FAQ: Bulk Order Types, Limits & Cancellations on Shopify
Answers about order plan limits, calculated vs. $0 recipient orders, multi-product sends, cancellations, regeneration, and inventory management.
What counts as an "order" for my plan limit?
Each recipient in a Send creates one recipient order. A Send with 100 recipients generates 100 orders against your plan's limit. The aggregate (gifter) order does not count. The number of Sends you create doesn't matter: only recipient orders count toward your plan.
What's the difference between calculated and $0 recipient orders?
This is a per-Send-preset setting that controls how much financial detail appears on each recipient order.
Calculated recipient orders: Line items show actual product prices, tax, and shipping for that recipient. More detail per order, but you need to filter reports carefully to avoid counting revenue on both the aggregate and recipient orders. Best when you need per-order tax breakdowns or when recipients need to see pricing.
$0 recipient orders: Line items show $0. All revenue lives on the aggregate order. Simpler for reporting, but individual recipient orders don't show pricing details. Best for marketing sends, promotional items, or internal employee gifts where recipients shouldn't see costs.
For details on configuring this, see Send Presets and Settings.
Can I send different products to different recipients in the same Send?
Yes. Include product columns (SKU, product name, or product ID) in your spreadsheet, and each row can specify a different product. You can also include multiple product columns for recipients who should receive more than one item, and use quantity columns to set different quantities per row or per product. See Formatting Your Upload File for column formatting details. If an assignment needs to change after upload, you can update an individual recipient's products on the Review and Finalize steps without re-uploading.
Can I add a recipient after uploading my spreadsheet?
Yes. On the Finalize step, click Add recipient to add someone directly to the Send, with address autocomplete, product selection, and a shipping rate picker. Aggregate totals update to reflect the addition. For adding many recipients, start fresh with an updated spreadsheet: use Export to CSV on the Finalize step to download the current Send as your starting point.
Can I change a recipient's products without re-uploading?
Yes. On the Review and Finalize steps, open any recipient's products to add a product or edit what's assigned. Totals recalculate with the changes, including tax and shipping. Product columns in your spreadsheet remain the best way to assign different products across many recipients.
Can I add a discount before generating orders?
Yes. On the Finalize step, click Add discount on the aggregate order to apply a discount code or a custom discount. This triggers a recalculation of all orders, so per-recipient totals, tax, and the aggregate invoice stay consistent.
What happens if I cancel a recipient order?
Cancelling a recipient order does not automatically refund the gifter. It's a two-step process: cancel the recipient order in Shopify, then issue a partial refund on the aggregate (gifter) order for the corresponding amount. See Cancelling and Refunding Orders for the full process.
Can I regenerate orders if something goes wrong?
Yes. You can delete all orders from a Send and regenerate them from scratch. This permanently deletes both the recipient orders and the aggregate order, then recreates everything. Individual failed orders can also be retried without deleting everything. Note that if you delete all records, you'll also need to start a new Send from scratch to generate orders again. See Deleting and Regenerating Orders.
What happens if order generation fails for some recipients?
Failed orders appear on the Send summary page with error details. You can retry them individually or in bulk. Common causes include address validation issues, inventory problems, or Shopify API rate limits on very large Sends. See What Happens After You Generate Orders.
How do I handle inventory when running multiple Sends at once?
Shopify's inventory count doesn't reflect orders in Sends that haven't been generated yet. If you have multiple open Sends using the same products, you could oversell. On Pro and Enterprise plans, inventory shortage alerts show committed inventory across all open Sends so you can catch conflicts before generating. See Inventory Alerts.