Documentation / Drop Configuration

Creating a Policy

A policy is the set of rules FairDrop applies to a product at checkout. This guide walks you through building a policy, scheduling when it enforces, and activating it.

Before you start

–You're on Shopify Plus — checkout enforcement is Plus-only
–FairDrop is installed and the Cart Gate app embed is enabled in your theme editor
–The products you want to protect already exist in your Shopify admin

Open the Policy editor

In your Shopify admin, go to Apps → FairDrop, then click Policies in the left navigation. Click New Policy in the top-right corner.

Name your policy

Give your policy a name that identifies the drop — for example, “Summer 2026 Sneaker Drop” or “Members-Only VIP Gate”. Names are only visible to you in the FairDrop admin.

Choose your rules

Enable any combination of the rules. Each one is independent — turn on as many as your drop requires.

Account required

Buyers must be signed in to a Shopify customer account to check out. Guests see a prompt to log in or create an account.

Recommended for: All protected drops. This is the baseline rule.

VIP tags

Only buyers whose Shopify account carries one of the selected tags can proceed. Tags use OR semantics — one matching tag is enough.

Recommended for: Members-only drops and brand loyalty programs.

Quantity cap

Limits how many units of a protected item a single order can contain. Enter any number from 1 to 99.

Recommended for: Drops where per-order limits matter (e.g. max 1 pair per order).

Passkey verification

Buyers must pass a biometric challenge — Face ID, Touch ID, or Windows Hello — on your storefront before checkout. Requires Account required to be on.

Recommended for: High-demand drops where you want the strongest bot protection.

Schedule the enforcement window

Enforcement runs on a schedule you set — not a switch you leave on. Choose a start date and time, an end date and time, and a timezone. A window can be up to 30 days long.

–Enforcement turns on 1 minute before your start time and turns off at your end time.
–You can edit the window right up until it starts. Once it starts, it locks.

One purchase, one window

A window runs once. When it ends, the policy is Expired— you can't extend, reschedule, or re-run it. To protect the drop again, create a new policy. (Pausing mid-window is different — that's reversible and free; see When enforcement runs.)

Apply to products

Click Save Policy, then Apply to Products to attach the policy to the products or variants you want to protect. One policy can be applied to multiple products.

Activate

When you're ready, activate the policy — this is what makes it eligible to enforce during its window. Your first drop is free (one policy protecting one product, all its variants included). Any other drop — or a first drop covering more than one product — shows a one-time price before you pay: 0.5% of the drop's sell-out value, with a $100 minimum. See Pricing for the full breakdown.

Just want to watch first? Use Monitor

Not ready to commit? Turn on Monitorfrom the policy — a free button that logs what would happen when shoppers try to buy your protected drop, without blocking anyone. It needs no purchase and no schedule, so you can observe real traffic before you pay for enforcement. It's a before-the-window preview: when you schedule a window, it takes over from Monitor and starts blocking on its own — you don't have to switch Monitor off first.

← Previous

Pricing

Policy Rules Reference