Setting up Hand-E Checkout Rules

• Install and start
• The rule list
• Creating a rule
• Payment, shipping and blocks
• The eleven conditions
• And, or and the reading order
• When a condition isn't known yet
• Currencies
• The last payment and shipping method stays
• Where rules don't apply
• Plans and billing
• Uninstalling and data

Install and start

You install the app from the Shopify App Store. It works in every Shopify store from the Basic plan up; you don't need Shopify Plus. The first time you open it, you accept the terms of service and the data processing agreement and confirm that you have read the privacy policy (Accept and start). Then Get started free takes you to Shopify's plan selection. The app's home page is the list of your rules, and the menu also has Settings. You switch the app's language at the top right.

The rule list

At the top there are three buttons: New payment rule, New shipping rule and New checkout block. Below them are your rules, grouped into Payment methods, Shipping methods and Checkout block. Each row says what the rule does and has its own switch: Active or Off. A rule that's off has no effect at checkout and keeps all its conditions. Edit opens it.

You delete a rule in the editor under Delete rule; this can't be undone. When the Free plan's limit is reached, a notice with the way to the settings replaces the three buttons.

Creating a rule

Every rule has a Rule name that only you see, the Rule is active checkbox, an If and a Then.

• If: the conditions. Add condition adds one, the cross next to it removes it. A payment or shipping rule without a condition applies in every checkout. A checkout block needs at least one.
• Then: the action under What should happen, and below it one payment or shipping method per row. A row reads like a sentence: Name contains PayPal. You add more rows with Add payment method or Add shipping method.
• Save: in the bar that stays at the bottom while you scroll, next to Cancel. If something is missing, it says so there. After saving you're back in the list.

A payment or shipping method is matched by its name at checkout, ignoring upper and lower case. With contains, the default, “Invoice” also matches “Pay by invoice”. With is exactly, the whole name has to match. The name can differ depending on the checkout language.

Payment, shipping and blocks

Payment methods

• Hide payment method: it doesn't appear at checkout.
• Rename payment method: it appears under the new name. The app changes the name only, not the price. A fee you write into the name is not charged.
• Move payment method: the order of the rows is the order at checkout, row 1 is on top. Drag the rows by their handle or move them with the arrow keys.
• Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay can be hidden, but not renamed and not moved.

Shipping methods

• The same three actions: Hide shipping method, Rename shipping method and Move shipping method.
• First place always belongs to the cheapest shipping method; Shopify requires this. A more expensive one moves up to second place at most.
• When renaming, Shopify automatically puts the carrier name in front, for example “UPS”. The app can't remove it.

Checkout block

• The action is Block checkout. Under What your customers read goes your message, at most 250 characters. How it looks at checkout shows a simplified preview; fonts and colors follow your shop's checkout.
• When the block applies, your message shows at checkout and the order can't be completed. Your customer can still change the cart.
• A block only applies at checkout, never on the cart page and never to an empty cart. If two blocks carry the same message, it appears once.
• A new block starts with the condition Cart value at most. Without any condition it can't be saved, because it would block every checkout.

The eleven conditions

The conditions work in all three areas and appear in the dropdown in this order. You compare numbers with at least, at most or exactly; amounts with “exactly” are compared to the cent.

• Customer's previous orders: “at most 0” matches new customers without you having to maintain tags. Only logged-in customers are recognized; every guest counts as new.
• Cart value: the sum of the items, without shipping and taxes.
• Shipping countries: two-letter country codes, comma separated, for example DE, AT, CH. UK is saved as GB; the app rejects other entries that aren't country codes.
• Customer tags: comma separated. The rule applies if the customer has any of them. A guest has no tags; to include guests, add “or Customer is logged in: no”.
• Customer's spend so far: what the customer has spent so far. A guest counts as 0.
• Number of items: the quantity of all items in the cart.
• Product in cart has tag: comma separated. The rule applies as soon as one item in the cart carries any of them.
• Product in cart from collection: you pick the collections with Choose collections. The rule applies as soon as one item is in any of them. If you rename a collection, the rule keeps working.
• Product title in cart: comma separated. A title only has to contain the text: “Hazmat” also matches “Hazmat set 5L”.
• Customer is logged in: yes or no.
• Time of day: a time window in your shop's local time, format 18:00. A time window needs both times.

Your active payment rules together can use at most 100 customer tags, 100 product tags and 100 collections, and they share one time window. The same goes for your shipping rules. A checkout block has these limits on its own.

And, or and the reading order

Between two conditions you choose and or or. With “and” both have to be true, with “or” one is enough. Mixed combinations are read from top to bottom, without precedence: “A and B or C” means (A and B) or C.

So “Shipping countries DE or Shipping countries AT and Cart value at least 300” becomes (DE or AT) and at least 300.

When a condition isn't known yet

Without a shipping address there is no shipping country, for example before the customer has entered one, or with digital products. If a rule can't be decided for that reason, it depends on the action:

• Hide applies when in doubt. A hide rule protects you, for example against invoice payment from abroad.
• Rename and Move don't apply when in doubt.
• A checkout block doesn't block when in doubt.

If a condition in an “or” chain is already known to be true, the rule applies, whatever is still open.

Currencies

You enter amounts in your store's currency. If a customer pays in another currency, the app converts their cart into your store's currency with the rate Shopify provides at checkout.

If your store has several currencies, Cart value and Customer's spend so far also show the field Currency of the amount. If you pick another currency there, the condition only applies to buyers paying in that currency, with the amount as they see it.

The last payment and shipping method stays

Where rules don't apply

• They don't run on the cart page, only in checkout.
• They don't run in Point of Sale at all.
• Payment rules don't apply in Shop Pay, with one exception: the gift card field.
• Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay can be hidden, but not renamed and not moved.
• The app only recognizes returning customers when they are logged in to their customer account. A guest counts as new: 0 orders, 0 spend, no customer tags.
• Shopify doesn't count test orders toward a customer's previous orders or spend.
• The app needs at least the Shopify Basic plan, but no Shopify Plus.

In the editor, these limits are listed under Where rules don't apply.

Plans and billing

There are two plans, and both can do the same things. Free allows one rule, in any of the three areas. Standard allows up to 25 active rules per area. Standard comes with a 14-day trial, and Shopify counts trial days you've already used for 180 days. Billing runs through Shopify. You change plans under Settings with Change plan on Shopify. Prices are on the app page.

On the Free plan the limit applies when you create a rule and when you switch one on: you create a new rule only once no other rule exists, and you can switch a rule on only while no other is active. Switching off and editing existing rules always works. Without an active subscription the Free plan applies, and your existing rules keep running.

Uninstalling and data

Your rules aren't stored with us but at Shopify, on the respective payment customization, delivery customization or checkout validation. After you uninstall, your checkout looks like before: all payment and shipping methods, no blocks. The app requests three permissions and has no access to orders, customer records or your product catalog. We delete its session when you uninstall and the rest of your store's data 48 hours later. Details are in the privacy policy.