How-to › Product setup
How to Add Sizes, Colors and Custom Options
Sell one product in many sizes and colors, and collect engraving, files and dates. You build option sets, attach them, price and stock the variations and add personalization. 9 parts.
Quick links
Where to find it:WP Admin › EasyCart › Products › Option Sets
Before you start
What you are building
What you need, and the difference between variations and modifiers.
How options work
Option sets, variations and modifiers, and what you need
no stored settingsWhat you need. WP EasyCart. The free plugin gives you Dropdown and Swatch option sets, up to two sets on a product. PRO or Premium adds up to five sets, image swatches, the variation table with a SKU and price per combination, and modifiers. There is a free trial if you want to try them.
Option sets. An option set is a named list of choices, such as Size with Small, Medium and Large. You build it once under Products › Option Sets and attach it to as many products as you like.
Variations. Dropdown and Swatch sets create variations. Every combination of choices, such as Blue Medium, is one variation that can carry its own stock. Shoppers must pick before they add to cart.
Modifiers (PRO). Every other type collects something instead of picking a variation: engraving text, a file upload, a date, a gift-wrap checkbox. They can change the price but never touch stock.
The steps: create the set, attach it to a product, price and stock the variations, show a picture for each choice, then add modifiers if you need them.
Set it up
Five steps
Create the set, choose its type, attach it, price and stock the variations, add pictures and add personalization.
Step 1. Create an option set
Products › Option Sets › Add option set
no stored settingsGo to EasyCart › Products › Option Sets and press Add option set. Choose how shoppers choose: Dropdown (one pick from a list) or Swatches (tap a chip or photo). Give it a Name for your own lists, such as Shirt size, and a Label shown to shoppers, such as Choose a size. Leave the label empty to use the name.
Then add the choices. Press Add choice, or press Paste a list and paste one choice per line. A line can hold a name, a price and a SKU suffix, so Large, 2.00, -L is a Large that costs 2.00 more with the SKU code -L.
Each choice has these columns:
Swatch: a color, or with PRO a photo or pattern.
Choice: the name shoppers see.
SKU suffix: added to the product’s SKU on cart lines and orders, joined by the separator in Settings › Products (a dash by default), so SHIRT plus RED plus L becomes SHIRT-RED-L.
Price: a choice can add to the price, replace it, add once per order, multiply it, or, on text inputs, charge per character. Pick Override when a choice sets a new price outright.
Weight: adds to the product’s shipping weight.
Default: the choice that starts selected.
Drag to reorder. A live storefront preview on the right shows how the set will look. Press Save. Dropdown and Swatch sets are always required, so shoppers cannot skip them.
💡 Note: Renaming or editing a set changes every product that uses it. Duplicate it first if only one product should change.
Which type to choose
Two free types, ten PRO modifier types
no stored settingsVariation types, free. Dropdown and Swatch. Use them for size, color, material or anything the customer must choose and you must stock.
Modifier types, PRO. Dropdown (advanced) and Swatch (advanced) pick without creating stock variations. Radio group and Checkbox group offer priced add-ons. Quantity grid lets a customer buy a quantity of each choice on one page. Text input and Text area take engraving or a message. Number takes a value with a minimum, maximum and step. Date takes a pickup or event date. File upload takes artwork or a photo. Dimensions (whole inch) and Dimensions (sub-inch) take a size.
Rule of thumb: if you count it, use a Dropdown or Swatch. If you only ask about it, use a modifier.
Step 2. Attach the set to a product
The product’s Options & Variants tab
no stored settingsOpen a product and go to the Options & Variants tab. The tab holds three things: the option sets, the variations they make, and the modifiers.
Free edition. You get two option-set slots. Pick a set in each, or create one from here. The tab shows a live preview of the variations and how many will be tracked.
With PRO. Choose Add Option Set and pick a set from Select an option set to add. You can attach up to five. At five, the tab says so and suggests modifiers, which are unlimited. Create a new option set builds one without leaving the product.
You can also start from the set. Open it in Products › Option Sets and press Assign to products. That is the quick way to put a new set on a whole range.
Combinations multiply. Sets chain from the first slot: the first set times the second, and so on. Two sets of three choices make nine variations. Save the product and the editor tells you what changed before it applies it.
⚠️ Careful: Combinations multiply fast. Three sets of four choices make 64 variations, and each may need its own stock. Check the count before you commit.
Step 3. Price and stock each variation
PRO: the Variations table and stock tracking
no stored settingsWith PRO, the Variations card lists one row for every combination, built for you. Each row has its own SKU, Price and Stock. An empty SKU or price says Default Settings, which means the product’s own. Fill in only the ones that differ.
