--- title: "Custom and manual line items" description: "Add a free-text line with its own price and no Shopify variant behind it, set its shipping and tax flags, edit per-line prices, and carry it through to the draft order." url: "https://www.quotway.com/docs/negotiation/custom-and-manual-line-items" type: "documentation" category: "negotiation" updated: "2026-08-28" locale: "en" source: "QuotWay - B2B Quote & Negotiation App for Shopify" --- # Custom and manual line items **Read time:** 5 minutes. **Last updated:** August 28, 2026 **Who it's for:** Merchants quoting something that isn't a Shopify product - an assembly fee, freight, a service, a made-to-order item - and anyone who needs to price individual lines by hand. Not everything you quote exists as a Shopify variant. A **custom line** is a line with a title you type and a price you set, with no product behind it. It lives on the quote like any other line, prints on the proposal PDF, and converts onto the Shopify draft order. > ⚠️ Creating a quote yourself - which is where custom lines are added - requires the **Starter** plan or higher. ## What a custom line is A custom line carries: - **A title you write.** Free text: "10 ft cable assembly, 2 x fittings", "Assembly and testing", "Palletised freight to dock". - **A price you set.** No catalog price to discount from - the number is the number. - **A quantity**, like any other line. - **Two flags that only apply to custom lines:** *requires shipping* and *taxable*. Those two flags exist because Shopify ignores them when a line has a variant behind it - the variant's own settings apply instead. They're meaningful **only** on custom lines, and the defaults mirror Shopify's own draft-order behaviour: a custom line is **taxable** and **needs no shipping** unless you say otherwise. Set *requires shipping* when the custom line is a physical good that should be included in shipping calculations. Clear *taxable* when the line shouldn't be taxed - and check that against your tax position rather than assuming, since it's a decision you're making rather than one Shopify is calculating. ## Add a custom line Custom lines are added when **you** build the quote: 1. Go to **Quotes → Create quote**, or open an existing quote and duplicate it. 2. Add the buyer and any catalog products as normal. 3. Select **Add custom line**. 4. Enter the title, price, and quantity, then set *requires shipping* and *taxable* to match what the line is. 5. Save, then price and send the proposal as usual. Duplicating a quote is often the fastest route for repeat work: the duplicate carries the buyer, company context, line items, addresses, PO number and custom-field answers, and resets every price so you re-quote deliberately rather than reissuing an old number. See [Create a quote yourself](../getting-started/create-a-quote-yourself.md). ## Edit individual line prices Every line on every quote can be priced individually in the proposal editor, whether it came from your catalog or you typed it in: - Set a **unit price** per line. - Adjust **quantity** per line. - For catalog lines, the **discount against the catalog price** is shown inline as you type, so you can see how deep a line has gone without working it out. That per-line view is what makes a floor price and an approval threshold meaningful - both are evaluated per line, not just on the quote total. See [Floor price and discounts](./floor-price-and-discounts.md) and [Approval workflows](../approvals/approval-workflows.md). ## Quoting an assembled or made-to-order product If you sell something assembled from parts - a cable made from a length of cable, two fittings, and an assembly fee - and the buyer should see **one item at one price**, a custom line is the way to do it today. Rather than quoting four component lines, add a single custom line: *"10 ft cable assembly, 2 x fittings"* at one price. The buyer sees one line on the quote, one line on the PDF, and one line on the order. The trade-off is inventory: a custom line has no variant behind it, so it won't decrement component stock. For genuinely made-to-order work that's often the right model rather than a compromise - you're building to order, not drawing from a shelf. If component-level inventory tracking is essential, quote the components as catalog lines instead and accept that the buyer sees the breakdown. ## What happens at conversion A custom line converts onto the Shopify draft order as a **custom line item** - title and price intact - so it survives to the order, the invoice, and your reporting. Your *requires shipping* and *taxable* flags travel with it, which is exactly why they're worth setting correctly at quote time. See [Convert a quote to a draft order](../converting-to-orders/convert-a-quote-to-a-draft-order.md). ## Common gotchas - **"Add custom line isn't there."** You're on the free Lite plan, or you're in the proposal editor on a buyer-submitted quote rather than creating a quote yourself. Custom lines are added when you build the quote. - **A custom line was taxed when I didn't expect it.** The default is taxable. Clear the flag on lines that shouldn't be. - **A custom line wasn't included in shipping.** The default is *no* shipping required, on the assumption that a custom line is a fee or service. Set the flag for physical goods. - **Stock didn't move.** Custom lines have no variant, so there's nothing to decrement. Use catalog lines where you need inventory to move. ## Related articles - [Create a quote yourself](../getting-started/create-a-quote-yourself.md) - building a quote from scratch, where custom lines are added. - [Build and send a proposal](./proposals-and-versions.md) - per-line pricing, discounts, and expiry. - [Convert a quote to a draft order](../converting-to-orders/convert-a-quote-to-a-draft-order.md) - what carries onto the order.