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How to Create a Hidden Product for Sale via Your Shopify Online Store

This article shows you how to create a product in Shopify that’s hidden from search and collections—but still available for purchase through direct links or Rebuy widgets.

John Erck avatar
Written by John Erck
Updated over 2 weeks ago

🎯 We highly recommend using Shopify Functions for advanced gifting or discount logic instead of hidden products.

Step 1: Create a Custom Metafield in Shopify Admin

To start, you’ll need to create a custom metafield in Shopify. This metafield controls the visibility of the product.

How to do it:

  1. In your Shopify Admin, go to Settings > Metafields and metaobjects.

  2. Click on Products, then Add definition.

  3. Set the following fields:

    • Name: Hide Product

    • Namespace and key: seo.hidden

      Note: If you don’t see this section, click the metafield name to expand it.

  4. Click Select type and choose Integer.

  5. Click Save.

📝 Why seo.hidden?
This field is commonly used to control product visibility from SEO and internal search engines.

The Namespace and key section may be minimized when creating a new metafield definition. Click on "custom.hide_product" under the Name section to open up the Namespace and key input field.

Step 2: Update the Product Settings

Once the metafield is created:

  1. Go to the product you want to hide in Shopify Admin.

  2. Scroll down to the Metafields section.

  3. Find the Hide Product metafield and enter a value of 1.

  4. Click Save.

⚠️ Important: If you use automatic collections, be sure to exclude this product by setting a ruleset (e.g. exclude product type = hidden). Otherwise, it may still appear on your storefront.

⚠️ Important: If you use automatic collections, be sure to exclude this product by setting a ruleset (e.g. exclude product type = hidden). Otherwise, it may still appear on your storefront.n.

Step 3: Test and Fine-Tune

Please note that Rebuy does not have control over the above workflows as these are controlled by Shopify. If you are still experiencing issues with the above, please reach out to Shopify Support for assistance.


Optional: Hide from Rebuy Widgets

If you wish to prevent the product from being surfaced in Rebuy widgets that are using the Recommended AI endpoint, you will need to ensure you follow the steps in the guide linked below to apply the 'exclude_rebuy' product tag to the product's settings in Shopify Admin.

You can also add smart cart related product tags in to the gift in Shopify. These tags can disable or remove the quantity selectors and prevent customers from navigating the the gift's product page through the cart.

Once you have added the product tag in Shopify, be sure to resync your product data in Rebuy Admin by following the guide linked below to ensure that Rebuy detects the newly applied product tag.


Migrating from Other Metafield Apps

If you used a third-party metafield app (like Metafields Guru) and see an error saying “Namespace and key are already taken”, follow this workaround:

  1. Visit this link (replace with your store's domain):
    https://yourdomain.myshopify.com/admin/settings/custom_data/product/metafields/migrate/seo/hidden

  2. Complete the product definition.

  3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 above.


Limitations

  • Rebuy does not currently support true Buy One, Get One (BOGO) or Buy X Get X promotions when the qualifying product and the gifted product are identical and require matching quantities.

    • For example, these scenarios are not natively supported:

      • Buy 1, Get 1 Free of the same product

      • Buy 2, Get 2 Free of the same SKU

      • Buy 3, Get 1 Free of the same variant

    • This limitation applies to all widgets and cart types using Rebuy logic. The challenge lies in tracking matching quantity conditions and applying a gift or discount automatically when the item is already in the cart—without duplicating or conflicting with existing cart logic

  • To work around this, we recommend: Creating a hidden duplicate of the product you want to offer as a gift as outlined in this document.


FAQs

What should I do if the Shopify product page for the product remains visible?

If the product page of the gift is not concealed, this guide will demonstrate a workaround by eliminating the Add to Cart Button from the gift's product page.

My hidden product is showing up in search—how do I fix this?

If you’d like to hide the product from Shopify search then follow the steps outlined in the Hide Products From Shopify Search article.

Why is my hidden product showing up in Rebuy widgets?

If you’d like to prevent the product from showing up in Rebuy widgets then follow the steps outlined in the Hide Products From Being Recommended guide here.


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