WooCommerce: Only Allow to Buy a Product Once

In the era of online courses, subscriptions, custom-made products and product personalization, it may happen a scenario where a user can only purchase a product once in their lifetime.

In this short tutorial, we will see how this is done.Clearly, the user must be logged in in order for the code to trigger, so this applies to stores that require checkout login in order to proceed with the order.

Enjoy!

User “Rodolfo Melogli” is currently logged in and in the past he purchased this same product. Result: the add to cart button is not showing thanks to the snippet below.

PHP Snippet: One Product Purchase in a Lifetime @ WooCommerce Single Product / Cart / Checkout

/**
* @snippet       Deny second purchase
* @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
* @author        Rodolfo Melogli
* @testedwith    WooCommerce 6
* @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/
*/

add_filter( 'woocommerce_is_purchasable', 'bbloomer_deny_purchase_if_already_purchased', 9999, 2 );
 
function bbloomer_deny_purchase_if_already_purchased( $is_purchasable, $product ) {
   if ( is_user_logged_in() && wc_customer_bought_product( '', get_current_user_id(), $product->get_id() ) ) {
      $is_purchasable = false;
   }
   return $is_purchasable;
}

Notes:

  • it would be nice to add a notice to tell the user why the Add to Cart is not showing. The snippet above ONLY hides the add to cart
  • in case the already purchased product is in the Cart, and user logs in from there, item will be removed from the Cart and an error message will be displayed
  • same applies to the Checkout page, in case the user logs in from there

Related posts:

Where to add custom code?

You should place PHP snippets at the bottom of your child theme functions.php file and CSS at the bottom of its style.css file. Make sure you know what you are doing when editing such files - if you need more guidance, please take a look at my guide "Should I Add Custom Code Via WP Editor, FTP or Code Snippets?" and my video tutorial "Where to Place WooCommerce Customization?"

Does this snippet (still) work?

Please let me know in the comments if everything went as expected. I would be happy to revise the snippet if you report otherwise (please provide screenshots). I have tested this code with Storefront theme, the WooCommerce version listed above and a WordPress-friendly hosting.

If you think this code saved you time & money, feel free to join 17,000+ WooCommerce Weekly subscribers for blog post updates and 250+ Business Bloomer supporters for 365 days of WooCommerce benefits. Thank you in advance!

Need Help with WooCommerce?

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Rodolfo Melogli

Business Bloomer Founder

Author, WooCommerce expert and WordCamp speaker, Rodolfo has worked as an independent WooCommerce freelancer since 2011. His goal is to help entrepreneurs and developers overcome their WooCommerce nightmares. Rodolfo loves travelling, chasing tennis & soccer balls and, of course, wood fired oven pizza.

24 thoughts on “WooCommerce: Only Allow to Buy a Product Once”

  1. Franster

    Is it possible to add a new button after hiding the add to cart button on the individual product page?

    Because my product is a digital downloadable product, I hope that after the customer purchases the product, the add to cart button of the purchased product will be hidden, and a new button will be added to redirect the download page.

    Reply
    1. Franster

      Now each product can only be purchased once, and the add to cart button will be hidden when the user completes the purchase.

      So can you add a new button after hiding the Add to Cart button, this button will point to the product order page purchased by the user, when the user clicks the newly added button, for example (view order) we will directly take the user to view The order page for this product he purchased

      Reply
      1. Rodolfo Melogli

        Hello Franster, thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is definitely possible, but I’m afraid it’s custom work. If you’d like to get a quote, feel free to contact me here. Thanks a lot for your understanding!

        Reply
  2. Tim

    Hi,

    I’ve added you code to my functions.php, but it gives an error:
    Cannot re-declare function bbloomer_deny_purchase_if_already_purchased.

    I’d like to send a screenshot, but I see that’s no option.

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      Hi Tim, possibly you added it twice, in the same file or maybe as a Code Snippet. You need to remove the second copy of the snippet

      Reply
  3. Hoan

    Hi,

    How can I configure this code for a specific product?
    Regards

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      I suggest you take a look at “conditional logic”: https://businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-conditional-logic-ultimate-php-guide/. Enjoy

      Reply
      1. Luis

        Hi, did you find the answer?
        I know nothing about coding and really need this function restricted to one product only.
        Thank you.

        Reply
  4. Sohan

    After adding this function, the add to cart button is replaced with “Read more” in the grid view. it is worked. but I need to change the “read more ” button text to “Already purchased”. is this possible? thanks

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      You could reuse some of this code: https://www.businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-hide-add-to-cart-if-already-purchased/

      Reply
  5. Jim

    I found ths a great snippet. Thanks very much for helping me understand PHP in the funtions file through code like this. Unfortunately for me, the “Product already Purchased” additional snippet causes layout problems, forcing the next item on to the next row in the catalogue layout.

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      Thank you! For the issue, it may just need some additional CSS

      Reply
  6. Frans Botha

    Thank You Rodolfo
    This is a code that I was looking for a long now, I building a coupon website for a client, but customs can get only one product/coupon
    Tell me must I replace the bbloomer_ with my website name?
    Kind Regards
    Frans

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      No need, no, that’s only a prefix I use, you can either remove it, or rename it. Basically you can give the PHP function whatever name you want

      Reply
  7. Robert

    What a great help! Thanks for sharing thisI would like to understand, how to make this apply only to one specific product (in my case it´s a specific Woocommerce subscription), so user can buy a specific subscription only one time AND only if he has no purchase history yet. Where can I donate etc for a profound answer? 🙂

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      Thank you Robert! Here: https://www.businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/

      Reply
      1. Shelley

        Was this answered? I could also use a single product restriction. So IF this is product A, then only buy once.

        Reply
        1. Rodolfo Melogli

          I answered privately, yes. Basically, I suggest you take a look at “conditional logic”: https://businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-conditional-logic-ultimate-php-guide/. Enjoy 🙂

          Reply
  8. Allan

    How can I add a message like “Product already Purchased” ?

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      You could use something along the lines of this:

      add_action( 'woocommerce_single_product_summary', 'bbloomer_message_if_not_purchasable', 29 );

function bbloomer_message_if_not_purchasable() {
   global $product;
   if ( is_user_logged_in() && wc_customer_bought_product( '', get_current_user_id(), $product->get_id() ) ) {
      echo 'You already bought this product!';
   }
}
      Reply
      1. François

        Hi Rodolfo

        Thank you for sharing the piece of code. Its great and wokrs perfect for me.
        But I also use the piece of code to have a message displayed instead of the add to cart button on a simple product page but the text does not appear. Can you help please?

        Thanks

        Reply
        1. Rodolfo Melogli

          Hi Francois, thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is definitely possible, but I’m afraid it’s custom work. If you’d like to get a quote, feel free to contact me here. Thanks a lot for your understanding!

          Reply
  9. Ned

    That is good, but could be better if there is a time limit.
    Like if customer bough it in last 24 hours, then can’t buy again.

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      Great idea!

      Reply
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