WooCommerce VS Shopify: Control or Convenience?

Shopify nightmare scenario: Getting locked out while sales are still live

If you are in the process of choosing an e-commerce platform, you are probably aware that there’s ongoing debate between two most popular platforms, Shopify and WooCommerce. 

So, which is the best solution for your online store? There are many articles comparing and analyzing these two platforms based on pricing, sales features, marketing integrations, store design, setup, store security, help and support…

But there’s one particular difference that motivated us to join the discussion: who controls your business when things go wrong?

Consider what happened to one Shopify seller:

Established seller on Shopify thinking of switching to WooCommerce because Shopify withheld over 50k payout over 60 days due to “technical error” on Shopify end. In order to fix, Shopify required us to relink our payout account, which triggered a fraud warning and caused Shopify to lock admin account and have been waiting days to fix.

I understand the fraud warning is protection, but they offer no support for “security authentication” besides waiting after uploading documents. It’s really annoying that platform can just lock out admin account because of their own glitch.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only time we’ve heard about Shopify’s fraud detection being overly aggressive and their support in this kind of situation basically non-existent. And we can all agree that getting locked out while sales are still live is super stressful!

This is a perfect example of the control trade-off between these two platforms. In this article, we’ll examine what this means for your business.

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns your WordPress website into an online store. WordPress handles your website, while WooCommerce adds shopping cart functionality, product pages, checkout, order management and all the e-commerce basics you need to sell your products online.

WooCommerce was created in 2011 and is now owned by Automattic (the same company behind WordPress.com). Since it’s open-source, you can modify it however you want, and there’s a massive ecosystem of extensions and plugins built around it. According to 2025 data from multiple tracking services, WooCommerce holds approximately 20% market share among e-commerce websites, powering around 4.5 million active stores globally. Its popularity comes from its integration with WordPress, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a hosted e-commerce platform that gives you everything you need to run an online store. Founded in 2006, it’s basically an all-in-one solution where Shopify handles web hosting, security, updates, payment processing, and infrastructure.

As a store owner, you simply choose a template, customize it to fit your brand, add products, and start selling. For this, you pay a monthly subscription (starting at $29 / €27 per month for basic plans), and Shopify takes care of all the technical backend stuff. As a leading SaaS solution, data shows that in 2025, Shopify holds approximately 26-30% market share globally, supporting nearly 4.6 million stores worldwide.

Control or Convenience: The Core Trade-off

Here’s the key thing to understand: Shopify offers convenience, while WooCommerce offers control.

With WooCommerce, you own everything, but you also become responsible for everything. You need to find your own hosting, handle your own security, choose your payment processor, and manage updates. Think of it like getting a free toolkit: the tools don’t cost you anything, but you need a workshop to use them in, and you need to know how to use them (or hire someone who does).

For some businesses, that’s perfect because they get complete control without platform fees. For others, it’s more responsibility than they want to deal with. It really depends on whether you value ownership and flexibility over having someone else handle the technical stuff.

With Shopify, it’s the other way around: you get convenience, but you give up control. Shopify decides what features you can use, what you can customize, and how your store operates. If they don’t offer the functionality you need, you’re either stuck or you have to find a third-party app that might work.

You’re also playing by their rules: if their fraud detection flags your account, if they decide to freeze your payouts, or if their system glitches, you can’t fix it yourself. You have to wait for their support team to sort it out. For many businesses, especially those just starting out or those who don’t want to manage technical details, that’s a perfectly acceptable trade-off. But for others who need specific customization or who’ve experienced platform limitations firsthand, it can be a dealbreaker.

The WooCommerce Advantage: Complete Control

When it comes to e-commerce platforms, here is the honest truth: there are trade-offs no matter which route you take. It’s all about aligning your business goals and needs with the platform’s strengths. 

Shopify is great until important functionality like payment processing / admin access becomes an issue. Then support can feel frustratingly unresponsive while your business sits frozen. When you don’t fully control your platform, you’re at their mercy.

That’s where WooCommerce shines. If payment processing stops,  you can enable your backup payment processor. You won’t get locked out of your own admin panel, and if you need help, you can hire any WooCommerce developer.

Just as their slogan says: WooCommerce lets you build the exact store you need, with total control over everything from your data to your profits.

