Woocommerce How To Add Zero For All Blank Princes

WooCommerce: How to Automatically Set Zero Prices for Products with Blank Prices (Beginner-Friendly Guide)

Have you ever noticed products on your WooCommerce store that display a blank price? This can happen if you forget to set a price, or if there’s an issue with your product import. Leaving Read more about How To Disable Additional Inforomation Woocommerce these products with blank prices can be confusing for your customers and damage your online store’s credibility. This article will guide you through how to automatically set a zero price for all products with blank prices in WooCommerce.

Why You Need to Address Blank Prices

Think of it like this: you walk into a physical store and see an item without a price tag. Are you likely to ask a staff member, or just assume it’s expensive and walk away? Online, customers are even more likely to simply leave your site.

Blank prices in WooCommerce can lead to:

• Lost Sales: Customers are unsure of the price and won’t add the item to their cart.
• Poor User Experience: Confusing and frustrating for visitors.
• Credibility Issues: Makes your store look unprofessional.

Therefore, setting a default price, even if it’s zero, is always better than displaying nothing. It gives the customer information and prevents the impression that the product is simply unavailable.

Methods to Set Zero Prices for Blank Products

There are a couple of ways to tackle this issue:

1. Manually (Not Recommended for Many Products): Going through each product and setting the price to zero. This is only practical for stores with a *very* limited number of products.

2. Using a Plugin: Search for a suitable plugin in the WordPress plugin repository. While convenient, plugins can sometimes introduce compatibility issues or slow down your site.

3. Custom Code (Recommended for Most Users): Using a code snippet to automatically update blank prices. This is generally the most efficient and flexible solution, especially if you’re comfortable adding a small amount of code.

This guide focuses on the custom code approach because it offers the best balance between ease of use and control.

Implementing the Custom Code Solution

Important: Before making any code changes to your website, it’s crucial to back up your database and website files. This allows you to restore your site in case anything goes wrong.

Steps:

1. Access Your Theme’s `functions.php` File:

You can access your theme’s `functions.php` file in two ways:

• WordPress Theme Editor: Go to Appearance > Theme Editor in your WordPress admin panel. Select `functions.php` from the list of files on the right. Be extremely careful when editing directly in the theme editor. Any errors can break your site.
• FTP Client: Connect to your website via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) using a program like FileZilla. Navigate to `wp-content/themes/[your-theme-name]/functions.php`. Download the `functions.php` file to your computer, edit it with a text editor (like Notepad++, Sublime Text, or VS Code), and then upload the modified file back to your server, overwriting the original. This method is generally safer.

2. Add the Following Code Snippet:

Add the following code to the bottom of your `functions.php` file, before the closing `?>` tag (if it exists):

 /** 
Automatically set zero price for products with empty prices.
 */ add_action( 'woocommerce_update_product', 'set_zero_price_for_empty_prices', 10, 1 ); 

function set_zero_price_for_empty_prices( $product_id ) {

$product = wc_get_product( $product_id );

if ( ! $product ) {

return; // Product doesn’t exist

}

$regular_price = $product->get_regular_price();

if ( empty( $regular_price ) && $regular_price !== ‘0’ ) {

// Set both regular and sale price to 0

update_post_meta( $product_id, ‘_regular_price’, ‘0’ );

update_post_meta( $product_id, ‘_price’, ‘0’ );

update_post_meta( $product_id, ‘_sale_price’, ” ); // Clear sale price to avoid confusion

}

}

3. Save the `functions.php` File:

If you’re using the Theme Editor, click the “Update File” button. If you’re using FTP, upload the modified file back to your server.

4. Test the Code:

• Create a new product or edit an existing one.
• Leave the “Regular Price” field blank.
• Save the product.
• Check the product page on your store. It should now display a price of “Free” or “£0.00” (depending on your WooCommerce settings).

Explanation of the Code

Let’s break down what the code does:

• `add_action( ‘woocommerce_update_product’, ‘set_zero_price_for_empty_prices’, 10, 1 );`: This line tells WordPress to run the `set_zero_price_for_empty_prices` function whenever a WooCommerce product is updated.
• `function set_zero_price_for_empty_prices( $product_id ) { … }`: This defines the function that will set the price to zero.
• `$product = wc_get_product( $product_id );`: This retrieves the product object based on its ID.
• `if ( ! $product ) { return; }`: This checks if the product actually exists before continuing. This prevents errors if the product ID is invalid.
• `$regular_price = $product->get_regular_price();`: This gets the product’s regular price.
• `if ( empty( $regular_price ) && $regular_price !== ‘0’ ) { … }`: This is the core logic. It checks if the `$regular_price` is empty. Critically, it also checks if it is *not* equal to ‘0’ (as a string) because if the `regular_price` is already 0, we don’t want to re-run the code and trigger the `woocommerce_update_product` action again unnecessarily.
• `update_post_meta( $product_id, ‘_regular_price’, ‘0’ );`: This sets the `_regular_price` meta field to “0”.
• `update_post_meta( $product_id, ‘_price’, ‘0’ );`: This sets the `_price` meta field to “0”. WooCommerce uses this field to display the actual price.
• `update_post_meta( $product_id, ‘_sale_price’, ” );`: This clears the sale price. This prevents situations where the regular price is zero, but a sale price exists.

