---
title: "Get started with Force Sells"
url: "https://kestrelwp.com/docs/get-started-with-force-sells/"
description: "Add linked products to the cart automatically when shoppers add a product."
published: "2026-10-06T20:23:52+00:00"
modified: "2026-10-08T19:57:05+00:00"
---

Force Sells adds other products to the cart automatically when a shopper adds a product: a screen protector with a phone, an installation fee with an appliance, the replacement part with a repair. You pick the linked products on the main product, and each one goes into the cart as its own line at its own price.

![Force Sells: overview (storefront classic cart page)](https://kestrelwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/force-sells-fs-01.png)Force Sells doesn’t create a bundle product or change any prices. The shopper pays each linked product’s normal price, and the order lists every product separately.

## When you’d use this

- Add a required part or fee every time a service is booked.
- Add a warranty or protection plan that customers can still remove.
- Add a deposit, handling fee or packaging charge that customers can’t remove and that always matches the quantity bought.
- Make sure accessories that go with a product end up in the cart with it.

## Requirements

- WordPress 6.0 or later, WooCommerce 8.0 or later, and PHP 7.4 or later.
- Compatible with WooCommerce’s cart and checkout blocks and High-Performance Order Storage.
- Works in both the classic product editor and WooCommerce’s block-based product editor.

## Install and activate

How you get updates depends on where you bought Force Sells:

- **Bought on kestrelwp.com:** install the plugin, then activate your license key under **Settings » Force Sells for WooCommerce activation** to receive updates. See [using sites against your activation limit](/docs/using-sites-against-your-activation-limit/) for how activations count.
- **Bought on WooCommerce.com:** install the plugin from your WooCommerce.com account. Updates come through your WooCommerce.com connection, with no license key to enter.

For upload, FTP and update steps, follow [how to install and update WooCommerce extensions](/docs/install-update-woocommerce-extensions/).

Force Sells has no settings screen. Everything is set on each product.

## Set up force sells

### 1. Open the main product

Go to **Products** and edit the product shoppers add to the cart themselves, such as the repair service. In **Product data**, open the **Linked Products** tab.

![Force Sells: Open the main product (product data panel with the Linked Products tab open, showing Upsells, Cross-sells, Force Sells and Synced Force Sells)](https://kestrelwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/force-sells-fs-02.png)### 2. Choose the linked products

Search for the products to add in **Force Sells**, **Synced Force Sells**, or both. You can pick simple products and individual variations. A variable product as a whole doesn’t appear in the search, so pick the variation you want, such as the black case in size large.

![Force Sells: Choose the linked products (the field and its open dropdown)](https://kestrelwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/force-sells-fs-03.png)### 3. Update the product and check it

Click **Update**. Then open the product page in a private browser window: the note under the add to cart button lists the linked products. Add the product to the cart and check that each linked product is there too.

## Force sells and synced force sells

The two fields add products the same way. The difference is what the shopper can do afterward.

|  | Force Sells | Synced Force Sells |
|---|---|---|
| Added when the main product is added | Yes, at the quantity added | Yes, at the quantity added |
| Shopper can change its quantity | Yes | No |
| Shopper can remove it | Yes | No, only by removing the main product |
| Follows the main product’s quantity | No, it keeps the quantity it was added with | Yes, always |
| Removed when the main product is removed | No | Yes, and it comes back if the shopper restores the main product |
| Shown in the cart | As a normal line | Indented under the main product, labeled **Linked to** it |

Use **Force Sells** for something you want in the cart but shoppers may decline, and **Synced Force Sells** for something that has to travel with the main product. If you put the same product in both fields, it behaves as a synced force sell.

## Product fields

On **Product data » Linked Products** in the classic product editor. In the block-based product editor, the same fields appear under **Linked products** as the **Force sells** and **Synced force sells** sections. The block editor hides them on grouped and external products, because those never trigger force sells.

### Force Sells

Products added to the cart, at the same quantity, when the main product is added. Once in the cart they’re ordinary lines: the shopper can change or remove them, and changing the main product’s quantity later doesn’t change them. If the shopper already has the same product in the cart, the quantity is added to that line rather than a new one. Leave it empty for no force sells.

### Synced Force Sells

Products added at the same quantity and locked to the main product. The shopper can’t remove them or change their quantity, their quantity follows the main product’s, and they leave the cart with it. Leave it empty for no synced force sells.

