Set Up and Manage Product Rules

Product Rules let you apply settings like EBT eligibility, age restrictions, taxes, and target margins to entire groups of products at once, instead of editing items one at a time. They are the new default for managing product attributes in Vori, replacing department-level inheritance with a faster, more flexible way to keep your catalog consistent.

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What are Product Rules?

A Product Rule is a “when this, then that” instruction. You define a condition (the when), such as the department is Beer, Wine & Liquor, and the properties that should apply (the then), such as age restriction is 21 and up. Every product that matches the condition picks up the property automatically. This works much like department inheritance did, but with more ways to target products and combine settings. The rules you’ll most often want to set up before going live are:

• Age restriction — flag alcohol and tobacco departments for ID verification.
• Taxes — apply the right tax rate across a department.
• EBT — mark a department as eligible or ineligible for Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT).
• Loyalty exclusions — remove loyalty eligibility from departments that shouldn’t earn points.
• Discount restrictions — limit which products can be discounted.
• Target margins — set a pricing target across a group of products.

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Where to find Product Rules

Go to Products > Product Rules in the left-hand navigation. The Product Rules page lists every rule you’ve created. Each rule shows its priority, name, status, the when condition, the number of affected products, and the then properties it sets. Use the search and filter controls at the top of the page to narrow the list by any of these fields:

• Priority — the order rules apply when a product matches more than one.
• Rule name — search by what you named the rule.
• Status — Active or Inactive.
• When — the condition, such as Department is Dairy.
• Then — the property the rule sets.
• Affected products — how many products the rule currently applies to.
• Created at and Updated at — when the rule was made or last changed.

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How priority works

A single product can match more than one rule. For example, an item might belong to both a parent department and a sub-department, each with its own rule. Priority decides which rule wins. The lower the priority number, the higher the priority. Say you have two target-margin rules: A yogurt item lives in both the Dairy parent department and the Yogurt sub-department, so it matches both rules. Because the Dairy rule has the lower priority number (2), its 35% target margin applies first and takes precedence over the 40% from the Yogurt rule. 💡 Tip: Plan your priorities so broader rules (whole departments) and narrower rules (single sub-departments) resolve the way you expect when a product matches both.

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Create a Product Rule

1. Go to Products > Product Rules and click Create New in the top-right corner.
2. Select Rule.
3. Under Product Details, give the rule a clear Name (for example, “Grocery target margin” or “Age restriction”).
4. Set the Priority. Remember that a lower number applies first when a product matches multiple rules.
5. Set the Status to Active to turn the rule on, or Inactive to save it for later.

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Set the “when” condition

Under When product meets the following conditions, add the conditions that decide which products the rule targets. The simplest condition is by department. For example, to build an age-restriction rule for alcohol, set the condition to Department is your alcohol departments. You can:

• Select multiple departments — add every alcohol parent department and sub-department to one rule. Toggle Show sub-departments to include them in the list.
• Use is or is not — include or exclude departments to shape the set exactly.

As you build the condition, Vori shows an Affects # products count so you can see the rule’s reach before you save.

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Set the “then” properties

Under Then set product properties, choose the properties to apply to every matching product. Search for a property or pick one from the Suggested list. For an age-restriction rule, you’d set Age restriction to your chosen value. You can add more than one property to a single rule, for example an age restriction and a tax rate (see the examples below).

6. Click Create Product Rule.

✏️ Note: Product Rules can set many of the same properties department settings could, including target margin, age restriction, EBT, tax rates, bottle deposits, loyalty eligibility, Discount Restrictions, Tippable (useful for a coffee stand), and Sync to Deli Scales for connected Ishida scales.

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Review and exclude affected products

A single rule can apply to thousands of products at once, so it’s worth reviewing the list before you save. Click the Affects # products count to open the View Products list. This is a live snapshot of every item that currently matches your conditions. To remove an item, click Exclude in its row, the header updates to show how many products are included and how many are excluded (for example, 204 Products included (3 excluded)). Click Undo to add an excluded item back. When you’re done, click Done. ✏️ Note: The list uses dynamic product selection. Products you add or change later that match the conditions are included in the rule automatically. ⚠️ Caution: Product Rules apply in bulk and can affect thousands of products at once. Review the affected products list before saving, especially for tax rates, EBT, age restrictions, and target margins.

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Examples

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Age restriction + tax

If all of your alcohol is both 21-and-up and taxable, you can set both properties in a single rule.

1. Create a new rule and name it (for example, “Age restriction + tax”).
2. Set the when condition to your alcohol departments, such as Beer and Wine & Liquor. Add every relevant parent department and sub-department.
3. In the then section, add two properties: set Age restriction to 21 and up, and set the Tax rate to the rate for your store (for example, NYC or SF sales tax).
4. Click Create Product Rule.

Every product in those departments is now both age-restricted and taxed at the rate you chose.

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Loyalty exclusion

By default, every product is eligible to earn loyalty points. Some stores choose to exclude loyalty from departments like tobacco or alcohol.

1. Create a new rule and name it (for example, “Loyalty excluded”).
2. Set the when condition to the departments you want to exclude, such as Western Union, Beer, and Wine & Liquor.
3. In the then section, set Earns loyalty points to No.
4. Click Create Product Rule.

Every product in those departments is now excluded from earning loyalty points.

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Discount restrictions

You can stop an entire department or sub-department from receiving discounts at the register, the same restrictions you can apply to a single item, set in bulk. This is useful for departments you never want discounted, like tobacco.

1. Create a new rule and name it (for example, “Tobacco no discounts”).
2. Set the when condition to the departments you want to restrict, such as Tobacco.
3. In the then section, add the Discount Restrictions property and choose one or more restrictions:
   • Restrict Discounts on Promotions — prevents double-discounting. When an item is already on promotion, cashiers cannot apply an additional discount at the POS.
   • Restrict POS Discounts — blocks all discounts on the item at the POS.
   • Restrict Multiple POS Discounts — allows one discount per item, but not two stacked together.
4. Click Create Product Rule.

Every product in those departments now carries the discount restrictions you chose.

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How rules appear in the product catalog

Once a rule is live, you can see it on the individual products it affects. Open any product in the Product Catalog and look for a 🔒 lock icon next to an attribute. A lock means the attribute is set by a Product Rule. For example, a bottle of liquor covered by the “Age Restriction + Tax” rule shows its age restriction locked at 21 & up. Because the rule controls these values, you can’t change them directly on the product. Hover over the lock to see which rule is setting the attribute. To make an exception for a single product, select Exclude product from this product rule. The product keeps its current value but is no longer governed by the rule. ✏️ Note: Product Rules take precedence over individual product settings, that’s what the lock represents. To create an exception, either exclude the specific product from the rule or move those items into a separate department or sub-department with its own rule. Editing the value on the product itself won’t override the rule.

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Frequently asked questions

How are Product Rules different from department settings? Product Rules are the new default and replace department-level inheritance. They do the same job, applying shared attributes to groups of products, but give you more ways to target items (multiple departments, is/is not conditions, priorities) and to combine several properties in one rule. What happens when a product matches two rules? The rule with the lower priority number wins. Set your priorities deliberately when broad and narrow rules overlap. Can I turn a rule off without deleting it? Yes. Set the rule’s Status to Inactive to stop it from applying, and back to Active when you need it again. How do I make one product an exception to a rule? Hover over the 🔒 lock on that attribute in the product catalog and select Exclude from product rule, or move the item into a separate department or sub-department with its own rule.