Choosebox — Help & Guide

Let customers build their own box or mix-and-match bundle — pick products, get a discount, and add the whole thing to cart as one box. Components stay real products, so inventory never oversells.

Watch the whole setup — choosing which products can go in, pricing, turning the box live, and what a shopper sees at checkout. Watch on YouTube →

What Choosebox does

You create a box: choose which products a shopper can pick from, how many items go in the box, and the discount. On your storefront, shoppers build their box in a simple picker; at checkout the picked items collapse into one discounted box line. Because the items are your real products, stock draws down normally and the exact contents carry through to the order for fulfillment.

Getting started

▶ Watch: build a sample box in one click (0:34)
  1. Install Choosebox from the Shopify App Store and open it from Apps in your Shopify admin.
  2. Create a box. Go to Boxes → + Create a box. Give it a name (this is what shoppers see on the box line, e.g. "Build Your Own 6-Pack").
  3. Choose what can go in the box — either hand-pick Specific products or point it at A collection (every in-stock product in that collection becomes eligible).
  4. Set how many items per box — a Minimum and Maximum. Set both to the same number for a fixed "pick exactly N" box, or a range like 3–6.
  5. Set the discount (see Pricing below), optionally add a Box image, then flip the status toggle to Live and click Save box.
  6. Add the box to your storefront with the box's Copy ID & open theme button (see below), then test it.
Setting a box Live automatically creates a hidden container product (product type “Choosebox Bundle”, inventory not tracked) — that's what lets the box show as one line at checkout. Leave it alone; it's managed for you, and deleting the box removes it.
New to Choosebox? On the home screen — before you’ve created any boxes — click Try a sample box. It instantly builds a ready-made draft box from a few of your own products so you can see how everything works, then customize or delete it. You need at least three active products for this — below that a sample box can’t show you anything useful, so Choosebox tells you instead of building a box of one. It stays a draft, so it makes no changes to your storefront until you set it Live.

Choosing what goes in the box

▶ Watch: choosing which products can go in (0:50)

Each box has one source:

The products you choose are the menu — the pool shoppers pick from, not how many go in the box. Offer more products than the box’s maximum so shoppers have a real choice (e.g. list 8 flavors for a “pick 3” box).

How many items per box

Minimum and Maximum control how many items a shopper puts in their box — not how many products you offer. Below the Minimum, the "Add box to cart" button stays disabled and shows "Pick N more"; at the Maximum, extra picks are blocked. Minimum must be at least 1, and Maximum can't be below the Minimum.

Pricing

▶ Watch: box size and discount pricing (1:12)

Out-of-stock items

▶ Watch: real products, real inventory (1:55)

Choosebox reads each product's real, online-sellable availability. With Hide out-of-stock products on (the default), a sold-out item simply drops out of the picker and returns when restocked. You can even add a currently out-of-stock product to a box in the editor — availability is checked live on every page load, so it appears for shoppers automatically the moment it’s back in stock, with no re-editing. Turn it off and sold-out items show as a grayed "Out of stock" card that can't be picked. Either way, shoppers can never add something that would fail at checkout — and because components are real products, you won't oversell. A product or variant that isn't published to the Online Store sales channel also shows as “Out of stock”, since it can't be sold on your storefront until you publish it there.

Products with variants

Each product appears as one card. A single-variant product adds in one click. A product with multiple variants (sizes, colors, etc.) shows an “Add” button that opens a small popup — shoppers choose one or more variants and a quantity each (e.g. Ice ×1, Sunset ×2), each with its own thumbnail. Every unit counts toward the box’s maximum, and the exact variants carry through to the order.

Box image (optional)

Set a Box image in the box editor to control the thumbnail on the box line in cart and checkout. Leave it blank and the box automatically uses the first item the shopper picked. To use a custom image, upload it in your Shopify admin under Content → Files, then paste its URL into the Box image field.

Preview your box

The box editor shows a live preview at the top. It lays out your eligible products with their images and prices, and you can click products right in the preview to build a box the way a shopper would — the item count and the discounted box total update as you pick, respecting your Minimum and Maximum. Change your products, item counts, or pricing and the preview updates instantly, so you can sanity-check the discount before going live.

The preview is a layout preview only — it uses neutral styling so you can check the setup and the math. On your live storefront the box takes on your theme’s fonts, colors, and spacing. Collection-based boxes preview too — Choosebox reads the collection’s products (the first 24) and lays them out the same way. Because it reads the saved collection, choosing or changing a collection shows a short amber note asking you to press Save box first; after that the clickable grid appears.

Adding the box to your storefront

▶ Watch: adding the builder to your theme (2:12)

A live box shows nothing on your store until the Choosebox builder block is on a page. There are two ways to put it there.

The quick way — from the box editor

  1. Press Save, then click "Open my theme editor". Go to the page where you want the box.
  2. Allow cookies if asked. The theme editor needs cookies to load. If it stays blank, enable third-party cookies for admin.shopify.com and reopen it.
  3. Add the block where you want it: Add block → Apps → Choosebox builder.
  4. Drag the block into position and press Save. Leave the Box ID field empty — the block shows whichever box is live.
You no longer need to copy a Box ID. An empty Box ID field means “show my live box”, which is what almost everyone wants. Only fill it in if you run more than one box and want to pin a specific one to a specific page. If you have more than one box live at the same time, an empty field follows whichever of them you edited most recently — so give each block its own Box ID once you go past one live box.
Choosebox never places the block for you. Where the box appears is your decision — drop it exactly where you want shoppers to see it.

