Volume Discounts on PLA Filament in Shopify | Boost B2B Sales from Schools & Makerspaces

Every semester, schools flood your inbox asking for bulk PLA filament quotes. Every time, you manually adjust prices, send custom invoices, and hope they’ll reorder next term. 

What if Shopify could handle all that automatically?

According to Market.us Scoop, the 3D printing market hit $17 billion in 2022. Filament, resin, and other materials already represent a $1.7 billion segment of that.

So if you’re selling PLA spools on Shopify, you’re operating in a multibillion-dollar opportunity.  Volume discounts on PLA filament can help you take a bigger slice.

Let’s explore how you can set up automated, transparent bulk pricing for PLA filament spools and attract high-value educational buyers this academic season.

Don’t miss the bonus tip at the end. It’ll make selling easier than ever!

Why Educational Buyers Expect Volume Discounts on PLA Filament

For educators, 3D printing isn’t just a hobby. It’s a hands-on way to teach creativity, design, and engineering. Schools often purchase dozens of filament spools at a time to equip entire classrooms or labs.

Naturally, they expect wholesale-like discounts.

Yet, most Shopify stores sell at flat prices, meaning a customer who buys 1 spool pays the same as someone buying 50. That doesn’t align with how institutional purchasing works.

Educational institutions often reach out asking:

“Can we get a discount if we buy in bulk?”
“Do you have educational pricing?”

If you’ve received messages like that, you’re already seeing a valuable pattern. These buyers want clear, automated volume pricing displayed upfront, without back-and-forth emails.

What Challenges Shopify Merchants Face When Selling to Educational Institutions

Merchants selling 3D printing materials, filament, and related supplies often share the same pain points:

• Manual quote requests: Schools ask for large orders, forcing you to create custom invoices each time.
• One-size-fits-all pricing: Shopify’s native pricing doesn’t reward customers who buy in bulk.
• Discount code overload: Managing separate coupon codes for every institution quickly becomes messy.
• Hidden costs: Without automated pricing, you risk undercharging or losing buyers who expect transparent bulk discounts.

This manual process not only slows down your workflow but also discourages repeat orders, especially from schools that need predictability.

How MakerSupplyCo Simplified Educational Orders

Meet MakerSupplyCo, a fictional Shopify store that sells spools in 15 vibrant colors. Every semester, they receive emails from design schools and STEM programs asking for bulk PLA filament pricing:

“We’re ordering 25 spools for our robotics class. Can we get a discount?”

Here’s what their old process looked like:

1. Reply to the email.
2. Create a draft order with a manual discount.
3. Send the invoice.
4. Wait for payment confirmation.

This worked, but it wasn’t scalable.

By the third semester, the founder realized they were spending hours per week managing educational orders that could easily be automated.

That’s when MakerSupplyCo installed DiscountRay, a Shopify discount app. It automates tiered pricing and volume-based discounts directly on product pages.

How to Set Up Automated Volume Discounts on Shopify

Using DiscountRay, MakerSupplyCo created a simple rule for their PLA Filament Spools:

(P.S. This table is just for the 1 kg spool.)

Quantity Range	Price per Spool	Discount
1–29 spools	$12	—
30–39 spools	$11.4	5% off
40–49 spools	$11.8	10% off
50–59 spools	$10.2	15% off
60+ spools	$9.6	20% off

Within seconds, the pricing tiers appeared automatically on their Shopify storefront.

Here’s what makes this setup powerful:

• 🎓 Educational verification:
  They restricted the discount visibility to verified .edu accounts.
• 🏷️ Dynamic price display:
  Customers instantly see what they saved by meeting the level — boosting conversion confidence.
• 🧾 No more manual quotes:
  The rule applies automatically at checkout.

So when an educational buyer adds 40 spools to the cart, the system updates prices automatically. No coupon codes, no emails, no hassle.

Why Volume Discounts Work So Well for Educational Buyers

Volume pricing isn’t just about lowering prices. It’s about creating fairness and value alignment.

