Configuring Volume & Quantity Break Pricing

What are volume tiers?

Volume tiers provide graduated quantity-break pricing—the more a customer orders, the bigger the discount. For example, you can set tiers like: 10+ units = 10% off, 25+ units = 20% off, 50+ units = 30% off. The system automatically selects the best applicable tier based on the quantity in the customer's cart.

How tiers are matched

When a wholesale customer adds items to their cart, ShipWave checks all volume tiers for the applicable group. Tiers are sorted by Min Qty in descending order, and the first tier whose minimum quantity is met gets applied. For example, if a customer orders 35 units and you have tiers at 10+, 25+, and 50+, the 25+ tier applies because it's the highest threshold the order meets.

Scope levels for tiers

Volume tiers support the same scope system as pricing rules:

Store — Tier applies to total cart quantity across all products.

Collection — Tier applies to quantity of items from a specific collection.

Product — Tier applies to quantity of a specific product.

Variant — Tier applies to quantity of a specific variant.

Product and variant scopes are most common, since quantity breaks typically apply per-item (e.g. "buy 50+ of this SKU for 30% off").

Creating volume tiers

Go to Admin → Wholesale → Groups, select a group, and click the Volume Tiers tab. Click Add Tier and fill in:

Scope — Choose store, collection, product, or variant.

Target — Search for and select the product, collection, or variant.

Min Qty — The minimum quantity to trigger this tier (required).

Discount Type — Percentage, fixed amount, or fixed price.

Discount Value — The discount amount for this tier.

Create multiple tiers for the same target with increasing quantities and discounts to build a graduated pricing table.

Volume tiers vs pricing rules

Pricing rules and volume tiers serve different purposes:

Pricing rules — Set a flat discount for a product regardless of quantity. Use when the discount doesn't change based on how much the customer orders.

Volume tiers — Provide graduated discounts that increase with quantity. Use when you want to incentivize larger orders with better pricing.

If both a pricing rule and a volume tier match the same item, the system applies whichever produces the larger discount for the customer.

Displaying volume pricing on your storefront

ShipWave provides a Volume Pricing Table theme block that you can add to your product pages in the Shopify theme editor. This block displays a table showing all quantity tiers and their corresponding prices, so customers know exactly what discounts they'll receive at each quantity level. The block only appears for logged-in wholesale customers. See the theme blocks article for setup instructions.

FAQs

Do volume tiers stack with the group default discount?

No. When a volume tier applies, it replaces the group default discount for that item. The tier discount is the final discount the customer receives. This prevents unintended double-discounting.

Can I have different volume tiers for different groups?

Yes. Volume tiers are configured per group. Your "Gold" group can have different quantity breaks than your "Silver" group for the same product.

What if a customer orders a quantity between two tiers?

The system selects the highest tier whose minimum quantity is met. If a customer orders 35 units and tiers exist at 25+ and 50+, the 25+ tier applies. The 50+ tier would only activate at 50 or more units.

Configuring volume (quantity break) pricing