Many businesses we’ve worked with after switching to WooCommerce say the biggest win is control. No platform locking you out; your payments, hosting, and backups remain in your hands. With the right setup, we usually see smoother operations and better long-term scalability since every detail can be fine-tuned.

Should You Switch to WooCommerce?

The answer is not simple, because there’s no universal “best” platform. There’s only the right fit for your business, so the decision comes down to your technical resources, growth plans, and how much control you need over your store.

 Here’s how to decide which platform fits your business:

Criteria and Scenarios for Choosing WooCommerce vs Shopify

Business Type / Need Recommended Platform Rationale
Small Store Wanting Quick Launch Shopify Easy setup, no technical skills needed, predictable monthly fees.
Small Budget-Conscious Store with Technical Skills WooCommerce Free core plugin means lower costs long-term, but requires setup investment.
Established Business Needing Customization WooCommerce Greater control over customization, scalability, and integrations as the business expands.
Business with Complex Product Configurations WooCommerce Flexibility to build bespoke product options and integrations, ideal for niche markets.
Businesses Requiring High Control over Data & Security WooCommerce Full ownership of data, hosting environment, and security measures.
Businesses Lacking Technical Resources Shopify Managed hosting, built-in security, and support reduce technical burdens.
Businesses Prioritizing Fast Launch & Ease of Use Shopify Intuitive interface, quick setup, and built-in payment and marketing features.
Business with Unique or Extensive Integrations WooCommerce Open-source architecture allows deeper customization and third-party integrations.
Large, Established Retailers or Enterprise-Level Businesses WooCommerce Greater scalability, control, and integration capabilities for high-volume operations.

And here are key differences between these two e-commerce platforms:

Quick comparison of key differences:

Feature / Aspect WooCommerce Shopify
Control & Ownership Complete control over data, hosting, and customizations. Limited control; powered by Shopify’s platform.
Ease of Setup & Use Requires technical skills for setup and maintenance. User-friendly, quick setup, no technical skills required.
Cost Free core plugin; hosting $30-100/month, maintenance $100-200/month. Subscription-based; predictable monthly fees, includes hosting.
Customization & Flexibility Highly customizable via plugins and code. Limited to built-in features and app ecosystem.
Security & Maintenance User responsible for security, backups, and updates. Shopify manages security, backups, and updates.
Scalability Excellent for scalable, high-volume stores with technical support. Suitable for small to medium stores; large stores may need Shopify Plus ($2,000+/month) or face transaction fee burden.
Support & Ecosystem Community forums and documentation; hire any developer for direct support. Professional 24/7 support; extensive app marketplace.
Freedom from Platform Lock-in High; you can migrate easily with proper setup. Lower; migrating away can be complex and costly.

Before You Switch to WooCommerce

If you choose WooCommerce as your store platform, here are two key things to be careful about:

  1. Invest in quality hosting.  Don’t go for a cheap option, since your hosting is the foundation of your store. Make sure you can start with small plan and upgrade to proper solution as you grow.
  2. Work with competent developers. If you don’t have technical experience, hire someone competent to set it up for you. With WooCommerce you can really extend your platform to be exactly the functionality you need, but you need a good setup. This is especially important if you’re dealing with migration of all your customer data, order history, and SEO, because that can be tricky!

We’ve managed many WooCommerce websites and spend a lot of time fixing issues that come up over time, not because of WooCommerce itself, but because of how things were built at the start. Many store owners begin by experimenting and installing a lot of plugins and ignore scalability until it becomes a problem. When that happens, troubleshooting can take valuable time that could’ve been avoided with the right setup from day one.

Conclusion

WooCommerce requires more technical knowledge than Shopify, but it offers something valuable in return: complete control over your business.

You’ll need quality hosting, competent technical help, and proper setup from day one. But in return, no platform can lock you out, freeze your payouts, or limit your growth just because some software tool marked your shop as “suspicious”. If you’re ready to invest in hosting and development, WooCommerce gives you the freedom to build exactly the store you need, without being at the mercy of platform glitches or support delays.

Need Expert WooCommerce Help?

At wpgenie, we specialize in WooCommerce plugins, hosting, and performance optimization. Whether you’re migrating from Shopify or scaling your existing store, our team can help you build a faster, more reliable e-commerce platform.

Contact us today!

