If two bundles target the same product, the page shows one and the editor warns you. Checkout can still apply both discounts.
- **Markets:** **All markets**, **Only these markets** or **All except these markets**. Outside them the widget is hidden and there is no discount.
- **Exclude B2B** and **Exclude POS** (on for new bundles) on the Settings tab.
- The widget needs the **SMART Discounts app embed**. In your theme editor it is **Deal widget** under App embeds, listed with the app name SMART Discounts. To place the widget yourself, add the **Bundle widget** block.

## Limits

- **Automatic only.** Bundles have no discount code, no usage limit and no once-per-customer limit.
- **No customer targeting.** A bundle can't be limited to a customer tag, segment or single customer. For tiers by customer tag or segment, use a [Volume discount](https://smart-bundles.io/features/cart-discounts), which shows nothing on the product page.
- **Whole products.** A bundle targets products, collections or all products, never a single variant.
- **250 variants.** The widget doesn't show on products with more than 250 variants.
- **25 automatic discounts.** Shopify allows at most 25 active automatic discounts per store, and that total includes app discounts ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/discounts/discount-combinations)). Each active bundle is one of them.
- **Combining.** A new bundle combines with product, order and shipping discounts (Settings tab > **Combines with**). The other discount has to allow combining too.

## How to set it up

1. Turn on the SMART Discounts app embed: in your theme editor, open App embeds, switch on **Deal widget** (listed under SMART Discounts) and save. See [Turn on the app embed](https://smart-bundles.io/help/getting-started/turn-on-the-app-embed).
2. In Shopify admin, open **SMART Discounts** and click **Create new discount**. Choose the **Quantity breaks** template.
3. On the **Offers** tab, give it a **Bundle name**, set **Show this bundle on**, and edit each tier's **Quantity**, **Discount** and **Value**.
4. Style it on the **Design** tab and check the live preview, then click **Create**. The bundle goes live on save unless its start date is in the future.

Step-by-step help: [Create your first bundle](https://smart-bundles.io/help/getting-started/create-your-first-bundle), [Quantity break tiers](https://smart-bundles.io/help/bundles/quantity-break-tiers), [Place the bundle widget](https://smart-bundles.io/help/getting-started/place-the-bundle-widget), [Variant pickers](https://smart-bundles.io/help/bundles/variant-pickers) and [Widget design and custom CSS](https://smart-bundles.io/help/bundles/widget-design-and-custom-css). All templates: [Bundle templates](https://smart-bundles.io/templates).

## Related guides

- [How to set up quantity breaks on Shopify](https://smart-bundles.io/guides/quantity-breaks-on-shopify)
- [Tiered discounts after Shopify Scripts](https://smart-bundles.io/guides/tiered-discounts-after-shopify-scripts)
- [How to combine discounts on Shopify](https://smart-bundles.io/guides/combine-discounts-on-shopify)
- [Shopify discount not applying: a checklist](https://smart-bundles.io/guides/shopify-discount-not-applying)

**Add quantity breaks to your product pages** Install SMART Bundles, choose the Quantity breaks template and set your tiers. The app is free: one plan with everything included. [Install SMART Bundles App & Upsells on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/smart-automatic-discounts).

## Frequently asked questions

### Do I need a tier for every quantity?

No. The highest tier reached also prices bigger carts: a Buy 3 tier covers 7 units. Tick **Only full packs of N get the discount** if only full packs should be discounted.

### Can customers mix sizes or colors in one tier?

Yes. Variants of the same product count together, and with **Pick a variant for each unit** on (the default) each unit gets its own picker in the widget.

### Can I show quantity breaks only to wholesale or tagged customers?

Not with a bundle. Bundles can be limited by market and can exclude B2B buyers and POS sales, but they can't target customer tags or segments. A Volume discount can, but it shows nothing on the product page.

### Does the discount apply if the customer adds 3 units without using the widget?

Yes, by default. The cart quantity qualifies. Tick **Apply the discount only to items added through the widget** to change that.