Alva Courses is a Shopify app that lets merchants build, sell and deliver online courses inside their own store. Every course is sold through an ordinary Shopify product, so a bundle is simply a product linked to more than one course.
The bundle then uses your theme, checkout, taxes and order history like anything else you sell. The decisions that matter are what goes in it, what it costs, and how refunds and upgrades behave.
What is a course bundle?
A course bundle is a single offer that grants several things for one price: two or more courses, or a course with a physical kit or coaching time. It gives buyers a clear next step beyond one course. In Alva Courses, the simplest bundle is one Shopify product linked to several courses.
A bundle is not a tier. A tier sells more of one course, such as the same lessons plus live calls; a bundle adds courses, or things from outside the course. Online course pricing models compares tiers, memberships and payment plans.
Which course bundle types sell on Shopify?
Four bundle types cover most course catalogues: an all-access bundle of every course, a learning path of courses meant to be taken in order, a course packaged with a physical kit, and a course packaged with coaching. All four are built the same way in Alva Courses, by linking one product to everything the bundle includes.
What each bundle holds and how to build it
| Bundle | What the buyer gets | How to build it in Alva Courses |
|---|---|---|
| All-access bundle | Every course in your catalogue, for one price | One bundle product, linked to every course |
| Learning path | Courses that build on each other, taken in order | One product per path, or one product with a variant per stage |
| Course + kit | A physical product plus the course that teaches it | The kit product, or just its "with course" variant, linked to the course |
| Course + coaching | The course plus calls or feedback from you | A short booking course whose product is also linked to the main course |
All-access bundle
An all-access bundle sells your whole catalogue as one product. It suits related courses where a buyer of one is likely to want the rest. Link the bundle product to every course, including each new one you publish.
Buyers get the courses linked when they pay; a course added next year is not granted to them automatically. If buyers should keep receiving new courses, a subscription with membership tags fits better.
Learning path
A learning path packages courses meant to be taken in order, such as beginner, intermediate and advanced. Sell it as one product linked to each course, or as one product with a variant per stage.
Every course in the path opens when the order is paid; Alva Courses can't hold course two until course one is finished. If order matters, teach one longer course with sections and Require completion before next lesson.
Course + physical kit
A kit bundle pairs a physical product with the course that teaches it, such as a paint set with a watercolour course. Link the kit to the course, or only a "with course" variant so the kit still sells alone.
Shopify ships the kit as usual. The optional Auto-Fulfillment setting in Alva Courses skips any order containing an item that needs shipping, so parcels stay in your normal fulfilment. The product brands page covers this model in depth.
Course + coaching
A coaching bundle adds your time: a set number of 1:1 calls, a group session or feedback on the student's work. Alva Courses delivers the course, the calls run on your own calendar, and only coaching buyers should see the booking link.
Create a short course, such as Watercolour coaching, with Create new product and price it as the whole coaching bundle. Its lesson holds a Button block linking to your booking page. Then add its product to the main course's Linked Products, so one purchase grants both.
Self-study buyers never see the booking lesson. Selling coaching programmes on Shopify covers the rest of the offer.
How does Alva Courses enrol someone who buys a bundle?
When an order is paid, Alva Courses reads every line in it, finds every course linked to that line's product or variant, and enrols the customer in each one. A bundle product linked to four courses therefore enrols the buyer in four courses from a single order line, with no bundle setting to switch on.
- One product, several courses. Add the same product to each course's Linked Products and it grants all of them.
- Whole product or one variant. Link the whole product and every variant grants the course; link one variant and only that variant does.
- Several products, one course. A course keeps its own product and can also sit in any number of bundles, so it sells alone and inside each bundle.
- Quantity is not seats. Buying two of a bundle still enrols one customer, once. Add a second student from Members with Add Member.
- One email. With Send enrollment emails ticked in Settings → Email Settings, an order that starts several new courses sends one email listing all of them; a course with its own custom enrolment email sends that separately. The setting starts unticked.