How to Bulk Delete Users by Email Address

If you’re running a WordPress site with user registration enabled, chances are you’ve faced problems similar to this:

“How can I delete over 10,000 bot accounts who have signed up to my site? “

Or something like this:

“I have over 2,000 email addresses with hard bounces in Mailchimp. How can I upload csv list or copy paste 2k email addresses to be removed from WordPress?“

While the clever answer might be “you need to stop the signups by bots”, that won’t solve your problem.

Maintaining your database  is important, and if you’re stuck with thousands of unwanted accounts (regardless of whether they are spam accounts or inactive users), you need an efficient way to remove them. So what is the best way to manage this problem? In this tutorial, we’ll look into bulk deletion of WordPress user accounts by e-mail, and show you how to automate this task.

What Is Bulk Deletion?

Bulk deletion means removing multiple items at once instead of deleting them one by one.

In WordPress, you can bulk delete users, posts, pages or even installed plugins. It’s a fast and simple way to remove a list of posts that aren’t relevant, plugins you no longer use or user accounts you don’t want in your database. This article focuses on bulk deletion of users by email address.

Instead of searching for each user account individually in your WordPress dashboard, there’s an option to  provide a list of email addresses and delete all matching accounts in one operation.

When to Bulk Delete Users by Email?

There are several situations where you need to delete multiple users based on their e-mail addresses, and here are the most common:

1. Getting rid of spam accounts

If spam bots have created fake accounts on your WordPress site, you might have thousands of unwanted users.  Once you’ve identified the spam email addresses, you need an efficient way to remove them, preferably all at once.

2. Cleaning up invalid, fake, or closed email accounts

In your database there are lots of  email addresses that permanently fail delivery. These could be typos, fake addresses, or closed accounts. There’s no point keeping these user accounts in your WordPress database if you can’t contact them.

3. Processing GDPR deletion requests

Under GDPR, you’re legally required to delete user data without undue delay when requested. If you receive multiple deletion requests at once, or need to remove users where you no longer have a legal basis to store their data, it’s practical to remove them with bulk deletion.

4. Database consolidation after migration When merging two WordPress sites or cleaning up duplicate accounts during migration, you often have a specific list of email addresses that need removal from one database.

Bulk Deletion of Users via WP Dashboard

Within the list of Users on a WordPress site, there is an option to select all the accounts you want to remove and delete them in a single operation.

While bulk deleting users via the WordPress dashboard is always an option, it may take more time to manage depending on the scale of the project. The problem is you need to manually find each account first. If you have a list of email addresses, you’d need to search for each one individually, select it one by one, then delete.  If you’re working with hundreds or thousands of unwanted user accounts, there will be a lot of time-consuming manual searching and repetitive clicking.

Using a plugin that automates this process may be the preferred route. This is why we recommend our free Bulk Delete Users by Email plugin.

Overview of the Bulk Delete Users by Email plugin

Bulk Delete Users by Email enables bulk deletion by allowing you to input a list of email addresses in plain text format.  It automatically matches email addresses to user accounts and deletes them along with all associated data and metadata.

This plugin provides a simple, effective way for WordPress administrators to remove multiple user accounts using email addresses. Designed for high-volume operations, it employs batch processing to prevent server timeouts and ensure reliable execution.

Step-by-Step Guide to Bulk Delete Users by Email

Let’s look at how to efficiently remove multiple users using their email addresses.

Step 1: Install the Plugin

Go to your WordPress dashboard → Plugins → Add New. Search for “Bulk Delete Users by Email,” then click Install Now and Activate.

Bulk Delete Users by Email plugin is free for download so there’s no additional cost for your database cleanup.

Step 2: Prepare Your Email List

Before using the plugin, gather the email addresses you want to delete. This could come from:

  • A CSV export based on desired criteria
  • A spreadsheet of spam email addresses you’ve identified
  • Manual collection of accounts to remove

Format your list with one email address per line:

user1@example.com
user2@example.com
spambot123@fakeemail.com

Step 3: Access the Bulk Delete Page

After activation, go to Users → Bulk Delete by Email in your WordPress admin menu.

Step 4: Paste Your Email List

In the “Bulk Delete by Email” screen, you’ll see a text area where you can paste your email addresses.

Copy your list of email addresses and paste them into this field. The plugin accepts any number of addresses.

