Skip to content

Configurable Product Prices

A configurable product has one price source: the configurable product itself (the parent). The store does not use the price of the child products (the variants). When the price changes after a customer picks a size or a color, an option price on the parent product causes the change.

Which prices the store uses

Price Where you set it Used for the configurable product
Price, Special Price, Tier Price, Group Price of the parent The configurable product, Prices tab Yes. This is the base price
Option price of a value (Fixed or Percentage) The configurable product, Associated Products tab Yes. The store adds it when the customer selects that value
Catalog price rules Promotions > Catalog Price Rules Yes, on the base price. On the option prices only when Enable Discount to Subproducts is Yes
Price, Special Price and tier prices of a child product The simple product, Prices tab No

The cart uses the same rule. A configurable product in the cart is one line that the store prices from the parent. The child product on that line only tells the store which variant to ship and which stock to use.

How the store calculates the price

The store calculates the price of a configurable product in this order:

  1. It starts with the Price of the configurable product.
  2. It takes the lowest of these values: the Price, the Special Price (inside its dates), the tier price for the quantity, and the price for the customer group.
  3. It applies the catalog price rules that match the product and the customer group.
  4. For each option that the customer selected, it adds the option price of the selected value. A Fixed option price is an amount. A Percentage option price is a percent of the price from step 3.
  5. It adds the prices of the custom options, if the product has custom options.
  6. If the result is below zero, the price is zero.

For the tier price in step 2, the store counts all cart lines of the same configurable product together. For example, 3 red shirts and 2 blue shirts of the same configurable product count as a quantity of 5.

Setting option prices

  1. Go to Catalog > Products and open the configurable product.
  2. Open the Associated Products tab.
  3. In Super product attributes configuration, each value of each configurable attribute has a Price field and a Fixed or Percentage selector.
  4. Enter the amount that this value adds to the price. Enter 0 when the value must not change the price. A negative amount lowers the price.
  5. Save the product.

Enter option prices in the base currency of the store. The admin shows this note above the list.

When Catalog Price Scope is Website (see Scope), you can give an option price a different value per website. Select a store view of that website with the store view switcher. A Use Default Value checkbox then shows next to each option price.

There is no setting to use the child prices

Maho has no option that prices a configurable product from its children. To charge more for one size, give that size an option price on the parent. To show a different price per variant, use a separate simple product, or a different product type.

What the customer sees

Place Price shown
Product page, before the customer picks an option The price of the configurable product after steps 1 to 3
Product page, after the customer picks an option That price plus the option prices of the selected values
Category pages and search results The price of the configurable product
Category pages, with Dynamic Price Change on The price changes when the customer clicks a swatch of the listing attribute (see below)
Cart and order The price from the full calculation above
Structured data, for each variant The price of the configurable product plus the option prices of the values of the variant (see Structured Data)
Product feeds, for each variant (v26.9.3+) The same price as the structured data (see Feed Manager)

A configurable product appears in category pages and search results only when at least one of its children is enabled, is in the same website and has no required custom options. Without such a child, the product prices index has no row for the configurable product, and listings do not show it.

Dynamic Price Change for swatches

The setting is in System > Configuration > Catalog > Configurable Swatches, with the name Dynamic Price Change for Swatches in Product Listing. It works only when Configurable Swatches is enabled.

When the setting is Yes, a customer who clicks a swatch in a category page or in search results sees the price change in that listing. The new price is the price of the configurable product plus the option price of the clicked value. The store uses only the attribute in Product Attribute to Use for Swatches in Product Listing.

This setting does not read the prices of the child products either. If no value of the listing attribute has an option price, the price does not change when a customer clicks a swatch. See Configurable Swatches for the other swatch settings.

Troubleshooting

What you see Why What to do
The price changes when the customer picks a size, but you set a price only on the parent The selected value has an option price on the Associated Products tab Open the configurable product, Associated Products tab, and set the Price of that value to 0
You changed the price of a child product, but the store still shows the old price The store does not use child prices for a configurable product Change the price of the configurable product, or the option price of the value
The Special Price of a child product is ignored The same rule: only the parent prices count Set the Special Price on the configurable product
A Percentage option price gives an unexpected amount The percent applies to the price after the special price, the tier price and the catalog price rules Use a Fixed option price when you want an exact amount
The price in the cart is lower than on the product page Tier prices count all lines of the same configurable product in the cart together This is expected behavior
A catalog price rule discounts the parent but not the option prices Enable Discount to Subproducts is No in the rule Open the rule in Promotions > Catalog Price Rules and set the option to Yes
The listing price does not change when a customer clicks a swatch Dynamic Price Change for Swatches in Product Listing is No, or the clicked value has no option price Turn the setting on, and give the values an option price
The configurable product is missing from category pages No child is enabled and in the website, or the product prices index is not up to date Enable a child, assign it to the website, and check System > Index Management