Varia setup guide

Product options and add-on pricing for Shopify, without duplicate products in your catalog.

Varia adds fields like engraving text, gift wrap, colour swatches and file uploads to your product pages, and charges for them at checkout. Setup takes a few minutes. Install from the Shopify App Store.

Setup

  1. Install Varia and open it. The home page creates the checkout connection for you. You should see "Connect option pricing to checkout" marked Ready within a few seconds.
  2. Pick a preset. Choose what you sell: engraving, gift message, gift wrapping, monogram, made to order, custom sizing or delivery date. Varia creates a ready-made option set with example prices. Or start from scratch.
  3. Change the prices to yours and make it live. Open the set, adjust the fields and amounts, and click "Save and make it live". Drafts never show to shoppers, so you can experiment safely.
  4. Add the block to your theme. Back on the home page, click "Add the block to my theme". The theme editor opens with the Product options block added to your product template. Drag it above the Add to cart button and save.
  5. Check a product page. Open a product on your store, fill in an option and add it to the cart. The option charge appears at checkout as its own line.

Questions

Does Varia create a product for every option?

No. Many options apps create a hidden duplicate product or variant for each priced option. Varia creates one hidden helper product for your whole store, named "Varia option charges (required - do not delete)", and applies every add-on charge to it at checkout with a Shopify Cart Transform function.

Do discount codes still work?

Yes. The cart holds real line items, so discount codes apply the way Shopify normally applies them.

Do I need Shopify Plus?

No.

Which themes work?

Any Online Store 2.0 theme, which includes Dawn and every current Shopify theme. Varia adds an app block, so older vintage themes without app block support will not show the options.

What is free?

One live option set with text, paragraph, number, date, dropdown, radio and checkbox fields, and flat add-on amounts, applied to all products. Drafts are unlimited. No card needed.

What does Standard add?

Standard is $4.99 a month with a 7-day free trial. It adds unlimited live option sets, colour and image swatches, file uploads, conditional fields, per-character, per-choice and percentage-of-price amounts, and targeting by product, collection or tag.

Where do the buyer's answers go?

Onto the order as line item properties, so engraving text or a gift message shows on the order in your Shopify admin and on packing slips that print line item properties.

Can a shopper change the price by editing the cart?

No. Amounts are calculated by the checkout function from the settings stored in your store, not from anything the browser sends.

What happens if something breaks?

The product stays buyable and checkout keeps working. The function is registered so that a failure skips the option charge rather than blocking the order.

Is it available in Spanish?

Yes. The admin follows your Shopify admin language, and the storefront fields follow your store's language, in English and Spanish.

What happens when I uninstall?

Your store's data is deleted. The hidden helper product stays in your store until you delete it.

Guides

How-to guides for engraving fields, gift wrap, custom text and add-on pricing on Shopify, including the free theme-code way to do each.

Help

Email ravlinapp@gmail.com. Support is answered by the developer, from the US.