Per-Item vs Per-Order Gift Wrapping in WooCommerce

WooCommerce · Guide

When you add gift wrapping to your WooCommerce store, the first decision is how customers choose it: one option for the whole order, or a separate choice for each product? This is the per-order vs per-item question — and the right answer depends on what you sell. Here’s how to pick.

The two ways to offer gift wrapping

Most gift-wrapping setups, including Gift Wrapping for WooCommerce – Cart & Checkout, give you two “wrapping modes”:

• Per order — a single gift-wrap option for the entire order, shown below the cart totals or in the checkout summary. The customer wraps the whole order with one click.
• Per item — a “Gift wrap this item” button under each product, so the customer chooses exactly which items get wrapped.

Both can include a gift message and a wrapping fee. The difference is granularity — and that changes the customer experience, the fee you collect, and how your warehouse packs the order.

Per-order gift wrapping

Per-order is the simplest option and the default for most stores. The customer sees one clear choice: “Add gift wrapping to this order.” It’s fast, it converts well, and it works on both the classic and the block-based checkout.

Best for

• Stores where a whole order is usually one gift (hampers, gift boxes, single-recipient stores).
• Anyone using the WooCommerce block checkout, where per-order is the supported mode.
• Keeping checkout simple and frictionless to protect conversion.

Trade-off

It’s all-or-nothing: the customer can’t wrap two items and leave a third unwrapped. If your shoppers routinely buy mixed orders — some items as gifts, some for themselves — per-order can feel blunt.

Per-item gift wrapping

Per-item gives the customer full control: each product has its own wrap button, so they can wrap a candle as a gift while leaving the refill they bought for themselves unwrapped. It’s the better fit for stores where a single order often contains several separate gifts.

Best for

• Stores where one order frequently holds multiple gifts for different people.
• Higher-priced or boutique products where per-item wrapping feels like a premium touch.
• Maximising wrapping revenue — each wrapped item can carry its own fee.

Trade-off

It adds a small decision to every line item, and the per-item button lives in the classic cart — the WooCommerce Cart block has no per-line slot for it. If you’re on the block checkout and need per-item, you’d switch your cart and checkout pages to the classic shortcodes.

Per-item vs per-order: side by side

How the wrapping fee adds up

The mode also changes what you earn. In per-order mode you charge one flat fee per order, no matter how many items. In per-item mode each wrapped item carries its own fee — and you can decide whether buying four of the same product means four fees (per unit) or one fee for that line (per cart line).

So which should you use?

A quick rule of thumb:

• Choose per order if most orders are a single gift, you’re on the block checkout, or you want the simplest possible flow.
• Choose per item if orders often contain several gifts, you sell giftable products people mix with personal purchases, or you want to maximise wrapping revenue — and you’re on the classic cart.

Not sure? Start with per order. It’s the safe, high-converting default, and you can switch to per item later in a single setting if your orders tell you customers want finer control.

Switching modes is one setting

With Gift Wrapping for WooCommerce – Cart & Checkout, the mode is a single dropdown:

1. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Gift Wrapping.
2. Set Wrapping mode to Per order or Per item.
3. Set your fee, optionally enable the gift message, and save.

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