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, add them to a product, 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
What 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, option sets made right on the product, image swatches, the variation table with a SKU, price, stock, weight and cost 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 under Products › Option Sets and attach it to as many products as you like, or, with PRO, make one on the product itself.
Variations. Dropdown and Swatch sets create variations. Every combination of choices, such as Blue Medium, is one variation that can carry its own SKU, price and 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, add 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, add it to the product, price and stock the variations, add pictures and add personalization.
Step 1. Create an option set
Products › Option Sets › Add option set
Go 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). Under What each choice does, leave Makes a variation chosen for sizes and colors you stock. With PRO, Adds to the item (modifier) makes the same list an add-on instead: each choice can add to the price or weight, with no stock of its own. 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.
With PRO you can skip this step for a quick set that only one product needs: step 2 shows how to make it on the product.
💡 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
Variation types, free. Dropdown and Swatch. Use them for size, color, material or anything the customer must choose and you must stock.
Modifier types, PRO. A Dropdown or Swatches set made with Adds to the item is listed as Dropdown (advanced) or Swatch (advanced): it picks 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. Add option sets to the product
Options & variants › Option Sets
Open the product in EasyCart › Products and choose Options & variants in the list on the left, under Catalog. The section holds three numbered cards: Option Sets, Variations and Modifiers.
Free edition. The Option sets card has two slots. Choose a set in each, or press Create a new option set. The card counts the variations they make, and the slots save with the product’s Save.
With PRO, from your library. Pick a set from Select an option set to add… and press + Add option set. You can attach up to five. At five the card says so and points you to modifiers, which are unlimited.
With PRO, made on the product. Press + Add Option Set at the top of the card, or + Create a new option set under the list. A small form opens. Type the Option name, such as Size, then each choice in Choices, pressing Enter after each one. Typing Size: S, M, L in the name box fills both at once. Press Add option.
A set made here belongs to this product, and its row says This product. Other products do not list it. To use it elsewhere, open the row’s ⋯ menu and choose Save to library. Need swatches or a price for each choice? The form’s Use the full option set builder link opens the editor from step 1 instead.
Sets apply at once. Adding, removing or reordering a set rebuilds the product’s variations straight away, not at Save. When the product already has variations, the editor first lists what will change and asks you to confirm.
Combinations multiply. Sets chain from the first one: the first set times the second, and so on. Two sets of three choices make nine variations.
You can also start from the set. In Products › Option Sets, the row menu has Assign to products…. That is the quick way to put a new set on a whole range.
⚠️ Careful: Combinations multiply fast. Three sets of four choices make 64 variations, and each may need its own stock. Check the count before you confirm.
Step 3. Price and stock each variation
PRO: the Variations table
With PRO, the Variations card lists one row for every combination, built for you. The columns are Variation, SKU, Price, Stock, Weight, Cost and On.
A grey value in a cell is what applies while you leave it empty: the product’s SKU, the price the shopper pays and the weight the parcel gets. Fill in only what differs. Cost is what one costs you, which reports use for profit. On takes a combination off sale without deleting it.
Change many rows at once. Tick rows, or the box in the header for the whole page. A link then offers to select every matching variant. A bar opens: Set Price, Stock, Weight, Cost, SKU or On / off for the ticked rows, then press Apply. A price can be set to a value, or moved up by or down by an amount or a percent. A variant without a price of its own starts from the price the shopper pays now. Setting stock this way also starts counting it for those variants.
Build SKUs from a pattern. Choose SKU in the bar and type a pattern. {sku} is the product’s SKU, {options} is the variant’s choices, such as S-White, and {1} to {5} is one choice each. So {sku}-{options} gives SHIRT-S-White. Leave it empty to use the product’s SKU.
Copy a value down. A cell’s ↓ button, or Ctrl+D, copies its value to every row below it on the page. Enter and the arrow keys move between rows, and Escape puts a cell back.
Nothing is saved until you press Save. The card counts your edits, for example 3 variants changed. Save to keep them., with Undo changes. The product’s Save saves the table along with every other section, and Discard drops it all.
More on each row. The ⋯ menu has Count stock for this variant or Stop counting stock: it never runs out, and Google Merchant details. Filter View narrows the table to enabled or disabled variants, or to one choice. Export downloads the variations as a spreadsheet and Import Variations, under the table, reads it back.
Choose how stock is counted. In the Inventory section, Track stock can be Not tracked, Total (one number for the product) or Per variant (one number for each combination). Choose Per variant for sizes and colors you stock separately, then set each Stock in this table. Until then the Stock column says Whole product or Not tracked. Click it to change how stock is counted.
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: Table edits wait for Save, but option set changes in step 2 apply at once. 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
Swatches. 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 60px, or 80px up to 200px for photo swatches big enough to show a fabric or a print.
A gallery per choice (PRO). In the product’s Media section, 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. Turn on Drive galleries from the first modifier to follow the first modifier instead.
The gallery and these switches save as you change them, without Save. For dozens of choices, Export image sets gives you a spreadsheet of every choice’s images to fill in and import back.
Step 5. Add personalization (PRO)
Text, files, dates and add-ons that never touch stock
In the Options & variants section, Modifiers is the third card. Pick one from Select a modifier to add… and press + Add modifier, 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
Save the product, then open it 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, and radio and checkbox choices show as cards you can click anywhere on.
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 Track stock is Per variant, set one combination to zero and check it cannot be bought.
If it does not work
The usual snags with options and variations
I 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.
My table edits are gone. Edits in the Variations table wait for the product’s Save. Leaving the page or pressing Discard drops them.
The Variations table and modifiers are missing. They need an active PRO or Premium license. Without one the editor shows the free Option sets card instead, and says what a save would change on a product that still has PRO options.
I see a lot of variations and it feels heavy. Combinations multiply. The table 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 variant’s own Price in the table replaces the product’s price for that combination. Role prices and volume tiers are set in the product’s Pricing section.
Two sizes count as one for stock. Track stock is set to Total. Change it to Per variant in the Inventory section, then enter each size in the table.
Still stuck? Open a ticket at wpeasycart.com/my-account.
Keep going
Related panels
Every panel in the Option Set Manager.
The Options & variants section of the product editor.
Product media and per-option image sets.
Track stock and the rest of the Inventory section.
Option filters in the store sidebar, and the SKU separator.
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