Alternative Buy
Sell a product through a phone call, form or link instead of add-to-cart, and set up the global button products can share
Overview
Alternative Buy replaces a product's Add to Cart button with a button that starts a phone call, opens one of your forms, or goes to a link. Use it for products customers ask about before buying, like custom work or items you only sell in person. Each product can have its own button, or share one you set up once in Store Settings.
Turning On Alternative Buy for a Product
- Navigate to eCommerce > Products and open the product.
- Open the Pricing & Inventory tab.
- Turn on Enable Alternative Buy.
- Check Show price to keep showing the price on the product and category pages.
- Keep Use global settings checked to show the shared button from Store Settings, or uncheck it and pick the product's own CTA Type (Call, Form or Custom Link), then fill in its phone number, form or link.
- Click Save.
When you turn on Enable Alternative Buy, Use global settings starts checked if the Global Alternative Buy Options are set up. If they aren't, it starts unchecked so the product uses its own button, and its help text links you to them. A product can only switch to them once they're set up.
Global Alternative Buy Options
The shared button lives in eCommerce > Store Settings, on the Features tab under Global Alternative Buy Options. Every product with Alternative Buy turned on and Use global settings checked shows it, so you can change the button for all of them in one place.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Use Alternative Buy by Default | New products start with Enable Alternative Buy turned on and use the global button. While it isn't set up, they start with their own button instead, which you fill in. |
| Show Price by Default | New Alternative Buy products start with Show price checked. |
| CTA Type | What the button does: Call, Form or Custom Link. Fill in the phone number, form or link it needs. |
These options are only required while something uses them: Use Alternative Buy by Default is on, or a product has Alternative Buy turned on with Use global settings checked. Archived products don't count until you restore them. If your store doesn't use the global button, you can leave them empty and still save Store Settings.
If you archive the form a button uses, your storefront stops showing that button, and its Form field is empty the next time you open Store Settings or the product. Pick another form if the button is still in use. If you restore the form after saving that page, pick it again there.
Your storefront doesn't show a Custom Link button whose link runs a script, like one that starts with
javascript: or with a shortcode that could write such a link. Use a web address instead. A web address with a
shortcode later in it, like https://example.com/quote?product=[productName], still shows.
Tip: Products can end up using the global button while it isn't set up, for example after a product import or after its form is archived. They show no Alternative Buy button until it's set up (or their own button, if no global CTA Type has ever been picked), and the dashboard shows a notice with how many products use the global button. The notice also shows while Use Alternative Buy by Default is on and the global button isn't set up, since new products then start with their own button. Click Fix It to open the Global Alternative Buy Options. The notice can't be ignored, and it goes away once the global button is set up or nothing uses it.