The row menu has Enable and Disable, to take a combination off sale without deleting it, and Enable Stock Tracking and Disable Stock Tracking. A disabled variation cannot be bought. Filter the view by Enabled Only, Disabled Only or both. Export gives you a spreadsheet of the variations and Import Variations reads it back, which is the sensible way to fill dozens of rows.
Choose how stock is counted. On the Inventory & Shipping tab, Track Quantity can be Do NOT Track Quantity, Track Overall Quantity (one number for the product) or Track Variation Quantity (one number for each combination). Choose Variation for sizes and colors you stock separately.
Changing the option sets later does not wipe your work. A variation whose choices still form a valid combination keeps its SKU, price and stock.
💡 Note: Deleting a choice deletes the stock rows for every variation that used it.
Step 4. Show a picture for each choice
Swatch images and a gallery per option
no stored settingsSwatches. A Swatch set can use a color for each choice. With PRO you can use a photo or pattern instead: press the swatch and choose an image. Set the size under Rules & validation as Swatch size (20, 30, 40 or 60 px).
A gallery per choice (PRO). On the product’s Media tab, turn on Different images per option. A picker named Editing the gallery for lets you build a separate gallery for each choice. The Default gallery shows until the shopper picks, and for any choice without its own photos. The galleries follow the first option set on the product, so attach Color first if you sell by color.
Step 5. Add personalization (PRO)
Text, files, dates and add-ons that never touch stock
no stored settingsOn the Options & Variants tab, Modifiers is the second area. Press Add Modifier, pick one from Select a modifier to add, or choose Create a new modifier to build one. Modifiers are unlimited.
The set’s own editor holds the rules. Under Rules & validation, only the rules that fit the type show.
Text input and Text area. Set the length, Text case (as typed, UPPERCASE, lowercase, Title Case), Allowed characters (anything, letters, letters and spaces, numbers, letters and numbers) and a Placeholder. The rules apply as the customer types, and again when the item goes to the cart.
Number. A minimum, maximum and step.
File upload. Tick the file types you accept, or leave all unticked for the default list. Scripts, web pages and SVG files are always refused.
Requirement. Turn on Shopper must choose before adding to cart to make it required, and set the Error message shoppers see if they skip it.
URL variable. Lets a link pre-select a choice.
Show a field only when it matters. On a modifier, open Conditional Logic. It reads: Show or Hide this modifier when ANY or ALL of these rules match. Use it so an artwork upload only appears once the shopper ticks a personalization box. Press Save Rules.
The Option Set Manager doc lists every input type and its rules.
Check it and keep it running
Good to know
How to test it, and what to check when something looks wrong.
Test it on the storefront
Pick every kind of choice once
no stored settingsOpen the product in a private window.
1. Every set should show with its label, and the required ones should start selected or ask for a choice.
2. Pick a choice with a price. The price should update as you pick.
3. Pick a choice with a photo. The image should change.
4. Try to add to cart with a required set empty. You should see its error message.
5. Add to cart, then look at the cart line. The SKU should show the model number and codes, and the price should match.
6. If you track variation stock, set one combination to zero and check it cannot be bought.
If it does not work
The usual snags with options and variations
no stored settingsI cannot add a third set. The free edition allows two sets on a product, and PRO allows five. Turn the extra ones into modifiers, or combine them.
I see a lot of variations and it feels heavy. Combinations multiply. The editor warns when a product has a lot of them and suggests switching option sets that you do not track by SKU, price or stock into modifiers.
A modifier set is read-only. It needs PRO or Premium to edit or assign. You can still view it and delete it.
A warning about stock when I change a type or remove a choice. Removing a choice removes its variation stock rows, and turning a variation set into a modifier removes stock tracking on the products that use it. The screen shows the exact impact before it goes ahead, and offers Undo for 30 days when you delete a set.
The price is wrong. Check the choice’s price rule. Add and Override are very different. A product’s role price and volume tiers are set on the Pricing & Tax tab, and option prices are added on top of them.
Two sizes count as one for stock. Track Quantity is set to Overall. Change it to Track Variation Quantity on the Inventory & Shipping tab.
Still stuck? Open a ticket at wpeasycart.com/my-account.
Keep going
Related panels
Every panel in the Option Set Manager.
The product Options & Variants tab.
Product media and per-option image sets.
Stock tracking on the Inventory & Shipping tab.
Option filters in the store sidebar, and the SKU separator.
Ready to run your store on WP EasyCart?
Everything in this guide works with the free plugin. PRO and Premium add subscriptions, memberships, wholesale pricing and more. Try every PRO feature free for 14 days.
