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Product Seeding for Shopify Brands: Gift Products Right

Updated , first published · 4 min read

Product seeding means sending your product free to creators who might like it, with no requirement to post. For a small Shopify brand it is a low-cost way to start with creators: you pay for product and shipping, a share of the creators post because they like the product, and you learn which creators’ audiences buy before you pay anyone a fee. In Shopify, each gift is best sent as a draft order discounted to zero, tagged so you can count the cost, with a personal code and link for each creator.

Pick creators worth a product

For seeding we would start with small creators with engaged audiences, because a first round of 20 or 30 small creators costs less than one large account and tells you more about which audiences buy. Look for three things:

  1. The audience matches your customers. Read the comments as well as the follower count. Are the people commenting the people who buy from you?
  2. They already post about your category. A creator who reviews skincare every week will show your serum in a format their audience trusts.
  3. They have posted gifted products honestly before, including what they didn’t like.

Start with a list of 20 to 30 creators for a first round, and write to each personally: why you picked them, what you’d like to send, and that there is no obligation to post. Ask for their size or shade before you ship. Your own customers who post about your category are often the best first list; our guide to Shopify influencer marketing covers finding them.

Ship the gift from Shopify

Record every gift as an order in Shopify, so stock, shipping and cost are counted like any other order:

  1. Create a draft order under Orders > Drafts: add the creator as a customer and add the products in their size or shade.
  2. Discount it to zero. Draft orders can take a discount on specific items or on the entire order; apply 100% to the products. Decide whether you also cover shipping (you usually should).
  3. Tag it seeding and seeding-2026-11, so you can filter all gift orders later and see how much the round cost.
  4. Mark as paid to turn the draft into a regular order. Draft orders don’t reduce available inventory until they become orders (unless you reserve the items on the draft), so stock changes at this step.
  5. Fulfill it like a normal order, with a handwritten note: what the product is, how to use it, and the creator’s personal code for their followers.

If you use Shopify Collabs, its gifts do the same job for creators you’re connected with: a free product or a discount code, free shipping always applied, and an order in your admin once the creator claims the gift. Our Shopify Collabs guide covers it.

Include a personal discount code (for example ROSA10) and a short UTM-tagged link in the note, and send the same in a follow-up message once the gift arrives. If the creator posts, their followers have a reason to buy and you can see which posts sold. Our guide to influencer tracking explains how to read both in Shopify’s reports.

After four to six weeks, add up the round: gift orders and their cost (filter orders by your seeding tag), posts made, and orders on each creator’s code. The creators whose codes sold are the ones to offer a paid deal or a commission next.

Disclosure

A gift is a relationship that needs disclosing. The FTC’s Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers says creators should disclose free products “even if you weren’t asked to mention that product”, in the post itself, with clear wording such as “ad”, “sponsored” or a plain “Thanks to [brand] for the free product”. Say this in your first message, so the creator knows you expect it. Other countries have their own rules, so check the ones where your creators post.

The marketing and SEO hub has more guides on growing a brand with creators.

Frequently asked questions

What is product seeding? Sending your product free to creators, with no obligation to post, so they can try it and share it if they like it. You learn which creators’ audiences buy before paying for posts.

How do I record a gifted product in Shopify? Create a draft order for the creator, apply a 100% discount to the products, tag the order (for example “seeding”), mark it as paid and fulfill it. Stock and costs are then counted like any order.

Do influencers have to disclose gifted products? In the US, yes. The FTC says free products count as a relationship that must be disclosed in the post itself, even if the brand didn’t ask for a mention.