Setting category quantity rules
The WooCommerce Quantity Manager plugin lets you set quantity rules on a global, category or product/variation level. This article explains how to manage quantities at a category-level. For example, you can set a WooCommerce minimum order quantity per category, and much more.
When you set category-level quantity rules, these override the global settings for the products in that category. You can override the category rules by setting different rules for individual products in that category (and its sub-categories).
Quantity rules
These options control the number of items that customers can purchase from the category and its sub-categories. Enter a whole number in the Minimum and Maximum fields.
For example, if you set a WooCommerce minimum order quantity per category of 5, and a maximum of 10, then the cart can contain between 5 and 10 products from the category. It could be 5-10 of the same product or variation, or 5-10 different products or variations. In addition, the cart can contain an unlimited number of products from other categories (subject to any other quantity rules you have set elsewhere in your store).
You can enter a minimum quantity, maximum quantity, or both. If you leave either field blank then no rule will be set. For example, if you enter a minimum of 5 and no maximum then customers will be forced to add at least 5 products from the category to their cart in order to check out, but there will be no maximum.
Value rules
Enter a price without the currency symbol (e.g. 10 or 15.99) to set a minimum and/or maximum value of items that customers can purchase from the category and its sub-categories.
For example, if you set a minimum of $20 and a maximum of $100 then the cart can contain any combination of products from the category, but their total cart value must be within this range. In addition, the cart can contain an unlimited value of products from other categories (subject to any other quantity rules you have set elsewhere in your store).
You can enter a minimum value, maximum value, or both. If you leave either field blank then no rule will be set. For example, if you enter a minimum value of $20 and no maximum then customers will be forced to spend at least $20 from the category before they can check out, but there will be no maximum.
Default quantity
You can change the default quantity using this option. Enter any whole number, including 0.
The default quantity will appear as the starting value in the quantity field for all products in this category (and its sub-categories), except for any products or variations where you have overridden this.
The default quantity just sets the initial quantity starting value, which the customer can then change. It does not affect the quantity they can add to the cart, and you can do this with the other options in WooCommerce Quantity Manager.
Quantity step values
By default, customers can purchase products in any quantity increment - i.e. 1, 2, 3, and so on. Enter a whole number to add step values/quantity groups to the products in this category. This forces customers to purchase from the category in specific quantity increments. Again, this can be overridden for specific products or variations.
You can choose whether the quantity step values are calculated individually for each product in the category; or whether customers can combine multiple products from the category to make up the required step value. To do this, use the Step value calculation option on the plugin settings page.
User roles
By default, the quantity rules for the category will apply to whichever user roles you selected on the global plugin settings page. If you want the category-based rules to apply to different user roles, then tick the 'User roles' box and select one or more roles. This will override the global setting.
How do sub-categories work?
If you set rules for a parent category, then the same rules will automatically apply to the products in all its sub-categories. You can override these by setting quantity rules for the sub-categories as required.