- Courses they already own. If the buyer already has one of the courses, that enrolment carries on and keeps its progress.
How do you set up a course bundle in Alva Courses?
A bundle takes one new Shopify product and a minute per course. Create the bundle product in Shopify, then open each course that belongs in it and add that product under Linked Products in Pricing & access. Switch on enrolment emails and place a test order before you promote the bundle.
Give every course its own product
Create each course with Create new product so it has its own product, marked Primary. Alva Courses creates that product with shipping turned off, and the course keeps selling on its own beside the bundle.
Create the bundle product in Shopify
In the Shopify admin, add a bundle product with its own title, image and a price above zero, and make it Active on your Online Store. For a courses-only bundle, switch off Physical product in its Shipping section so no shipping charges apply.
Add the bundle to each course
In Alva Courses, open a course in the bundle, then Settings → Pricing & access. In the Linked Products card, click Add Product and choose the bundle product; it links as soon as you pick it. Repeat for every other course in the bundle.
Choose the whole product or single variants
Select the whole product so every variant grants the course, or one variant so only that variant does. Modify Variants changes the selection later. When variants should grant different courses, link each variant rather than the whole product.
Switch on enrolment emails
Tick Send enrollment emails in Settings → Email Settings; it starts unticked. Without it buyers are enrolled but not emailed, so they have to find their courses themselves, for example under My Courses in their customer account.
Test with a real order
Buy the bundle yourself with a 100%-off discount code or Shopify's Bogus Gateway, then check that every course appears in Members. Send yourself a test enrolment and Link a course to a Shopify product cover the details.
Don't create a course with Select existing product and pick a bundle or a kit. That product becomes the course's Primary, and edits to the course's title, description, image or price are written to it. Keep each course's own product linked, too: remove a Primary and the next linked product, perhaps the bundle, takes its place.
How should you price a course bundle?
Price a bundle below the total of its courses and above the most expensive course in it, so it reads as a saving and still lifts what a buyer spends. Show the saving with Shopify's compare-at price, keep the number of bundles small, and check how the price looks to someone who already owns one course.
Take three courses at $49, $79 and $99, $227 in total. A bundle at $149 saves the buyer $78 and costs $50 more than the dearest course alone. The figures are only an example; the principle is a visible saving.
- Show the total. Put the sum of the individual prices in the bundle product's Compare-at price field. Shopify says your theme then shows both prices alongside a sale badge.
- Name the outcome. "Complete watercolour path" says more than "3 courses". Lead the product description with what the buyer can do at the end.
- Keep it to a few bundles. An all-access bundle and one path per subject are easier to choose between than six overlapping packs.
- Price kits and coaching on their own terms. A kit bundle can be priced as the kit plus a reduced course price; a coaching bundle prices your time, which a course discount should not cheapen.
Setting the number itself, from value-based pricing to testing price points, is covered in how to price an online course.
A kit and a course sold as one product can be taxed differently from each sold alone in some places. That is a question for your accountant and Shopify's tax documentation, not for a course app.
Should you use Shopify Bundles or a discount instead?
Use a linked bundle product as the default. Shopify's own Bundles app records each item in a bundle as a separate order line that points back to the bundle, and that is not a documented Alva Courses setup. A discount is the supported alternative: each course stays its own product, and Shopify takes money off when they are bought together.
Shopify Bundles and other bundle apps
Shopify Bundles is Shopify's free app for fixed bundles and multipacks, and it suits physical goods: bundle stock follows the components' inventory. Its developer documentation says a bundle order returns each component product as its own order line, with a reference to the bundle.
Alva Courses enrols from order lines, so a course linked only to a Shopify Bundles product would not be granted. Bundles built from the courses' own products aren't covered in the Alva Courses help centre, and Shopify Bundles can't be sold with subscriptions.