Putting a box on any other page

  1. Open your theme editor — the “Copy ID & open theme” button on the Boxes list gets you there, and copies that box’s ID in case you need it.
  2. Add the block. On the page where you want the box (a dedicated "Build a Box" page works well), click Add section (or Add block) → Apps → Choosebox builder.
  3. Press Save. Leave Box ID empty unless you run more than one box and want this block pinned to a specific one — then paste that box’s ID.
An empty Box ID follows your live box. A filled-in Box ID pins that block to one specific box — which is how you put different boxes on different pages. You can copy any box’s ID from the Boxes list at any time. With two or more boxes live, an empty field follows the one edited most recently, which can change as you work — Choosebox warns you in the app when that happens.
Seeing two builders on one page? The block has been added twice. Open the theme editor, click the duplicate block in the left-hand list, and remove it. One block per box, per page.

Styling the box to match your theme

By default the picker matches your store theme — it inherits your theme’s fonts, text color, and background automatically. Open the Choosebox builder block in your theme editor to adjust anything; settings are grouped into Text, Colors, Layout, and Advanced. Leave any color blank to keep the theme default.

Hiding the box container product from your catalog

Each live box needs a hidden $0 container product (product type “Choosebox Bundle”, tag choosebox-parent) so the box can check out as one line. It must stay published to your Online Store for checkout to work — but Shopify shows every published product in /collections/all and search, so it can appear where shoppers browse. None of the steps below affect checkout; they only change what’s displayed. Work them in order — most stores only need steps 1 and 2.

1. Keep it out of your collections (do this first)

The container never needs to be in a collection. Don’t add it to a manual collection, and if an automated collection’s conditions would sweep it in, add the condition Product type is not equal to “Choosebox Bundle”. This one habit prevents it from surfacing in most places — including homepage “Featured collection” blocks, which pull from a collection you pick.

2. Hide it on collection & catalog pages (one-line theme edit)

  1. Online Store → Themes → Edit code.
  2. Open Sections → main-collection-product-grid.liquid.
  3. Find {%- for product in collection.products -%} and add this line directly beneath it:
{%- if product.type == 'Choosebox Bundle' -%}{%- continue -%}{%- endif -%}

Save. This single edit covers /collections/all and every collection page at once.

3. Featured collection sections (only if needed)

If a homepage “Featured collection” section still shows the container, open Sections → featured-collection.liquid, find its {%- for product in collection.products ... -%} line, and add the same line beneath it. Usually unnecessary once you’ve done step 1.

4. Search results

Storefront search uses a different loop, so the line above won’t match it. Easiest: use Shopify’s free Search & Discovery app to exclude the “Choosebox Bundle” product type from search and recommendations. Or edit Sections → main-search.liquid, find {%- for item in search.results -%}, and add:

{%- if item.object_type == 'product' and item.type == 'Choosebox Bundle' -%}{%- continue -%}{%- endif -%}
The container’s own name and image never reach your shopper — the box line at checkout uses the box’s own title, image, and discount. It’s pure behind-the-scenes plumbing: hide it, but never delete it (deleting the box removes it for you).

What shoppers see

▶ Watch: what the customer sees at checkout (2:30)

On the storefront, shoppers pick items in a clean picker with a progress bar, running savings, and a total. When they add the box, the individual items merge into a single box line at the discounted price. At checkout and on the order, the box line expands to show exactly what's inside — so you know what to ship.

Plans & usage

Creating and editing boxes is always unlimited on both plans — only the number of box orders per month is metered on Free. The dashboard shows a usage bar so you always know where you stand. Upgrading is one click through Shopify’s secure billing, and you can cancel anytime from the Plans page.

Frequently asked questions

Will this oversell my stock?

No. The items in a box are your real products, so their inventory draws down normally and Shopify won't let a sold-out item be purchased. Choosebox also hides or blocks out-of-stock items in the picker.

Do the individual products show on the order?

Yes. At checkout and on the order the box line lists its components, so fulfillment sees exactly which products (and quantities) to pack.

Can I run more than one box?

Yes — create as many as you like. To show a specific one on a specific page, paste that box’s ID into the block’s Box ID field; leave the field empty and the block follows whichever box is live. Box creation and editing are unlimited on every plan. If two or more boxes are live at once, every block with an empty field follows the most recently edited one, so pin each block with its own ID.

What counts toward the Free monthly limit?

Only completed box orders (up to 25/month on Free). Building and editing boxes never counts.

What happens if I downgrade from Pro to Free?

Cancelling Pro stops future charges — Shopify applies any prorated credit for unused time, and your live boxes keep selling. The monthly box-order count resets on the 1st of each month regardless of plan, so a plan change doesn’t reset the current month. If you’re over 25 for the month, you simply can’t create or edit boxes until it resets — sales are never blocked.

Can a box include a subscription product?

Not as a subscription. Boxes work with one-time purchases; a line with a subscription/selling plan can't be merged into a box.

Need more help?

Email support@dropfeed.io — we typically reply within 1–2 business days.

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