Overall Purchase Limit

What is Overall Purchase Limit?

*This feature is currently only available for whitelisted sellers.

Overall Purchase Limit (OPL) is a new setting that can be set by a seller in the product listing page. The objectives are:

1. To allow whitelisted sellers to set maximum purchase quantity. OPL is set on item-level and will have top priority over promotion purchase limits and minimum purchase quantity
2. To provide multiple entry points for sellers

How will this feature help the sellers?

Below are the business examples on how sellers can benefit this feature:

1. Allow buyers to purchase max 10 quantity of infant milk powder per order due to shipment size restrictions
2. Allow buyers to purchase max 5 quantity of Starbucks vouchers between 1st April 2021 to 30th April 2021 to prevent voucher hoarding during launch
3. Allow buyers to purchase max 20 quantity of face mask boxes every 30 days due to scarcity and limited supply

How can sellers obtain Overall Purchase Limit feature?

To get this feature, please sign up via this form.

What are the types of purchase limits available?

Below are the maximum purchase quantity types:

1. None (Default setting)
2. Per Order
3. Per Time Period
4. Single Period
5. Recurring Period

How to set the purchase limit?

You can find this setting under edit listing page by going to Seller Center > (1)My Product > (2)Add New Listing > (3)Product Details > (4)Sales Information

1. Maximum Purchase Quantity Per Order

Allow sellers to set the maximum purchase quantity of an item, across all models, per order.

Maximum Purchase Quantity

1. Quantity = 1 to 999,999

Example

1. If seller sets quantity = 10, buyer can purchase up to 10 quantity of this item per order
2. Buyer is able to make repeated orders of up to 10 quantity subjected to total stock availability

Business Use Cases

1. Shipping restrictions for bulky or heavy items (maximum weight or size or box for economical shipping)

2. Maximum Purchase Quantity Per Time Period

1. Allow sellers to set the maximum purchase quantity of an item, across all models, throughout a defined time period, regardless of the total number of orders made
2. Supports both single and recurring period setting
3. Maximum of 29 recurring periods after the first period
4. Start time is default 00:00 and end time is default 23:59 in local time zone

A. Single period

Start date

1. Earliest start date = {tomorrow}
2. Latest start date = 365 days from {today}

Maximum purchase quantity

1. Quantity = 1 to 999,999
2. Duration = 1 to 365 days

Example

Seller sets 10 quantity limit for 30 days from 23-06-2021 to 22-07-2021. Within this period, buyer can only purchase limit of 10 quantity regardless of number of total orders made. The OPL will go back to “None” once the specified period has ended.

⚠️Note 

Start time is default 00:00. End time is default 23:59. All in the local time zone.

Business use cases

1. Combine with promotion purchase limit to prevent over purchase of item stock at normal price during promotion period.
2. Example: Playstation flash sale starts tomorrow, 25 units are available and the limit can be set at 1 purchase per person.
3. Other time-limited promotion or campaign use cases.
4. Example: Limited Starbucks vouchers to be given within a specific period of time and can be limited at 1 voucher purchase per person.
5. Items with scarce supply during a fixed period of time.
6. Example: Factory is damaged so seller wants to limit how many items each buyer can purchase till Factory is repaired to prevent Out Of Stock (OOS) situation.

B. Recurring

End Date

1. End Date appears when sellers select recurring period model
2. It defines the ultimate end date when the final recurring period will end
3. Sellers can set a maximum of 30 periods in total (1st period + up to 29 recurring periods after)

Example

1. Start date = 23-06-2021
2. Maximum purchase quantity = 10 quantity
3. Days = 30 days
4. End date = 20-10-2021

Buyers can purchase up to 10 quantity of the item every 30 days from 23-06-2021 until 20-10-2021. With this, buyers can purchase 4 times within the set period. 

⚠️Note 

Purchase Quota is refreshed on 00:00 of the 1st day of each 30 day period cycle.

Business Use Cases

1. Periodically limit the sales of digital products to prevent credit card fraud.
2. Example: Buyers can purchase a max of 5 game credit, gift vouchers or subscription codes every 2 months
3. For items where demand is more than supply for a long prolonged period of time
4. Example: Buyers can purchase up to 3 boxes of Face masks every 3 months during pandemic period.

⚠️Note 

You can only have 1 type of OPL set on an item at any point in time.

How to set purchase limit using Mass Upload?

1. Mass upload is for new items.
2. All instructions are provided on the mass upload template on SC.
3. Retrieve template from: Mass Update > Download > Sales Info > Generate > Download

You will need to fill in the following fields for:

Maximum Purchase Quantity Per Order: (1)

Maximum Purchase Quantity Per Time Period: (1), (2), (3), (4)

Ensure all end dates are inputted in YYYY-MM-DD format and calculated using the formula of

Single period: [start date + time period - 1]

Recurring period: [start date + (time period x desired periods in total) -1)]

Example: Start date 2021-05-01, time period = 10 days, if you want the limit to repeat twice (3 periods in total), end date = 2021-05-30

How to set purchase limit using Mass Update?

1. Mass update is for existing items.
2. All instructions are provided in the mass update template on SC, with the same input logic to that of mass upload.
3. Retrieve template from: Mass Update > Download > Sales Info > Generate > Download

Fill in the following fields accordingly:

Maximum Purchase Quantity Per Order: (1)

Maximum Purchase Quantity Per Time Period: (1), (2), (3), (4)

4. To delete OPL, remove all entries in all 4 fields.

What are the changes when configuring active OPL settings?

1. Maximum Purchase Quantity Per Order
2. All changes are allowed and immediate as there is no time factor.
3. Example: Set 10 quantity per order on 01-05-2021. Then, increased quantity to 25 Qty per order on 01-10-2021. Changes take effect immediately,
4. Maximum Purchase Limit Per Time Period
5. Any attempt to change Quantity, Duration (days), Period Type or End Date will result in an error message “Earliest start date is {tomorrow}".

Seller has to select {tomorrow} as the new start date and make changes to Qty, Duration, Period Type or End Date. The new configuration will overwrite the old one.

b. Example: 10 quantity every 5 days, from 01-05-2021 to 15-05-2021 (3 periods). On 07-05-2021, the seller decides to increase to 15 quantity every 5 days. A new Per Time Period OPL has to be set with the earliest start date = {tomorrow}.

How does the purchase limit work with the wholesale price?

Maximum Purchase Quantity should ideally be greater than the minimum order of any wholesale tier, for buyers to enjoy wholesale prices. 

How does the purchase limit work with Minimum Purchase Quantity (MPQ)?

Minimum Purchase Quantity must be less than or equal to the Maximum Purchase Quantity.

In the event that Minimum Purchase Quantity is greater than Maximum Purchase Quantity for both Per Order and Per Time Period OPL, an error message is displayed. 

Recommended settings change to both features are also provided concurrently

In the event that Maximum Purchase Quantity is less than Minimum order of wholesale tier 1, a reminder will appear below the Wholesale Row.