Third-party bundle apps build orders in their own ways. Whichever you try, place a test order and check Members before you sell.
Discount bundles
A discount bundle keeps every course as its own product and lowers the price when courses are bought together. Shopify's discount types are Amount off products, Amount off orders, Buy X get Y and Free shipping, each as a code or an automatic discount.
- Any two courses for less: an automatic Amount off products discount that applies to a collection of your courses, with a minimum quantity of 2 items.
- Second course at half price: a Buy X get Y discount. Shopify never adds the "get" item to the cart for the buyer, so say on the product page that both courses go in the cart.
For tiered offers, such as 10% off two courses and 20% off three, Shopify's help centre points to discount apps. A discount bundle has no product page of its own to promote, but each course enrols and refunds on its own order line.
How do upgrades work when a student already owns a course?
Alva Courses has no built-in upgrade price or proration. The practical route is a Shopify discount code on the bundle product, worth about what the student already paid, sent to the people who own that course. When they buy, they are enrolled in the courses they lack, and the course they already own keeps its progress.
- In Alva Courses, open Members, filter to the course and export the members to CSV to get the list of owners.
- In Shopify, create an Amount off products discount code that applies to the bundle product, and tick Limit to one per customer.
- Email the code to that list, or restrict who can use it, as described below.
To stop a forwarded code working for anyone, switch on Customer Tagging in a course's Customer tags settings, then set the code's Eligibility to Customer segments with a segment built on that tag. Tagging starts when you switch it on, so earlier buyers aren't tagged.
Refunds stay fair after an upgrade. If the bundle is later refunded, the student loses the courses it added and keeps the one they bought separately, which is still paid for by its own order line.
What happens when someone refunds a bundle?
Refunds follow the order line, not the course. Refund the bundle's line in full and Alva Courses removes access to every course that line granted, unless another paid line still covers one of them. A partial refund, or a refund entered as a custom amount, removes nothing, so taking back one course from a bundle is a manual step.
- Full refund of the bundle line: every course the bundle granted is withdrawn straight away. Progress, quiz results and certificates are kept, so access returns if the customer buys again.
- One course out of a bundle: a single product line can't be split by course. Refund the amount you agree, then open the student in Members and Unenroll them from that one course.
- Discount bundles: each course is its own line, so refunding one line withdraws that course only.
- Kit bundles: refunding the kit line in full also withdraws the course linked to the kit.
The details are in Refunds and course access, and refunds and course access on Shopify explains why line-by-line is the right rule.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. In Alva Courses, add the same Shopify product to each course under Linked Products in the course's Pricing & access settings. When an order containing that product is paid, the buyer is enrolled in every course it is linked to, and once enrolment emails are switched on they get one email listing all of them, plus a separate email for any course with its own custom enrolment email.
Yes. Link a single variant instead of the whole product and only that variant grants the course. A product with a Level 1 variant and a Complete path variant can grant one course or three, depending on which variant the customer buys, as long as each variant is linked to the right courses.
Not as a documented setup. Shopify's developer documentation says a Shopify Bundles order returns each component product as its own order line, with a reference to the bundle. Alva Courses enrols from order lines, so a course linked only to the bundle product would not be granted. The supported method is one ordinary product linked to several courses.
Refunding the bundle's order line in full removes access to every course that line granted, except any course the student also paid for on another line. A partial refund, or a refund entered as a custom amount, removes nothing. Progress, quiz results and certificates are kept, so access returns if they buy again.
Yes, through a Shopify discount code on the bundle product, for example worth the price of the course they already own. Alva Courses has no automatic upgrade price or proration. When the student buys, they are enrolled in the courses they don't have yet, and the course they already own keeps its progress.
Not automatically. A bundle enrols the buyer in the courses linked to it when the order is paid. Linking the bundle product to a new course later only affects future orders, so enrol earlier buyers from Members or with a CSV import if you promised them future courses.