How to Set Up Lifetime Purchase Limits Per Customer

Customer Purchase Limits let you restrict how many times a customer can buy specific products across all their orders - not just per order. This is perfect for limited editions, one-per-customer promotions, or preventing bulk resellers.

How It Works

Unlike standard order limits (which reset with each order), Customer Purchase Limits track cumulative purchases per customer:

Customer places an order
The app records their purchase in their customer profile
On future orders, the app checks their history against your limit
If they've hit the limit, checkout is blocked with an error message

Setting Up a Customer Purchase Limit

Go to Order Limits in the app
Click Create new rule
Select Customer Purchase Limit as the rule type
Configure your limit:
- Maximum Quantity: The total number of items a customer can ever purchase
- Maximum Spending: The total amount a customer can spend (optional)
Choose which products this applies to:
- All Products
- Products with Specific Tags
- Selected Products
- Selected Product Variants
Set guest customer behavior (see below)
Save the rule

Guest Customer Options

You do not need storefront customer account pages for purchase limits. As long as customers identify by email at checkout, the limit enforces. Entering an email at checkout links the order to a customer record, and the limit tracks against that record.

For customers who are not logged in, you have two options:

Allow purchases without limits: Customers can browse and add to cart without logging in. The limit enforces at checkout, once they identify by email.
Block and require login: Customers must log in to purchase eligible products. Use this if you want the limit enforced from the cart page instead of at checkout.

Grouping Options

Any Item: Limits apply to all eligible products combined (e.g., max 3 items total from your "limited edition" collection)
Product: Limits apply separately per product (e.g., max 1 of each limited edition product)
Product Variant: Limits apply separately per variant (e.g., max 1 of each size/color)

Viewing and Resetting Usage

You can view a customer's purchase history for any rule by clicking "View usage history" on the rule edit page.

To reset limits for all customers on a rule, use the "Reset all limits" option. Note: This resets for everyone, not individual customers.

Common Use Cases

Limited editions: "Only 1 per customer, ever"
Sample products: "Maximum 2 samples per customer lifetime"
Promotional pricing: "Discounted price available for first 3 purchases only"
Anti-reseller protection: Prevent bulk buying across multiple orders