---
title: "How does the Buy X get Y discount type work?"
description: "The Buy X get Y type frees items already in the cart and never adds them. Tiers, Free quantity, BOGO on one product, and when to use Free gift."
url: "https://smart-bundles.io/help/cart-discounts/buy-x-get-y-discounts"
updated: "2026-11-02"
product: "SMART Bundles App & Upsells"
section: "Help center / Cart discounts"
---


# How does the Buy X get Y discount type work?

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](https://smart-bundles.io/help/free-gifts/set-up-a-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

| Units in cart | Tiers 2/1, 4/2, 6/3 (required / free) | Free units |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | No tier reached | 0 |
| 3 | 2/1 | 1 |
| 4 | 4/2 | 2 |
| 7 | 6/3 | 3 |

## Which gift option fits

|  | Buy X get Y type | Free gift | Bundle "Buy X, get Y" offer |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Adds the item to the cart | No, the customer adds it | Yes, on any store page | Yes, from the product page widget |
| Shows on the product page | No | No | Yes |
| What's free | Any item under Customer gets, which can be other products | One fixed variant per tier | More units of the same product |
| Repeats for bigger quantities | No, add tiers | No | Yes, by default |
| Customer segments | Yes | No | No |

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](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/discounts/discount-types/buy-x-get-y)). For the product page offer, see [Buy X, get Y bundle offer](https://smart-bundles.io/help/bundles/buy-x-get-y-bundle-offer); for a BOGO walkthrough, see [BOGO on Shopify](https://smart-bundles.io/guides/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](https://smart-bundles.io/guides/buy-x-get-y-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](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/discounts/discount-combinations)).
- There's nothing on the product page for this type; the saving shows in the cart and at checkout.

**Run buy X get Y your way** SMART Bundles has a Buy X get Y cart discount, a product page offer and free gifts that add themselves. Free, with every feature included. [Install SMART Bundles App & Upsells on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/smart-automatic-discounts).

## Frequently asked questions

### Why isn't the free item added to the cart?

The Buy X get Y type only discounts items already in the cart. To add a gift for the customer, use Free gift or a bundle offer with a gift.

### What happened to Gift with purchase?

It's the same type under a new name, Buy X get Y, in the app and in Shopify admin. Settings are the same and existing discounts keep working.