Step 5: Prepare for Deletion

Click the “Prepare for Deletion” button. The plugin will:

  • Check which email addresses match existing WordPress accounts
  • Display a preview of users that will be deleted
  • Show any email addresses that don’t match accounts (typos or already-deleted users)

Step 6: Confirm Deletion

Review the list of users that will be deleted. Make sure everything looks correct.

When you’re ready, confirm the deletion. The plugin will process the deletion in batches to prevent server timeouts.

Important:

User deletion is permanent and irreversible. The plugin deletes all user data and metadata, and there will be no option for attributing content to another user. Always back up your database before performing bulk deletions, especially for large operations!

Best Practices for Bulk User Deletion

1. Always back up your database first

Before any bulk deletion operation, create a complete database backup. If something goes wrong, you can restore your site to its previous state.

2. Test with a small batch first

If you’re deleting thousands of users, start with a small test batch (10-20 users) to make sure the process works as expected.

3. Clean up in stages

Instead of deleting 10,000 users at once, consider breaking it into smaller batches:

  • Day 1: Delete obvious spam patterns
  • Day 2: Delete bounced email addresses
  • Day 3: Delete inactive users with no content

This gives you time to verify each stage before moving to the next.

4. Document what you’re deleting

Keep a record of which email addresses you deleted and why. This helps if you need to:

  • Restore specific accounts later
  • Explain why certain users were removed
  • Identify patterns in spam registrations

5. Review user roles before deleting

Make sure you’re not accidentally deleting users with important roles (administrators, editors, shop managers). Filter your email list to exclude these roles before bulk deletion.

Conclusion

Bulk deleting WordPress users by email address doesn’t need to be a manual, time-consuming process. With the right plugin, you can efficiently remove spam accounts, clean up bounced email addresses, or delete inactive users in minutes instead of hours.

Whether you’re cleaning up after a spam attack, processing GDPR deletion requests, or removing inactive users, having an efficient bulk deletion method saves significant time and reduces errors.

Install Bulk Delete Users by Email, back up your database, and clean up your user accounts efficiently!

What Users are Saying

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Greatest thing since sliced bread

Too bad this is so hard to find in the ocean of WordPress plugins. At least once per year you should send an email to every registered user and nuke all of the accounts with emails that bounce. Just paste the list in and go!

by seasoned_geek on WordPress.org

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Simple, but impressive

I had a list of inactive email addresses, so this plugin helped me to delete all these addresses out of my WordPress database.

by leenvr76 on WordPress.org

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Awesome!

Fantastic, easy plugin and still works with WP 4.8.1! Thank you so much for saving me tons of time!

by mj4455 on WordPress.org

How to Run a WooCommerce Storewide Sale in 5 Minutes

Let’s talk about a well-known scenario that many webstore owners are about to face: Black Friday is just around the corner, and you want to put your entire WooCommerce store on sale.

So, you Google “How to reduce prices for all products in my store?” and “WooCommerce discount plugin” and find an overwhelming number of options, loaded with 100+ features, complicated rules, and documentation so detailed it might take you a year to get through.

And all you wanted was to discount everything by 25%.

There has to be a simpler way. And there is.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to simply and easily set up a storewide sale in your WooCommerce shop, schedule start and end dates, and display sale notices to your customers, all in under 5 minutes.

What is a Storewide Sale?

A storewide sale applies the same discount to every product in your WooCommerce store at once. Instead of setting sale prices for each item manually, you define one global discount that adjusts the prices across your entire catalog.

For example, a 25% storewide discount drops a $100 product to $75. A $50 item becomes $37.50. The discount is applied proportionally across your entire store.

When to Use Storewide Sales

Storewide sales are ideal for short-term, high-impact promotions. Common use cases include:

  • Black Friday and Cyber Monday
    The most popular example. You can offer 25% off everything for a few days to compete with other stores and boost sales.
  • End-of-Season Clearances
    You want to clear out last season’s inventory, so you take 50% off your summer collection to make room for fall.
  • Store Anniversaries
    To celebrate your store’s birthday, you are having a sitewide weekend sale with everything 20% off
  • Flash Sales
    You can create urgency with a 24-hour, all-product sale, which is perfect for a quick revenue boost.
  • Holiday Promotions
    Your customers love discounted prices, and yes, they expect Christmas, New Year’s, or Valentine’s Day sales

When Not to Use Storewide Sales

Storewide discounts aren’t the right tool for every type of promotion. For example, if you need:

  • Product-Specific Offers
    You want to promote certain items with buy-one-get-one deals or product bundles rather than discounting your entire inventory.
  • Role-Based Pricing
    You need different pricing for different customer groups, like offering wholesale prices to business customers while keeping retail prices for regular shoppers.
  • Quantity-Based Discounts
    You want to reward bulk purchases, such as offering 10% off when customers buy 5 or more items.
  • Cart- or Behavior-Based Conditions
    You’re targeting specific shopping behaviors, like giving a discount only on orders over $100 or rewarding repeat customers.
  • Group Buy Discounts
    You want to offer deals that apply when multiple customers commit to purchasing, like offering 20% off a product once 50 people sign up to buy it.

For these, you’ll need a more complex discount plugin with advanced features. There are plenty of discount plugins out there, and you need to choose one that aligns with your needs.

And if you want to keep it simple and just offer a storewide discount, there’s a easy solution.

Options for Applying Storewide Sales in Your WooCommerce Shop

When it comes to running a storewide sale in WooCommerce, you have two options. You can either manually update each product’s sale price, or use a plugin to automate the process. Let’s look at both approaches.

The manual approach

WooCommerce has an option to set sale prices on individual products, but you need to do this product by product, and with hundreds of products, this can take hours, because you’d need to:

  1. Open each product
  2. Enter the sale price
  3. Set start and end dates
  4. Repeat for every product

It’s not practical, especially during a busy promotion period like Black Friday. Or, let’s be honest: it’s not practical, period.

Using discount plugins

The other way is to use one of WooCommerce discount plugins that can handle storewide sales. But the thing is, most of them are designed for much more complex scenarios.

They usually include features like bulk discounts, quantity discounts, product specific discounts, dynamic pricing, buy one and get one free (BOGO) deals, auto-apply coupons, free shipping discounts, bundle offers and more.

These tools are powerful and flexible. But if all you want is a simple discount across your entire store, that level of complexity can get in the way. You’ll spend extra time configuring rules, navigating multiple settings pages, and maintaining a plugin designed for much more than your current need

It’s no wonder that many store owners avoid running storewide sales, not because they don’t want to, but because it’s either too complicated or takes too much time.

Manually updating hundreds of products? That’s hours of work. Installing a complex discount plugin with 50 settings? That’s overwhelming, especially when you just want a simple 25% off everything.

This is exactly why we recommend Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce. It removes the complexity and gives you what you actually need: a way to launch a storewide sale in minutes, not hours. Whether it’s Black Friday or a flash sale, you can set it up quickly and get back to running your business.


Overview of Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce

If you’re only looking to run storewide sale with same percentage discount for all products, you don’t need a feature-heavy discount plugin. What you need is a specialized plugin built for this exact purpose.

This is where Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce comes in.

This simple but effective plugin lets you apply a global percentage discount across your entire product catalog in just a few clicks. It focuses on one task: making it easy to run storewide sales for events like Black Friday, flash sales, and clearances.

Instead of managing individual product prices or complex discount rules, this plugin allows you to set a single percentage discount that applies across your entire catalog.

Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce also offers the option to schedule start and end dates with exact times and to enable a sale notification that attracts and informs your customers.

And what’s most important, the setup is easy, user-friendly, and requires minimal configuration.

How it works

The plugin uses WooCommerce’s price filters to modify product prices on-the-fly. This means:

  • No database updates for individual products
  • Instant activation and deactivation
  • Works with any number of products
  • No performance impact on large catalogs

So, whether you’re running a Black Friday promotion or a quick flash sale, your store updates prices instantly without slowing down your site. This works regardless of catalog size (whether you have 50 products or 50,000).

When you enable a storewide sale, the plugin hooks into WooCommerce’s pricing system and applies the discount percentage at display time. When the sale ends, prices return to normal automatically.

What makes it different

Sale notice

Simple Storewide Sale has an option for sale notice. This allows you to enter a site-wide message shown to everyone visiting your store. You can add and display messages to your customers like: “BLACK FRIDAY: 30% OFF EVERYTHING! Ends Monday!” on your store pages.

Performance approach

The plugin doesn’t update sale prices in your database. It uses filters to modify prices when they’re displayed. This makes activation instant and keeps your database clean.