Bulk Updating Existing Products

The code above only affects products *after* they are updated. To apply this change to *all* existing products with blank prices, you can use this code snippet once. Remove it from `functions.php` immediately after running it.

 /** 
Bulk update existing products with empty prices to zero.
 
Run this ONLY ONCE and then REMOVE IT from functions.php.
 */ function bulk_set_zero_prices() { $args = array( 'post_type' => 'product', 'posts_per_page' => -1, // Get all products 'meta_query' => array( array( 'key' => '_regular_price', 'value' => '', 'compare' => '=', ), ), ); 

$products = new WP_Query( $args );

if ( $products->have_posts() ) {

while ( $products->have_posts() ) {

$products->the_post();

$product_id = get_the_ID();

update_post_meta( $product_id, ‘_regular_price’, ‘0’ );

update_post_meta( $product_id, ‘_price’, ‘0’ );

update_post_meta( $product_id, ‘_sale_price’, ” );

error_log(“Updated product ID: ” . $product_id); //Log to debug.log (optional).

}

wp_reset_postdata();

} else {

error_log(“No products with empty regular prices found.”); //Log to debug.log (optional).

}

}

add_action( ‘init’, ‘bulk_set_zero_prices’ );

Important: Because this script updates potentially *all* products in your store, running this on a large store can take a significant amount of time and potentially cause performance issues. It’s best to test it first on a staging environment if you have a very large product catalog. The `error_log()` lines will print to your `wp-content/debug.log` file (if debugging is enabled) the IDs of the products that have been updated, which allows you to verify that the script is working as expected. Make sure debug mode is enabled (`define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, true );`) in your `wp-config.php` file before running this script.

Remember to remove this code after running it once by commenting it out or deleting it from your `functions.php` file! Otherwise, it will run every time WordPress initializes.

Handling Variations

If you’re using product variations, you’ll need to adjust the code slightly to handle variations with blank prices as well. The following code snippet covers variations (replace the original function):

 /** 
Automatically set zero price for products and variations with empty prices.
 */ add_action( 'woocommerce_update_product', 'set_zero_price_for_empty_prices', 10, 1 ); 

function set_zero_price_for_empty_prices( $product_id ) {

$product = wc_get_product( $product_id );

if ( ! $product ) {

return; // Product doesn’t exist

}

// Handle simple products

$regular_price = $product->get_regular_price();

if ( empty( $regular_price ) && $regular_price !== ‘0’ ) {

// Set both regular and sale price to 0

update_post_meta( $product_id, ‘_regular_price’, ‘0’ );

update_post_meta( $product_id, ‘_price’, ‘0’ );

update_post_meta( $product_id, ‘_sale_price’, ” ); // Clear sale price to avoid confusion

}

// Handle variations

if ( $product->is_type( ‘variable’ ) ) {

$variations = $product->get_children();

foreach ( $variations as $variation_id ) {

$variation = wc_get_product( $variation_id );

$regular_price_variation = $variation->get_regular_price();

if ( empty( $regular_price_variation ) && $regular_price_variation !== ‘0’ ) {

update_post_meta( $variation_id, ‘_regular_price’, ‘0’ );

update_post_meta( $variation_id, ‘_price’, ‘0’ );

update_post_meta( $variation_id, ‘_sale_price’, ” ); // Clear sale price to avoid confusion

}

}

}

}

This enhanced version iterates through the variations of a variable product and applies the same zero-price logic to each variation. This ensures that even if the main product has a price, but a variation does not, the variation’s price will be set to zero.

Important Considerations

• Currency Symbol: Your WooCommerce settings determine how “0” will be displayed (e.g., “Free,” “£0.00,” “$0.00”). Adjust your WooCommerce currency settings under WooCommerce > Settings > General if needed.
• Sale Price: The code clears the sale price to avoid a scenario where a product has a regular price of 0 but a sale price that is set to something other than 0. This prevents confusion.
• Plugin Conflicts: While custom code is generally safe, conflicts with other plugins are always possible. Test thoroughly after implementing the code.

Conclusion

By implementing this code, you can ensure that products with blank prices are automatically set to zero, providing a better user experience and preventing potential lost sales. Remember to back up your site before making any code changes and test thoroughly after implementing the code. This simple change can significantly improve the professionalism and usability of your WooCommerce store.