How to set monthly purchase limits per customer on Shopify

“Can I limit orders of a product to 10 items per person per month, with the limit resetting each month?”

This question comes up often in the Shopify Community. A staff discount program is a common trigger: employees are supposed to get a handful of discounted items per month, but some are buying that many every week. Or a subscription box’s bestselling add-ons keep going to the same few customers. Either way, the fix is the same: limits that track across orders, not just within a single checkout, and reset on a schedule.

Standard Shopify quantity limits only see the current checkout. A customer hits your max, completes checkout, and buys again the next day. Monthly limits solve this by tracking purchases across all orders and resetting on a schedule you control.

Here’s how to set it up using DC Order Limits and Shopify Flow.

What makes monthly limits different

Most Shopify quantity limits only see the current cart. A customer hits your max of 2, completes checkout, then comes back tomorrow and buys 2 more. Repeat forever.

Monthly limits work differently:

• Per-order limits reset after every checkout
• Daily limits reset at midnight
• Weekly limits reset every Monday (or whatever day you choose)
• Monthly limits reset on the 1st of each month
• Lifetime limits never reset

Monthly sits in a sweet spot. It’s restrictive enough to prevent abuse, but generous enough that customers don’t feel punished. Staff get their monthly perk. VIPs get their exclusive allocation. Everyone gets fair access to restocks.

What you’ll need

• DC Order Limits app (Pro plan, for customer purchase limits)
• Shopify Flow, free on the Basic plan and above, for automatic monthly resets

Step 1: Create a customer purchase limit rule

Customer purchase limits track purchases by the email entered at checkout, across all orders. Unlike cart limits, these persist after checkout.

1. Open the DC Order Limits app
2. Go to Customer Purchase Limits
3. Click Create rule
4. Name it clearly: “Monthly limit: 2 units per customer”
5. Set Maximum Quantity to your monthly cap (e.g., 2)
6. Choose which products this applies to:
   • All products
   • Products with specific tags
   • Specific products or collections
7. Under Customer Eligibility, set who the rule applies to:
   • All customers
   • Customers with specific tags (useful for staff or VIP programs)
   • Selected customers
8. Under Guest Customer Behavior, choose:
   • Allow guest checkout: limits are enforced when the customer enters their email, no account required (recommended for most stores)
   • Require login: customers must have an account before purchasing
9. Save the rule

At this point, the limit tracks purchases but doesn’t reset. A customer who buys 2 units is blocked until you add the automated reset in step 2.

Step 2: Schedule monthly resets with Shopify Flow

Shopify Flow triggers the reset on a schedule you define.

1. Open Shopify Flow from your admin
2. Click Create workflow
3. Click Select a trigger and choose Scheduled time
4. Configure the schedule:
   • Frequency: Monthly
   • Day: 1st
   • Time: 12:00 AM (or whenever makes sense for your timezone)
5. Click Then to add an action
6. Search for DC Order Limits in the action list
7. Select Schedule limit resets
8. Choose which customer limit rules to reset (select the rule you created in step 1)
9. Click Turn on workflow

The workflow now runs automatically on the 1st of each month, clearing all tracked purchases for that rule.

The same approach works for any time period. Set the Flow trigger to run every day at midnight for daily limits, every Monday for weekly limits, or the 1st of January, April, July, and October for quarterly limits. You control the schedule; the customer limit rule handles the tracking.

Manual reset option

Don’t want to wait for the scheduled reset? You can reset limits anytime:

1. Open DC Order Limits
2. Go to Usage History
3. Find the customer or rule you want to reset
4. Click Reset

This is useful for mid-month adjustments or testing.

Step 3: Test that it works

Before announcing your new monthly program, verify everything works.

Test the limit:

1. Create a test customer account (or use your own email)
2. Add a limited product to cart
3. Complete checkout
4. Try to purchase again. You should see an error message explaining the limit.

Test the reset:

1. Go to DC Order Limits → Usage History
2. Find your test customer
3. Click Reset to clear their usage
4. Try purchasing again. It should succeed.

Check the error message. The default message explains the limit clearly. If you want to customize it, go to Settings → Messages in the app.

Different limits for different customer groups

You can create separate rules for different customer tags. For example:

Staff discount program:

• Create a rule with Customer Eligibility set to “Customers tagged with: staff”
• Set the limit to 5 units per month
• Apply to products tagged “staff-discount”

VIP early access:

• Create a rule for “Customers tagged with: vip”
• Set the limit to 2 units per month
• Apply to products tagged “limited-drop”

General customer fairness:

• Create a rule for “All customers”
• Set the limit to 1 unit per month
• Apply to specific high-demand products

Each rule can have its own reset schedule, or they can all reset together on the 1st.

Common use cases

Employee discount programs. Staff get a set number of units or a dollar amount at their discount each month. The limit resets on the 1st so they get a fresh allocation with each pay period.

Subscription box add-ons. Let subscribers add a few extra items per month at a discount, resetting with their billing cycle.

Membership perks. VIP customers get early access to a couple of limited items per month. Regular customers get access to whatever remains.

Sample programs. Let customers order free samples, but cap them per month to prevent abuse.

High-demand restocks. Each customer can buy a set amount per month, which keeps resellers from grabbing an entire restock in one sitting.

FAQs

Can I reset limits mid-month?

Yes. Go to Usage History in the app and reset individual customers or the entire rule. You can also trigger a manual Flow run if you’ve set one up.

What happens when a customer gets a refund?

Their quota is restored automatically. If someone buys 2 of their 2-unit limit and returns 1, they can purchase 1 more before the monthly reset.

Do limits work for guest checkout?

Yes. The app tracks purchase history by the email entered at checkout. No account is required for tracking to work; “Require login” is a separate, optional setting if you want the extra friction.

Can I set limits by dollar amount instead of quantity?

Yes. When creating the rule, choose “Maximum Spend” instead of “Maximum Quantity.” This works well for employee discount programs with a monthly budget.

What if a customer uses multiple email addresses?

Each email is tracked separately. If that’s a concern, consider the “Require login” option alongside Shopify’s own duplicate-account detection.

Troubleshooting

Limits aren’t resetting. Check that your Shopify Flow workflow is active and the schedule is correct. Confirm your limit configuration, then do a manual reset from Usage History to rule that out before checking the Flow trigger.

Customers seeing the wrong limit. Limits are tracked by email address. If a customer checks out as a guest with one email, then uses a different email later, those are tracked separately.

Need to reset mid-month. Reset manually from Usage History, or adjust your Flow schedule temporarily.

Summary

Monthly purchase limits combine two features:

1. Customer limits in DC Order Limits track purchases across orders, for guests and accounts alike
2. Shopify Flow resets those limits on a schedule you choose, most often the 1st of each month

The result: customers get a fresh allocation each month, staff discount programs stay fair, and high-demand products get distributed across your customer base instead of going to the fastest clickers.

For more on customer limits, see our guide on how to limit purchases to 1 per customer. For other Shopify Flow automations, check out unlocking the power of Shopify Flow with DC Order Limits.

Install DC Order Limits to start managing customer purchase limits with automatic resets.