Understanding Remote Products
Starting October 9, 2025, Shopify introduces remote products—items originating from external sources, such as other stores. This feature is optional and restricted to select eligible stores.
What are Remote Products?
- Remote products are sourced from external Shopify stores or other linked inventories.
- They appear in storefronts but come with unique attributes and limitations.
- Their shipping and discount rules differ from local products owned by the store.
Recommendations for Your App
If your Shopify app relies on the Cart Ajax API for operations like free shipping qualification or cart discount application, it's crucial to account for the following adjustments:
Handle Free Shipping Qualifications
- Exclude remote products from free shipping logic, as their shipping is managed separately by the origin store.
Apply Discounts Correctly
- Ensure cart discounts only target products owned by the local store, excluding remote products.
Improve Abandoned Cart Recovery Features
- Do not attempt recovery for remote products as their URLs expire after a defined time frame, making tracking unreliable.
Identifying Remote Products
To implement these recommendations, you need to identify remote products:
- Use the Cart Ajax API response to locate the attribute remote: true on cart line items.
- Currently, remote products appear in Storefront API responses without distinguishing attributes. Shopify is working on adding support for easier identification.
Key Considerations
Remote products are not included in Shopify Function inputs, meaning Shopify Function operations cannot target them.