Focused scope

The plugin does one thing: storewide sales. This makes setup faster and the interface simpler.

Step-by-Step Guide for Setting Up Your First Storewide Sale

Setting up your storewide sale takes less than 5 minutes.

For example, this is how to set up a Black Friday sale, 30% off everything, from November 29 to December 2.

Installation

Go to your WordPress dashboard → Plugins → Add New. Search for “Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce,” then click Install Now and Activate.

Configure WooCommerce Settings

Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Simple Storewide Sale tab

Check Enable storewide sale

In the Discount amount field, enter 30 (for 30% off)

Set Sale start date and time: November 29, 2025, 00:00

Set Sale end date and time: December 2, 2025, 23:59

To add and display a sale notice:

Click Enable storewide sale notice and enter a message in the text area: BLACK FRIDAY SALE! 30% OFF EVERYTHING! Ends Monday at Midnight!

Click Save Changes.

The sale is now active and will automatically start and end at the specified time.

When the sale starts, visit your store to verify:

  • Product prices show the discount
  • Original prices display with strikethrough
  • Sale notice appears at the top

Free vs PRO version

Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce plugin is available in both a free version, available in the WordPress plugin repository, and a premium version with advanced features.

PRO version features

For store owners who need advanced features and customization, but still want to keep it simple, the PRO version offers:

Fixed amount discounts

Instead of percentage discounts, you can apply a fixed amount off all products (for example, “$10 off everything”). Fixed amount discounts work best when your products have a wide price range and you want every customer to receive the same monetary value. While percentage discounts are great for most general sales, fixed amounts work well for targeted promotions like loyalty rewards or abandoned cart recovery, hitting specific final price points in clearances, and protecting margins on lower-priced items.

Include/exclude filters

  • Products

Exclude specific products from the storewide sale. Useful when you have low-margin items that shouldn’t be discounted further.

  • Categories

Exclude entire product categories. Example: exclude “New Arrivals” from your Black Friday sale while discounting everything else.

  • SKUs

Target or exclude products by SKU codes for precise control.

  • Tags

Exclude products with specific tags, like “wholesale” or “pre-order.”

Exclude products already on sale

If you already have individual products on sale at 20% off, this option prevents the storewide discount from applying on top of that. Without this option, a product at $100 with a 20% individual sale ($80) would get an additional 30% storewide discount ($56 total). This option keeps the product at $80.

There is also an option “Use regular price for discount price for products that are already on sale.”

Pre-sale notifications

Display a notification before your sale starts: “BLACK FRIDAY SALE STARTS FRIDAY! 30% OFF EVERYTHING!”

This runs for 2-3 days before the sale, automatically switching to your sale notification when the sale begins. It builds anticipation and brings customers back to your store at the right time.

Premium support

PRO users get access to direct ticket support at wpgenie.org/support.

Conclusion

Applying a storewide sale in WooCommerce doesn’t require complex discount plugins with dozens of features you won’t use. For stores running Black Friday sales, flash promotions, and seasonal clearances, a focused plugin handles this specific task more efficiently.

Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce provides the core functionality needed for storewide sales: percentage discount, scheduling, and sale notice to inform customers. Setup takes a few minutes and the plugin works with any size catalog without performance issues.

Ready to set up your sale?

Download Simple Storewide Sale and have your storewide promotion running in under 5 minutes!

How to Create a Dedicated Sale Products Page in WooCommerce

You’re running a huge sale with over 50 discounted products in your WooCommerce store, but where are those deals actually being shown? How can you make it easy for your customers to browse all the sale items in one place?

For many store owners, displaying on-sale products in WooCommerce can feel confusing and limited. The default WooCommerce widgets and shortcodes just don’t cut it when  managing real promotions at scale. In this article, we’ll explain what a dedicated on-sale page is, why it benefits both shoppers and sellers, and how you can quickly set one up to make your deals more visible and easier to shop.

What is a Dedicated On-Sale Page?

An on-sale page is a standalone page on an e-commerce site that displays only the products currently discounted or on promotion. Think of it as a mini-shop within a store, dedicated entirely to on-sale products.

Instead of requiring customers to search through your entire catalog to find deals, this page serves as a centralized destination where all available discounts are showcased in one place.

So, what sets it apart from a regular shop page? It only shows sale products, but still provides all the features customers expect: pagination, sorting options, category filters, and product search. It’s your main catalog, just filtered for deals.