Here’s why it works perfectly for B2B or institutional buyers:

1. Budget predictability: Schools often work with fixed budgets, so upfront bulk PLA filament pricing makes purchasing simpler.
2. Faster purchase decisions: When the discount is visible, buyers don’t need to negotiate. They can order immediately.
3. Recurring relationships: Once an institution knows your pricing model, they’re more likely to reorder every semester.

For merchants, it’s a double win. You sell more per transaction and reduce operational overhead.

Step-by-Step: How to Create a Volume Discount Rule for Filament Spools

If you’d like to set up the same experience in your own Shopify store, here’s a quick guide:

1. Create New Discount From The Dashboard
2. Add Products
3. Add Discount
4. The BONUS TIP!

Step#1 Create a New Discount From The Dashboard

Go to the Shopify App store and install DiscountRay. From the dashboard, click “create new” ➡ “Quantity Discount”. Make sure you added the app embed.

Step#2 Add Products

After giving a title, add the products. There are multiple options available. You can apply the discount to all products, any specific product, specific collections, or specific tags.

Step#3 Add Discount

This is what you’re waiting for, right?

Set different discount rates based on quantity ranges. Once you save these ranges, they’ll be stored as a preset. You can easily reuse the same preset values in future campaigns without setting them up from scratch.

Alternate Option: Variant Discounted Price

DiscountRay gives you more than just standard volume discounts. You can also set variant-based discounted prices on the same product.

Unlike typical volume discounts (where the same rate applies across all variants), this option lets you customize. For example, you might set a 5% discount on the 1 KG filament, but offer a bigger discount on the 3 KG filament. This encourages buyers to choose the larger variant, boosting both sales volume and average order value.

Step#4 The BONUS TIP!

B2B buyers often need multiple variants in a single order. Jumping back and forth between the cart and product page wastes time. The faster solution is using a bulk order app like MultiVariants with rules applied on the same product page. The integration of DiscountRay with MultiVariants makes it simpler.

For example, you can set a rule like a minimum of 5 units per variant. This ensures buyers must order at least 5 of each variant they choose. This setup works perfectly for B2B.

By default, Shopify still shows the regular variant selector, quantity field, and “Add to Cart” button. This can cause issues, since a buyer could still purchase just 1 unit and bypass your rules.

To fix this, go to Configure Settings → Cart & Checkout Buttons, and hide the default Add to Cart. Once that’s hidden, Shopify’s built-in variant and quantity fields disappear automatically. If they don’t, just reach out to the MultiVariants support team. They’re available 24/7 to help.

Now, when buyers add multiple spools or variants, the app instantly applies the rules and calculates discounts in real time. That way, customers get a smooth buying experience while you stay in full control of bulk order requirements.

Why Automated Volume Discounts Matter for Shopify B2B Stores

Shopify’s built-in discount tools are great for simple promo codes. However, they weren’t designed for complex, quantity-based B2B pricing.

DiscountRay fills that gap with features built for wholesale, education, and institutional sales, such as:

• Tiered pricing per product or collection
• Dynamic display on the product page
• Account-based access control
• Stackable rules for flexible campaigns

Instead of maintaining separate Shopify Plus scripts or third-party spreadsheets, merchants can manage everything in one clean dashboard.

This approach not only scales sales but also makes your store look more professional to institutional buyers who expect transparent pricing.

The Takeaway

Offering volume discounts on PLA filament is about more than just selling more products. It’s about building trust and convenience for buyers who order repeatedly.

By using DiscountRay, you can:

• ✅ Encourage larger orders with tiered pricing.
• ✅ Build loyalty among educational and corporate clients.
• ✅ Eliminate repetitive discount management.
• ✅ Display clear savings that boost conversions.

In just a few clicks, you can turn your Shopify store into a B2B-friendly, education-ready storefront with automated pricing that works 24/7.

Bulk PLA Filament: FAQ