Overview
Spree’s pricing system supports both simple single-currency pricing and advanced multi-currency, rule-based pricing through Price Lists. Every Variant can have multiple prices — a base price per currency, plus additional prices from Price Lists that apply conditionally based on rules like geography, customer segment, or quantity.Prices
Each variant has one or morePrice records — one per currency. The API automatically returns the correct price based on the current currency and Market context. See monetary amounts for how money fields (decimal, cents, and display string) are formatted across the API.
Fetching Prices via API
The Store API returns the resolved price (including Price List rules) for the current currency and market context:Setting Prices via the Admin API
Base prices are set per variant per currency. Use the Admin API — via the Admin SDK — to set them individually or in bulk (bulk_upsert matches on variant + currency):
Price Lists
Price Lists allow you to create different pricing strategies based on various conditions. This enables advanced pricing scenarios like:- Market-based pricing — different prices for different Markets (e.g., North America vs Europe)
- Regional pricing — different prices for different geographic zones
- Wholesale/B2B pricing — special prices for business customers
- Volume discounts — tiered pricing based on quantity purchased
- Promotional pricing — time-limited special offers
- VIP customer pricing — exclusive prices for specific customers
How Price Lists Work
When a customer views a product, Spree’s pricing resolver determines which price to use:- Price List priority — Price Lists are ordered by position; higher priority lists are checked first
- Status — only
activeorscheduledPrice Lists are considered - Date range — the current time must fall within
starts_atandends_at(if set) - Price Rules — all configured rules must match (or any, depending on
match_policy)
Price List Attributes
Creating a Price List via the Admin API
Rules and per-variant price overrides ride on the create/update payload. Each rule is a{ type, preferences } draft (see Price Rules below):
Price Rules
Price Rules define conditions that must be met for a Price List to apply. Spree includes five built-in rule types:Market Rule
The recommended approach for regional pricing when using Markets. Applies the Price List when the customer is in one of the specified markets. Example: Price a product at $29.99 in North America and €24.99 in Europe, rather than relying on exchange rate conversion.Zone Rule
Applies based on the customer’s geographic zone. Useful for regional or country-specific pricing when not using Markets.User Rule
Limits the Price List to specific customer accounts. Useful for VIP customers, employee pricing, or wholesale accounts.Customer Group Rule
Applies to members of specific customer groups. Useful for wholesale tiers, loyalty programs, or membership-based pricing.Volume Rule
Applies based on quantity purchased. Supportsmin_quantity and max_quantity to create tiered pricing:
Custom Price Rules can be created for specialized pricing logic. See the Customization Quickstart for details.
Pricing Context
When resolving prices, Spree considers the full context of the request:
The Store API automatically builds this context from the request headers (
X-Spree-Currency, X-Spree-Country) and authentication state. You don’t need to construct it manually — just make API requests and the correct price is resolved.
Price resolution runs per request — there is no in-process caching of resolved prices. The Store API instead relies on HTTP/CDN caching, with
Vary headers keyed on the X-Spree-Currency and X-Spree-Locale request headers so each currency/locale combination is cached separately at the edge.Time-Based Pricing
Price Lists support scheduling throughstarts_at and ends_at attributes. Scheduled Price Lists automatically become applicable when the current time falls within their date range — no manual activation needed.
Example: A Black Friday sale Price List with starts_at: 2025-11-28 00:00 and ends_at: 2025-11-28 23:59 will automatically activate and deactivate.
Managing Price Lists
Price Lists are managed in the Admin Panel under Products → Price Lists, or via the Admin API. Each Price List contains prices for specific variants and currencies. Products can be added to a Price List, and individual variant prices set within it.Price History (EU Omnibus Directive)
Spree automatically records price changes for EU Omnibus Directive compliance. When a product goes on sale, EU regulations require displaying the lowest price in the preceding 30 days alongside the discounted price.How It Works
Every time a base price amount changes, aPriceHistory record is created automatically. Price list prices are not tracked — only the base price visible to all customers.
Fetching Prior Price via API
The prior price is available as an expandable field on product and variant endpoints:prior_price object when expanded:
Configuration
Price history tracking is enabled by default. To disable it (e.g., for non-EU stores):Seeding Existing Prices
After enabling price history on an existing store, seed the current prices as a baseline:Related Documentation
- Products — Products, Variants, and base prices
- Store SDK: Products — Fetching product and variant prices with the Store SDK
- Markets — Geographic regions with currency and locale
- Taxes — Tax categories, tax rates, and zones
- Promotions — Discount-based pricing via promotion rules

