WooCommerce Limit Quantity Per Product: Control Order Limits & Improve Inventory Management

Business Mar 11, 2025 32 Add to Reading List

Introduction

Managing product quantities in WooCommerce is essential for maintaining a balanced inventory, preventing bulk hoarding, and ensuring fair purchasing opportunities for all customers. The WooCommerce Limit Quantity Per Product feature allows store owners to set minimum and maximum quantity limits for individual products.

This functionality is particularly useful for businesses that:

Sell limited-stock items and want to prevent bulk purchases.
Want to enforce minimum order quantities to increase revenue per sale.
Sell wholesale or B2B, where bulk ordering must follow specific quantity rules.
Run special promotions or pre-orders with limited availability.

In this blog, we’ll cover:

What is WooCommerce Limit Quantity Per Product?
Why setting quantity limits is important
How to set up product quantity restrictions in WooCommerce
Best plugins for limiting quantities per product
Tips to effectively use quantity restrictions

What is WooCommerce Limit Quantity Per Product?

WooCommerce Limit Quantity Per Product is a feature that allows store owners to set:
✅ Minimum quantity limits – Customers must order at least a certain number of units.
✅ Maximum quantity limits – Customers cannot order more than a specified amount.
✅ Step or increment limits – Customers can only buy in fixed quantities (e.g., in multiples of 2, 5, or 10).

Example Use Cases:

A wholesale store might require customers to purchase at least 10 units per product.
A limited-edition product might have a maximum purchase limit of 1 per customer.
A restaurant supply store might sell napkins in packs of 5, requiring customers to buy in multiples of 5.

By enforcing these rules, WooCommerce store owners can manage inventory effectively and improve the shopping experience.

Why Use Quantity Limits in WooCommerce?

1. Prevent Stock Hoarding & Abuse

If a product is in high demand, some customers might buy in bulk and resell at a higher price. Setting a maximum purchase limit ensures that more customers have access to the product.

2. Ensure Wholesale & Bulk Purchase Compliance

Wholesale businesses often have minimum order requirements to ensure profitability. By setting minimum and increment quantity limits, you can streamline your wholesale pricing strategy.

3. Control Pre-Orders & Limited Edition Sales

For exclusive or pre-order products, setting a per-customer limit prevents a small group from buying all available stock before others get a chance.

4. Encourage Larger Purchases

For low-cost items, enforcing a minimum order quantity (e.g., "Minimum 5 pieces per order") can increase average order value (AOV) and profitability.

5. Improve Inventory Management

Limiting order quantities helps prevent unexpected stockouts and ensures that inventory is distributed efficiently.

How to Set Up Limit Quantity Per Product in WooCommerce

By default, WooCommerce does not provide an option to limit product quantity. However, you can do this with custom code or WooCommerce plugins.

Method 1: Set Quantity Limits Using Code (For Developers)

If you prefer coding, add the following snippet to your functions.php file to set a minimum and maximum quantity for a specific product:

php

function custom_quantity_limits($passed, $product_quantity, $product_id) {
    // Set the minimum and maximum quantity limits
    $min_quantity = 2;
    $max_quantity = 10;
    
    if ($product_id == 123) { // Replace 123 with the actual product ID
        if ($product_quantity < $min_quantity) {
            wc_add_notice( 'You must purchase at least ' . $min_quantity . ' of this product.', 'error' );
            return false;
        }
        if ($product_quantity > $max_quantity) {
            wc_add_notice( 'You cannot purchase more than ' . $max_quantity . ' of this product.', 'error' );
            return false;
        }
    }
    return $passed;
}
add_filter('woocommerce_add_to_cart_validation', 'custom_quantity_limits', 10, 3);

This code ensures that customers cannot order less than 2 or more than 10 units of the product with ID 123.

Method 2: Set Quantity Limits Using WooCommerce Plugins

For a non-technical and more flexible approach, use plugins that allow you to:
✅ Set per-product or category-wide limits
✅ Apply restrictions based on user roles (e.g., wholesale vs. retail)
✅ Create bulk discount rules

Best Plugins for WooCommerce Limit Quantity Per Product

1. WooCommerce Min/Max Quantities

Allows setting minimum & maximum quantities per product.
Supports grouped & variable products.
Lets you define step increments (e.g., buy in multiples of 5).

2. WooCommerce Advanced Quantity

Customize the quantity selector on the product page.
Set step-based increments (e.g., customers must buy in packs of 3, 6, 9).
Define unique quantity rules per product, category, or user role.

3. Quantity Manager for WooCommerce

Apply quantity limits to specific user roles (e.g., retail vs. wholesale).
Configure cart-based quantity limits (total items per order).
Restrict purchases to a fixed quantity per customer.

4. WooCommerce Bulk Discount & Quantity Rules

Set up dynamic pricing rules based on order quantity.
Offer discounts for bulk orders while maintaining minimum purchase rules.
Show a custom message to customers if they try to exceed quantity limits.

Best Practices for Setting Quantity Limits

✅ 1. Communicate Purchase Limits Clearly

Display messages like "Limit 3 per customer" on the product page.

✅ 2. Use Quantity Rules to Encourage Bulk Orders

If selling in bulk, require customers to buy in multiples (e.g., 5, 10, 15 units at a time).

✅ 3. Differentiate Rules for Wholesale vs. Retail Customers

Retail customers may have a maximum purchase limit, while wholesale buyers can order in bulk.

✅ 4. Set Category-Based Limits for Inventory Management

Restrict entire product categories rather than individual products for easy inventory control.

✅ 5. Apply Order-Wide Limits to Control Stockouts

Prevent customers from buying too many different products in a single order.

Common Issues & Troubleshooting

1. Customers Can’t Add Products to Cart

Check if the minimum quantity is set too high.
Ensure there’s enough stock for the selected quantity.

2. Discount Rules Are Not Applying

Ensure that the discount plugin settings are configured correctly.
Check if another discount rule is overriding the limit.

3. Customers Are Bypassing Quantity Limits

If customers adjust quantities in the cart page, use a plugin to enforce quantity rules at checkout.

Conclusion

The WooCommerce Limit Quantity Per Product feature is essential for managing inventory, preventing bulk purchases, and optimizing sales strategies. Whether you’re running a wholesale business, a retail store, or a pre-order campaign, setting minimum and maximum quantity rules can enhance the shopping experience and improve profitability.