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Quickstart: Create Your First Bundle

Follow this guide to create your first bundle in BundlesIQ, run the built-in test, and verify that order transformation works correctly.

Terminology

BundlesIQ maps Shopify variants to variants.

  • A product can have one or more variants
  • A ghost SKU in BundlesIQ is the bundle’s purchasable variant (the variant customers add to cart)
  • Components are the variant(s) included inside the bundle (with quantities)

In other words: BundlesIQ operates at the SKU-level (variants), even if Shopify Admin UI often talks in “products”.

Before You Begin

  • BundlesIQ is installed on your Shopify store
  • You completed onboarding and selected a default handling mode
  • Your component variants already exist in Shopify (BundlesIQ can create the bundle item, but components must already exist)
  • You either:
    • already have a Shopify product/variant you want to use as the ghost SKU, or
    • you’ll create the ghost SKU variant directly inside BundlesIQ during bundle creation (recommended for speed)

Step 1 (Optional): Prepare Your Ghost SKU Variant in Shopify

You can skip this step if you plan to click Create New Item inside BundlesIQ.

If you already have a Shopify product/variant you want to use as the ghost SKU:

  1. Open the bundle product in Shopify Admin
  2. SKU is optional: BundlesIQ identifies items by variant ID, not SKU
    • You can still set a SKU for your own reporting/workflows
  3. Inventory tracking (important):
    • If you want Shopify to prevent overselling:
      • Turn Track quantity ON for the ghost SKU variant
      • Turn Continue selling when out of stock OFF
    • If you enable Sync Bundle Inventory in BundlesIQ, the ghost SKU variant must have inventory tracking ON (BundlesIQ updates available quantity based on components).
  4. Shipping (optional):
    • Many stores set the ghost SKU to not require shipping since the physical items are the components.
    • Some stores keep shipping ON if they rely on the ghost SKU variant for checkout shipping calculations. Choose what matches your workflow.

Step 2: Create the Bundle in BundlesIQ

  1. Navigate to BundlesIQ > Bundles in your Shopify Admin sidebar
  2. Click Create Bundle (top-right)

2A) Info & Configuration Card

  1. Give the bundle a name
    • Internal reference only (recommended: match or closely resemble the ghost SKU item name)
  2. (Optional) Pricing Mode
    • Defaults to your shop’s default (collapsed section; can be overridden per bundle)
  3. (Optional) Handling Mode
    • Defaults to your shop’s default (collapsed section; can be overridden per bundle)

2B) Bundle Components Card

1) Select or create the Ghost SKU item

  • Click Select Product From Shopify to choose an existing Shopify item, or
  • Click Create New Item to create the bundle item from inside BundlesIQ (fastest path)

Note: Creating the ghost SKU item in BundlesIQ is more limited than Shopify Admin. Components cannot be created here—components must already exist in Shopify.

2) Add components

  • Click Add Components to search and add component variants, or
  • Click Import CSV to bulk add components + quantities

If importing CSV:

  1. Download the template
  2. In the identifier column, paste one of:
    • SKU, barcode, variant ID, or Shopify GID
  3. In the quantity column, enter the per-bundle component quantity
    • Quantity defaults to 1 if omitted

3) Configure pricing details (depends on Pricing Mode / Handling Mode)

If Pricing Mode = Bundle-Led:

  • Set the ghost SKU variant’s retail price (this is the bundle price customers pay)
  • Ensure the sum of component retails × quantities is >= the bundle price
    • Why: Shopify does not allow increasing a component’s line item price above the variant’s price, so the allocation must fit within component retails.

If Pricing Mode = Component-Led:

  • For each component you can configure pricing such as:
    • No Discount
    • Percent Off
    • Amount Off
    • Fixed Price
  • Fixed Price constraint: fixed price must be <= the component’s retail price.

If Handling Mode = Parent-Only (BOM):

  • This workflow is cost-driven and behaves differently than Operational/Hybrid/Reporting.
  • In this mode you’ll typically see:
    1. The bundle price (ghost SKU) is expected to be >= total component cost
    2. An Add Cost button for labor/overhead/non-consumables
    3. Cost / profit / margin % summaries at the bottom

2C) Advanced Settings Card

Depending on the handling mode and the ghost SKU’s inventory configuration, you may see options such as:

  • Sync Bundle Inventory
  • Sync Bundle Retail

Reminder: Sync Bundle Inventory requires the ghost SKU variant to track inventory in Shopify.

2D) Save & Activate

  1. Set status to Active (if not already)
  2. Click Save

BundlesIQ is now watching for orders/draft orders containing this bundle’s ghost SKU variant (based on your processing settings).

Step 3: Run the Built-In Test

Instead of manually placing a test order, use the Test Bundle button at the top of the bundle page (after saving and activating).

This runs a suite of checks to catch issues early.

What “Test Bundle” does (high-level)

  1. Creates a draft order (validates webhooks + processing pipeline)
  2. Verifies the draft order was transformed correctly for the bundle’s configuration
  3. Verifies bundle metadata/metafields were written as expected
  4. Deletes the draft order (keeps your store clean)

You may briefly see the draft order appear in Shopify Admin before it’s deleted.

Step 4: Verify the Transformation in Shopify Admin (Recommended)

The test covers most validation, but it’s still smart to sanity-check one or two real scenarios in Shopify Admin.

  1. Open an order/draft order in Shopify Admin
  2. Confirm line items match your handling mode:

Hybrid

  • Ghost SKU remains at $0.00
  • Component line items appear with allocated prices
  • Order total matches the original bundle price

Operational

  • Ghost SKU is removed (quantity set to 0 / removed)
  • Only component line items remain with allocated prices
  • Order total matches the original bundle price

Reporting

  • Ghost SKU remains at its original price
  • Component line items appear at $0.00
  • Order total matches the original bundle price

Parent-Only (BOM)

  • Ghost SKU remains at its original price
  • No component line items appear
  • Order total matches the bundle price
  1. Check the BundlesIQ Health dashboard to confirm processing completed without errors

Step 5: Verify Inventory (Optional)

Inventory behavior has two different layers:

  1. Component inventory (Shopify-native behavior):
    When components are on the order (Operational/Hybrid/Reporting), Shopify updates inventory through its normal reservation/fulfillment flow. In early tests, this can be hard to validate without real inventory implications.

  2. Ghost SKU inventory (BundlesIQ sync option):
    If Sync Bundle Inventory is enabled, BundlesIQ keeps the ghost SKU’s available quantity aligned to component availability (requires inventory tracking enabled on the ghost SKU variant).

Common Issues

  • Order was not transformed
    • Confirm the bundle status is Active
    • Confirm your processing scope includes the order type (orders, draft orders, or both)
    • Confirm BundlesIQ webhooks are registered and enabled (Settings)
    • Confirm the ghost SKU and component variants are active (not archived / not draft)
  • Prices don’t look right
    • Re-check Pricing Mode configuration and constraints (especially fixed price rules and bundle-led allocation limits). See Pricing Strategy
  • Ghost SKU still shows on the order
    • Expected in Hybrid (at $0), Reporting (at full price), and Parent-Only (at full price, no components)
    • Only Operational mode removes it entirely

Next Steps