When creating a Bundle as A Product (BAP), there are two options, to add them as a single product to the cart (Single-BAP), or to have them be added as individual products in separate lines (Multi-BAP). (Product mix-and-match bundles can only be Multi-BAPs)
The Dummy Product
When you have a Multi-BAP, the product created in Shopify is a placeholder product or a dummy product that will not actually ever be added to the cart and bought. Instead, the items in the bundle are added to the cart.
The correct way to add the Multi-BAP to the cart
What does it mean for the Multi BAP to be correctly added to the cart? Is there a wrong way to add the Multi BAP?
The answer is yes! The Multi BAP gets correctly added to the cart only if it is added through the "add to cart" button on the PDP of the bundle product. When it is added by clicking on the button provided by the app, as is shown below, the included products of the bundle will be added to the cart instead of the dummy product and the bundle will be added correctly.
Invalid BAP
If the Multi-BAP is added through any other way (other add-to-cart buttons that might appear on collection pages suggested products on the cart page or cart drawer, featured products on the homepage, draft orders with the dummy product, etc.) the dummy product will be added and the bundle will be added incorrectly. This is what we call an Invalid BAP. When this dummy product is added, the inventory will not pull correctly from the individual products, and the variants of the individual products will also not appear on the order.
Invalid BAP example
Let's take the "Black Friday Set" bundle as an example.
This is how the bundle as a product (BAP) looks on its product page.
And it's supposed to get added to the cart when you click on the Add to Cart button as shown in the image below (separate items):
But sometimes, the bundle as a product itself gets added to the cart incorrectly as illustrated:
The Invalid BAP problem goes beyond how items are displayed in the cart; it can affect how things are reflected in the order. For example, if you have product variants, you'd want those variants to be correctly accounted for. So this matter needs to be addressed.
Solutions
Set your Multi-BAP to a Single-BAP
If your bundle is a basic bundle, you change this setting by clicking on your bundle and changing it in Bundle information, the product on Shopify will no longer be a dummy product and can be added to the cart like any other shopify product.
Note that changing the Multi-BAP to a Single-BAP may not be always possible. The Single-BAP's total variants should not exceed Shopify's variant limit for a single product. Read more
Remove the buttons
Remove the additional add-to-cart buttons on your theme that are causing the dummy product to get added to the cart. You can also contact our support team to remove them for you.
Invalid BAP modal
Contact Support to activate it. This feature detects the invalid bap in the cart and shows a pop-up to the customer allowing them to fix their cart. Read the guide on the Invalid BAP modal to learn more.