The three sets
General Rules
the common case
- Cart total & subtotal
- Items in cart
- Customer tag & orders
- Country / ZIP
- Discounts
Product-Based Rules
depends what is bought
- Product tag & vendor
- Product title
- Product in cart
- Collection in cart
- Quantity of product
Advanced & Custom
custom data
- Cart attributes
- Applied discounts
- Address details
- Custom fields
A rule uses one column. Switching columns clears every condition you have added — so pick before you build, not halfway through.
| Set | Covers | Reach for it when |
|---|---|---|
| General Rules | Cart value, customer, location, discounts | The common case — most rules live here |
| Product-Based Rules | Products, collections, items in the cart | The rule depends on what is being bought |
| Advanced & Custom Rules | Cart attributes, applied discounts, address details, custom fields | You need cart attributes or custom data |
Some conditions appear in more than one set — Cart total is in all three — while others belong to just one. Product title is Product-Based only; Cart attribute is Advanced only.
Pick the set first
Switching clears your conditions
Changing the set on a rule you have already built discards every condition on it. The editor asks you to confirm first, but there is no undo. Decide the set before you start adding conditions, not halfway through.
Clip coming soon
Switching condition set — the confirmation, and the conditions being cleared
The practical approach: look at what your rule needs to check. If it is only cart value, customer or destination, stay on General. The moment you need a product, collection or variant, switch to Product-Based before building anything else.
What the set actually changes
Behind the scenes, the set decides which Shopify Function the rule runs on. There is a separate function for each combination of method type and set — six in total.
That matters for one reason: Shopify caps each store at 25 active payment customizations and 25 active delivery customizations, counted across every installed app. Rules in different sets draw on the same allowance for their method type, so mixing sets does not buy you more room.
See platform support.
Advanced conditions are flagged
When a rule uses cart attributes or applied discounts, the editor shows an Advanced conditions enabled banner. That is informational, not a warning — it tells you the rule is on the Advanced set so the presence of unusual conditions is not a surprise later.