Why Should You Have On-Sale Page?

An on-sale page improves user experience while serving as a powerful marketing tool. It has its own dedicated URL (like yourstore.com/sale), making it easy to link from navigation menus, email campaigns, social media posts or paid ads.

Customers actively looking for deals know exactly where to go, and they can browse your entire sale inventory with filters for price range, category, or specific attributes. As you can imagine, this significantly boosts engagement and conversions.

Beyond the marketing benefits, an on-sale page solves a real problem for growing stores: making sale products actually browsable.

Real Store Examples

  • Fashion/Apparel Stores
    Running an end-of-season clearance with 100+ items across dresses, shoes, and accessories? Customers want to filter by category and size while browsing only discounted products, not your entire catalog.
  • Electronics Retailers
    For Black Friday deals with 80+ sale products, shoppers want to sort by price or filter by brand. Without proper catalog functionality, they can’t find the right deals and may leave your site
  • Home Goods & Furniture
    Maintaining a permanent clearance section for discontinued items? Customers expect pagination and filtering, not a static widget showing just a handful of items.

The common issue? When you have many sale items, the default WooCommerce widgets and shortcodes aren’t enough, because customers expect to browse, filter, and sort.  And this is why you should have a dedicated deals page.  

How to create an On-Sale Page in WooCommerce

WooCommerce includes an on-sale widget and the sale_products shortcode, but these tools have significant limitations:

  • No pagination – customers can only see 12-16 products at once
  • No sorting options – can’t sort by price, popularity, or date
  • No category filtering – can’t browse sale items within specific categories
  • Limited parameters – the shortcode only accepts basic display settings

If you have 10 sale items, the widgets and shortcode work fine. But with 50+ products across multiple categories, customers hit a wall. They can’t browse beyond the first page, can’t filter results, and can’t sort by the criteria that matter to them.

One option is to customize WooCommerce code to build this functionality yourself, but that’s not recommended—it requires significant development experience, ongoing maintenance, and introduces potential for errors with every WooCommerce update.

Luckily, there’s a plugin that makes it very easy to create an on-sale page in WooCommerce.

Overview of the OnSale Page for WooCommerce plugin

Let’s take a look at the OnSale Page for WooCommerce plugin. This plugin creates a dedicated page for displaying on-sale products with full catalog functionality: pagination, sorting and filtering.

OnSale Page for WooCommerce extends WooCommerce’s native page system without overriding your theme’s templates or settings. It creates a new page type that:

  • Displays only products with sale prices
  • Includes full pagination across multiple pages
  • Supports all WooCommerce sorting options (price, popularity, date, title)
  • Works with category and attribute filtering widgets
  • Integrates with your existing theme styling
  • Remains fully compatible with SEO plugins like Yoast and Rank Math

There’s no coding required and the installation is really simple. In a few clicks, you’ll get a proper catalog page for your sale products.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating On Sale Page

Setting up your on-sale page takes less than 5 minutes. Here’s how:

Installation

Go to your WordPress dashboard → Plugins → Add New. Search for “OnSale Page for WooCommerce,” then click Install Now and Activate.

Create Your Sale Page

Go to Pages → Add New and create a new page. Title it “On Sale”, “Sale,” “Deals”, or any other name of your choosing.

Leave this new page blank or add promotional text or banners at the top of the page (for example: “Check out our amazing deals!“). The plugin will automatically display sale products below your content. Click Publish.

Configure WooCommerce Settings

Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Products → General tab. Here you have Shop Pages and you can easily find the new dropdown labeled “OnSale Page”.

As you can see in the screenshot, you need to select your previously created sale page and save changes.

Refresh Permalinks (Important!)

Go to WordPress Admin → Settings → Permalinks and click  Save Changes (no need to modify anything). This refreshes WordPress’s URL rewrite rules so your sale page loads correctly.

View Your Sale Page

Visit your sale page URL (e.g., yourstore.com/sale) to see all products with sale prices displayed with full pagination, sorting, and filtering.

Troubleshooting

If you don’t see any products:

  • Verify that products actually have sale prices set in WooCommerce
  • Go to WooCommerce → Status → Tools and click “Regenerate product lookup tables“

If you get a 404 error:

  • Re-save your permalinks (Settings → Permalinks → Save Changes)

If the page looks broken:

  • Clear your site cache if you’re using a caching plugin
  • Check that your theme is WooCommerce-compatible

Free vs PRO version

Onsale Page for WooCommerce plugin is available in both a free version, which has over 3k installations on WordPress, and a premium version with advanced features.