To stop forcing a product, remove it from the field and click **Update**. Carts that already contain it keep it.

## What customers see

### On the product page

Under the add to cart button, a note reads "This will also add the following products to your cart:" followed by the linked products and their prices. Prices follow your store’s tax display setting. The note lists products from both fields.

![Force Sells: On the product page (storefront single product page)](https://kestrelwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/force-sells-fs-04.png)### In the cart and at checkout

A normal force sell appears as its own line with no extra notice, so the product page note is the shopper’s heads-up.

A synced force sell appears indented under the main product with a **Linked to** line naming it, and without a remove link or quantity field. This works in the classic cart, the cart and checkout blocks and the mini-cart block. WooCommerce’s added to cart message for the main product also names its synced products, such as: “Compact camera” has been added to your cart. Also added: “2-year protection plan”.

![Force Sells: In the cart and at checkout (storefront cart page using the cart block)](https://kestrelwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/force-sells-fs-05.png)### When a linked product can’t be added

If any linked product can’t go into the cart, the main product isn’t added either. The shopper sees WooCommerce’s own message for the linked product, such as an out of stock notice, and then "\[Main product\] will also be removed as they’re sold together."

A linked product can’t be added when it’s out of stock, unpublished (draft, pending or private) or has no price. Product pages still list these products in the note, so check the linked products when a main product stops adding to the cart. A developer can let the main product in on its own instead; see the [developer reference](/docs/force-sells-developer-reference/#let-the-main-product-in-when-a-linked-product-can-t-be-added).

## How force sells work with other products

- **Variable main products:** force sells are set once on the variable product and are the same whichever variation the shopper buys. You can’t set different force sells per variation.
- **Linked products limited to one per order:** a linked product set to sell individually in its inventory settings is added at quantity 1, whatever quantity of the main product is bought, and its quantity doesn’t follow the main product’s.
- **Grouped products:** a grouped product never goes into the cart itself, only the products in it do, so force sells set on the grouped product never run. Set them on the individual products inside the group instead.
- **External products:** these link to another site and never go into your cart, so force sells on them never run.
- **Product Bundles:** a product that goes into the cart as part of a bundle doesn’t add its own force sells. Set force sells on the bundle product itself.
- **WooCommerce Subscriptions:** force sells are added with the first order only. Renewal orders are created without a cart, so they don’t add linked products.
- **Pay for order links:** paying for an existing order doesn’t add force sells again.

## Common issues

### The main product won’t go into the cart

The shopper sees "\[Main product\] will also be removed as they’re sold together." One of its linked products can’t be added. Check each product in **Force Sells** and **Synced Force Sells**: it has to be published, in stock and priced. Store administrators can buy draft products, so test in a private browser window.

### Force sells don’t work on a grouped product

Grouped products never go into the cart themselves, so their force sells never run, even though the classic editor still shows the fields. Set the force sells on each product inside the group.

### The linked product didn’t change when the shopper changed the quantity

That’s a normal force sell, which keeps the quantity it was added with. Move the product to **Synced Force Sells** if its quantity should always match.

### A product the shopper added themselves disappeared from the cart

The same product is a synced force sell of something else in the cart. The cart keeps one copy, the synced line, and removes the separately added one. Use a normal force sell if shoppers should be able to buy extra.

### A synced item can be removed from a theme’s mini-cart

The remove link is hidden in WooCommerce’s classic cart, the cart and checkout blocks and the mini-cart block. Some themes build their own side cart or mini-cart that skips WooCommerce’s standard cart markup, and those can show a remove link. It can also happen on a classic theme that uses WooCommerce’s mini-cart block while the cart page uses the classic cart. [Contact support](https://kestrelwp.com/contact/) and tell us which theme you use.

### A removed synced item came back

Synced force sells stay with their main product. If another plugin removes one while the main product is still in the cart, Force Sells puts it back the next time the cart loads.

## Keep learning

- [Force Sells developer reference](/docs/force-sells-developer-reference/) (filters for adding one item per order, hiding prices and more)
- [How to install and update WooCommerce extensions](/docs/install-update-woocommerce-extensions/) (installing, updating and fixing upload errors)
- [Using sites against your activation limit](/docs/using-sites-against-your-activation-limit/) (how license activations count)
- [Changing text in a plugin](/docs/changing-text-in-a-plugin/) (editing the product page note and cart notices)