A bump offer lets your buyers add an extra product to a purchase with a single click, without leaving the checkout page.

This feature is great for upselling a small add-on during another product’s checkout without needing a full sales pitch or redirecting the buyer to another page.

This article shows you how to enable bump offers in Kartra and explains how they work behind the scenes:

  • Where to configure bump offers
  • What conditions must be met for them to show
  • How they behave in different checkout types

Key details

  • Bump offers are configured in the Legacy checkout tab of the main product’s settings, even if you’re using a standalone Checkout.
  • Once set, they apply automatically to any Checkout you create for that main product.
  • Bump offers can work with PayPal and credit card checkouts, but some restrictions apply (see below).

What does the buyer experience?

If a bump offer is enabled for a product and all conditions are met:

  1. The buyer fills in their details in the main product’s checkout form.
  2. They see an optional checkbox or toggle (depending on the template) to add the bump product to their order.
    Kartra-hosted checkout form showing a bump offer checkbox above the Submit Payment button
  3. They submit the payment, and both the main and bump products are processed together.
  4. The buyer is redirected to the main product’s Thank You page.

Conditions for bump offers to show

In Legacy checkouts:

  • Different prices: The main offer and bump offer must have different prices.
  • Same payment gateway: Both the main product and the bump offer must use the same payment gateway (e.g. Stripe + Stripe).
  • PayPal not supported: Both products must be linked to a credit card processor, not PayPal.

In Checkouts:

  • Different prices: The main offer and bump offer must have different prices.
  • Payment gateway: Both products must use the same gateway.
  • PayPal limitation: At least one product must be a one-time payment. If both products are multi-pay (subscriptions, installments, trials), the bump offer will not appear.

Other limitations

Some features don’t work with bump offers, because of how the checkout form is designed or due to how payments are processed:

  • Shipping and sales tax for the bump offer will be added to the total but won’t be shown separately.
  • Coupons cannot be applied to bump offers.
  • Adaptive payments are not supported. Bump offers will disable instant affiliate payouts through PayPal.
  • No custom fields can be added for the bump product’s checkout. The buyer will only fill in the main product’s checkout fields. 

Activate bump offers

You can add a bump offer to a product's checkout from the Legacy checkout settings of that product. If you’re using Checkouts, this configuration is automatically inherited.

To enable a bump offer:

  1. Go to Sales > Products.
  2. Edit your main product and access the Legacy checkout tab.
  3. Scroll down to the Bump offers module and expand it.
  4. Activate the offer bump.

Legacy checkout settings showing the Bump offers module with “Yes, activate the offer bump” selected and showing limitations tooltip

Bump offer configuration options

Bump offers are configured per price point. You can add different bump products for different price points. After enabling a bump offer for a specific price point, you can customize what’s displayed:

  1. Select the bump product and price point
  2. Header line: A short, eye-catching call to action
  3. Offer description: A brief explanation of what’s included
  4. Display options:
    • Show product thumbnail
    • Show a bouncing arrow
  5. Template selection: Choose from three layout styles

Bump offer configuration panel showing product selection, header text, description field, image and arrow display toggles, and template options.

When to use bump offers

Bump offers, similar to straight-through upsells, work best for low-cost offers that buyers can accept on impulse.

Example: If you're offering a PDF workbook as an add-on to a membership-hosted course, you could use either a bump offer or a straight-through Express checkout upsell, depending on whether you want the offer to appear during or after the main product's checkout process.

What’s different?

Unlike other upsell options, bump offers:

  • Appear inside the main product’s checkout form and are selected before the buyer submits payment
  • Can be processed together with the main product, which results in a single combined charge on the buyer’s bank statement.
    • To ensure this function works correctly, select the Bank statement description checkbox in your Checkout’s settings to Use the checkout's official name as the payment description on the bank statement.

Checkout General settings module with “Use the checkout's official name as the payment description on the bank statement” checkbox selected

When not to use a bump offer

Bump offers are ideal for simple add-ons, but they’re not right for every situation. Avoid using them when:

  • The offer needs a detailed explanation to justify its value.
  • The price is high enough to require more consideration (e.g., $50+, depending on your audience).
  • The offer involves different terms or conditions the buyer needs to agree to separately.

In those cases, a dedicated upsell page gives you more space to pitch the offer clearly and help the buyer make an informed decision.

Need more help?