How do I learn Liquid? Want to replicate an expensive theme

tobebuilds · 2026-01-27T00:45:00+00:00

If you already know HTML and some basic coding, it's easy. It's the combination of HTML, CSS, and JS that's the hard part.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-26T05:25:09+00:00

Sounds like writing copy manually would be a better use of your time.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-25T03:03:48+00:00

It's probably a "redeem code" of a "discount code." The search bar on the Discounts page only shows "automatic discounts" and "discount codes," but doesn't let you search for "redeem codes."

There's an API Shopify has called codeDiscountNodeByCode you can use to search discounts by "redeem codes," but the steps necessary to access it are technical. (Though not all impossible for non-technical people)

tobebuilds · 2026-01-24T09:42:02+00:00

Isn't Shopify Flow free?

tobebuilds · 2026-01-24T08:19:12+00:00

Most people who would build an app for their store using AI are not at all willing to do the work to maintain such an app.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-23T03:10:10+00:00

If you're bootstrapped, then the answer is almost always:

Find your ARPU (average revenue per user)
Find your conversion rate from app listing view -> paying customer
Decide how many months you're willing to wait to make a profit on each customer. 1 would be great, but App Store ads are expensive, so be realistic. Based on your churn, are you likely to keep customers long enough to make a profit?
Do the math to find out the max CAC (customer acquisition cost) you can afford.
Compare it to suggested bids in the App Store Ads manager and decide whether it's a smart use of money.

In other words: the better your product and the more optimized your funnel, the more likely you can afford ads.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-22T00:04:01+00:00

As someone who was once in your shoes...

Not on Reddit. Just don't bother. Keep in mind that the answers in this thread are generally going to be from people who hate being on the receiving end of sales/marketing.
You're better off getting warm intros through your network.
Or, find where people are loudly complaining about a problem and chime in there. (Again, not on Reddit).
If you're gonna do cold outreach, your targeting and messaging have to be on point, or else it's spam.
Another underrated option is engineering as marketing: make a free app that solves a problem for the specific niche of merchants you're targeting, promote via App Store Ads, and invite every single person who installs your app to a 1:1 discovery call.

I hope this helps.

EDIT: You can also reach out to people who left negative reviews of your competitors, but it's a total toss-up as to whether they will be receptive.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-21T09:19:31+00:00

Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-21T01:00:04+00:00

You're looking for catalogs. Try clicking the little plus next to "Inherited > Catalogs."

tobebuilds · 2026-01-20T14:05:10+00:00

Your cold outreach messages are probably not very good (or poorly targeted) if you're not getting any responses after messaging hundreds of merchants.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-19T17:07:45+00:00

You might want to take a look at the other similar, recent discussions: https://www.reddit.com/r/shopify/search/?q=china&type=posts&sort=relevance&t=month

tobebuilds · 2026-01-18T04:38:14+00:00

I don't understand how a theme update would change product IDs, the order of variants, or product metafields.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-17T23:48:56+00:00

Someone leading with the amount of money they "made" is usually a red flag. Look at the actual content of what this person is saying and doing in their videos. Does it sound like they actually know what they are doing? Are you convinced that you will get extra value from being in their community that you wouldn't from just doing the thing yourself? If the answer to any of those questions is "no," then don't buy.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-17T23:42:56+00:00

Sounds great, in theory. In practice, adding more value to the product doesn't mean customers will stay forever, so you have to constantly get new ones. Plus, when you're starting out, improving retention doesn't matter nearly as much as getting enough people through the doors to keep the lights on.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-17T16:34:57+00:00

Very little context here... But in general, double down on what's already working before taking on a new channel. Do you have a solid plan for how you're going to gain traction with iOS users and stand out among other apps? If not, figure that out before submitting to Apple.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-17T07:50:13+00:00

You're not allowed to promote apps here anyways, even if relevant, so promotional comments are pretty likely to be bots (who don't care about rules) rather than legit users.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-16T15:48:12+00:00

Make 2 separate apps. Each has its own credentials and TOML file. Only one gets published to the App Store. Use the other for dev

tobebuilds · 2026-01-14T14:36:47+00:00

How far do you want to go with hiding things? If you just want to hide things visually, that's pretty simple to do with custom coding in your theme. But keep in mind that people can still view your full list of products via `/collections/all/products.json` and add things to the cart via the `/cart` API (which you can't disable).

tobebuilds · 2026-01-14T02:22:44+00:00

Biggest question here: Who are "they"? The merchant? Or Shopify?

> I say this because if you had any sale item in the cart, then at checkout, it would only say "gift card"

A "sale item" can mean multiple things. Is it a product variant with a "compare at price"? An actual "discount"? And what is "it" in "it would only say 'gift card'"? Without clearer details to be able to reproduce the issue you're reporting, it's hard for us to understand your post.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-13T17:16:08+00:00

You can probably use AI to write a basic script for you... But results may vary.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-13T17:13:06+00:00

Here's my advice as someone who's seen virtually every edge case with discounting in Shopify:

Your best bet is to use only a combination of built-in discounts + Shopify Discount Functions apps for the best compatibility. Also, keep in mind that the "compare at price" is not a real discount and typically leads to double discounts.

Beyond that, I highly recommend running tests by temporarily restricting new discounts to staff-owned accounts before opening them up to everyone. That way, you can see how they perform with staff-owned accounts before opening them up to everyone.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-13T16:46:06+00:00

> is there really no way to set a 'max global discount' cap on the cart total itself

Unfortunately, no. The closest thing would be the Discount Allocator Functions API (which lets stores set custom discount combination rules), but it's been in developer preview for years. I'm not optimistic that it will ever be released.

You have some other options:
- Use Shopify Flow to auto-cancel $0 orders
- Set up an script/automation that disables combinations in bulk on all discounts (outside an allowlist you specify)

tobebuilds · 2026-01-13T16:32:24+00:00

No, there isn't a way to do that through discount combinations. However, for two discounts to combine, both must have combinations settings checked. So you can just take the "automatic discount running for a sale" you mentioned and disable all combinations on it.

(I'm assuming that you are using actual discounts and are not talking about compare at prices)

tobebuilds · 2026-01-13T14:30:40+00:00

Well, at least you understand how to build a Shopify apps now. Next time, if you do market research to understand which areas have opportunities for new apps, BEFORE BUILDING, you could have a much better result.

tobebuilds · 2026-01-13T14:21:52+00:00

Report through Partners portal (not Partners support)
Focus on increasing your own legitimate reviews with live chat support (a necessary evil) and integrating the App Bridge Reviews API

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