How does the Buy X get Y discount type work?

Updated November 2, 2026 · SMART Bundles App & Upsells (E-TRADE PARTNER)

Buy X get Y discounts items that are already in the cart: when the cart has the Customer buys items, matching Customer gets items become free, up to the tier's Free quantity. It never adds the Y item, so the customer adds it. To put a gift in the cart automatically, use Free gift. This type was called "Gift with purchase" before; existing discounts work as they did.

Step by step

1. In SMART Discounts, click Create new discount and pick Buy X get Y under Other discount types. The editor's banner reminds you: "Customers add the Y items to the cart themselves."
2. Enter a Discount name and choose Automatic or Code under Application method.
3. Under Based on, choose Product quantity or Product price (the amount spent on the X items).
4. Under Customer buys, set Any items from (Products, Variants, Collections, their "other than" versions, or All products), pick them and set Purchase type.
5. Under Customer gets, do the same for the items that become free. Either side can tick Exclude products with compare at price (already on sale), which skips items that have a compare-at price.
6. Pick the Application order: Lowest priced first (the default), Highest priced first or Default cart order. It decides which Y units are freed first.
7. In Tiers, enter the Required quantity (or Required amount), the Free quantity and, for automatic discounts, a Discount label. Add up to 10 tiers.
8. Check Purchase types, Combines with, Eligibility, Active dates and the Conditions card, then click Create.

How it's calculated

• One tier applies: of the tiers the X items reach, the one that frees the most Y units in the cart.
• Y units are freed up to that tier's Free quantity, in the Application order.
• It doesn't repeat. Buy 2 get 1 frees one unit even with 6 in the cart. For more, add tiers: 4 get 2, 6 get 3.
• Items in both lists count as X too. For buy one get one free on a single product, use Required quantity 2 and Free quantity 1. With 1 and 1, a single unit in the cart would be free.
• Product price uses what the X items cost before other discounts.
• New Buy X get Y discounts make the Y items free.

One-product BOGO example

Which gift option fits

Shopify's own Buy X get Y discount works the same way: the "get" item is never added to the cart automatically (Shopify Help Center). For the product page offer, see Buy X, get Y bundle offer; for a BOGO walkthrough, see BOGO on Shopify.

Edge cases

• The free item isn't in the cart: nothing is discounted until the customer adds it. See Free item not added.
• Subscriptions: with Applies on subscription purchases off (the default), a cart holding any subscription item gets no discount.
• Another product discount on the Y item: Shopify applies one product discount per line item unless your store is on Shopify Plus (Shopify Help Center).
• There's nothing on the product page for this type; the saving shows in the cart and at checkout.

Frequently asked questions