PRO Version Features

For store owners who need advanced features and customization, the PRO version offers:

  • Elementor Integration
    Build your own sale page designs with Elementor. Great for Black Friday campaigns where you want countdown timers, custom banners, and branded product layouts instead of the default theme style.
  • Additional Page Types
    Create dedicated pages for Featured and Grouped Products, each with full catalog functionality to highlight staff picks or bundles. As you can see in the screenshot, you need to go to WooCommerce → Settings → Products → General tab, then among Shop Pages find the new dropdowns labeled “Featured products Page” and “Group products Page” and select your new pages and save changes.
  • Category-Specific Sale Pages
    Display sale products within specific categories using URL parameters. Example: /product-category/electronics/?onsale shows only electronics on sale—great for targeted campaigns.
  • Premium Support
    Get direct access to our ticket support system at wpgenie.org/support for implementation help, troubleshooting, and feature requests.

Conclusion

Creating a dedicated on-sale page for your WooCommerce store doesn’t have to be complicated. With our plugin, you can set up a fully functional WooCommerce sale products page in just a few minutes.

Take advantage of this simple and effective plugin: install OnSale Page for WooCommerce,  improve your customer experience and boost your online sales!

What Users Are Saying

OnSale Page for WooCommerce has a 4.5-star rating on WordPress.org

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Works like a charm! Been using the plugin for over a year and works flawlessly. You guys are awesome! Please keep it updated!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Two clicks and it was working perfectly!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Should be in the WooCommerce core plugin… Thank you!

WooCommerce Group Buy and Deals v1.2.5 available

We’ve released version 1.2.5 of WooCommerce Group Buy and Deals. This update addresses several issues to improve plugin stability and performance.

The update includes fixes for log table creation, resolves a template display issue where the group buy ended message was showing prematurely, eliminates a JavaScript conflict, and includes general code cleanup.

Full change log can be found here. WooCommerce Group Buy and Deals can be purchased here. There’s also addon for Dokan Integration.

Simplified User Management: Bulk Delete Users by Email v2.0.0 Released

We’ve released v2.0.0 of our free WordPress plugin, Bulk Delete Users by Email. The plugin provides administrators with a simple way to remove multiple WordPress user accounts using email addresses, streamlining user management tasks.

The plugin is available on the WordPress.org repository. It’s available for download here.

Editing of hidden meta fields – WordPress plugins for editing post, page and product hidden meta fields

Sometimes, when some mistake occurs you need to modify or delete hidden meta fields. In our FAQs sometimes we suggest that you edit a hidden product meta field like _lottery_closed in FAQ item no 38 here.

But plugins for those operations are usually hard to find, are abandoned or just do not have updated versions so they are not listed in Add Plugin when you search for those.

For that purpose we are listing them here so you can download and install those plugins without much headaches and infinite tries with WordPress plugin search tool.

Here is direct download for plugins from our site and URL to its pages on https://wordpress.org/plugins/

Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce

Our Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce is now available on WordPress.org make sure to check it out. It has free and premium version.

With Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce you can easily implement sale in your webshop. With plenty of options you can set discount by percentage or fixed amount, exclude or include products, categories, SKUs, tags, exclude products allready on sale. There is option to set sale start date and time with notice for sale and before sale notice.

We are also preparing new free plugin for WordPress.org for all WooCommerce owner, so stay tuned!

WooCommerce Simple Auctions v3.0.6

WooCommerce Simple Auctions v3.0 was a big release with many useful features like auto charge for won auctions and allow only users with stored card to bid. Many of you asked for these features and we delivered!

Lastest version of Simple Auctions is v3.0.6 and you can get it at https://codecanyon.net/downloads

What’s New in v3.0 and latest v3.0.6?

  • auto charge for won auctions
  • allow bidding only to bidders with saved card
  • WooCommerce email previews
  • allow shop managed to export winners and auction activity
  • template shortcodes which makes plugin compatible with any visual builder
  • database optimizations and many performance improvements

Complete changelog is here and Simple Auctions plugin can be purchased here. We also have some addons for it here.