Solving the Mystery: Why Your Shopify Dawn Theme Isn't Showing 'Compare At' Prices

Hey there, fellow store owners! Navigating the ins and outs of your Shopify store can sometimes feel like a treasure hunt, especially when a crucial feature isn't behaving as expected. Recently, a fascinating discussion popped up in the Shopify community that really highlights a common pitfall with product pricing, specifically the "Compare-at price" not showing up on the popular Dawn theme. Let's dive into what happened and how the community pulled together to crack the code.

The Case of the Missing "Compare-at Price"

Our friend @Stock-Units kicked off the thread, explaining they were using the Dawn 15.0.2 theme and couldn't get the "Compare-at price" to display. They wanted to show something like €32,500 €36,300, but only the current selling price (€32,500) was appearing. This is a huge deal, right? Shoppers rely on that strikethrough price to quickly see the value of a deal.

The community quickly jumped in with some excellent diagnostic questions and solutions. It's a classic example of how many heads are better than one when troubleshooting Shopify quirks!

The #1 Reason Your Compare-at Price Isn't Showing

The most crucial insight came from @Ploqo (and backed up by @Bhavesh_Monk). After inspecting Stock-Units' store, they found the core issue: Shopify only displays a "Compare-at price" (the original, strikethrough price) if it is higher than the current selling price.

It sounds obvious, but it's an easy mistake to make! For one of Stock-Units' products, the "Price" was €42.950, but the "Compare-at price" was €42.000. Since €42.000 is lower than €42.950, Shopify's logic says it's not a sale, so it won't show the strikethrough. This is why some products were showing the compare-at price correctly (e.g., €54.950,00 crossed out next to €49.450,00) while others weren't.

Here's how @Ploqo illustrated the problem and the fix:

For the product where it does not show:

• Price: €42.950
• Compare-at price: €42.000

The compare-at price is lower than the selling price. Shopify only treats a product as on sale when the compare-at price is higher.

How to Fix the Compare-at Price Issue

The fix is straightforward:

1. Open the product in your Shopify admin.
2. Locate the "Pricing" section.
3. Ensure the Compare-at price field has a value that is higher than the current "Price" field.
4. Save your changes.

It's also worth noting that if the compare-at price is equal to the selling price, it won't display either. So, always make sure that original price is clearly higher!

Bulk Updating "Compare-at Prices"

If you have many products affected, manually updating each one can be a real pain. @Bhavesh_Monk wisely suggested using a CSV export/import:

1. Go to "Products" in your Shopify admin.
2. Select the products you want to update (or all of them).
3. Click "Export" and choose to export a CSV file.
4. Open the CSV in a spreadsheet program (like Excel or Google Sheets).
5. Locate the "Price" and "Compare At Price" columns.
6. Adjust the "Compare At Price" for all relevant products to be higher than their "Price".
7. Save the CSV file.
8. Go back to "Products" in Shopify and click "Import" to upload your updated CSV. Make sure to check the option to "Overwrite existing products that have the same handle."

When It's More Than Just the Price Logic: Page Builders and Custom Code

While the price logic was the main culprit for Stock-Units, several community members, including @Zyblue and @Maximus3, raised another critical point: Are you using a page builder or custom code that might be overriding Dawn's native price rendering?

@Maximus3 specifically pointed out that the price display in Stock-Units' original screenshot didn't look like a standard Dawn structure:

This image, showing a "main price and secondary price (including vat and excluding vat)", strongly suggested a page builder like Ecomposer was in play. If you're using a page builder, the price block might be a custom element from that app, not Dawn's built-in "price snippet". In such cases, you might need to:

1. Check your Page Builder settings: Look for specific price display options or toggles within the page builder app itself. It might have its own "compare-at price" setting that needs to be enabled or configured.
2. Inspect Custom Code: If you've had custom development, the code modifying the product page might need an update to correctly render the compare-at price.
3. Test on a Clean Theme Duplicate: As @GabGPT-Labs suggested, duplicating your Dawn theme and testing an affected product on this clean version can help isolate the problem. If it works on the duplicate, the issue is likely with your live theme's customizations or a conflicting app.

And @Joshua827 also reminded us to check the basics in the theme editor: "the product card block has compare at price toggled off in the theme editor." This is a simple but often overlooked setting.

So, there you have it! The "compare-at price" mystery often boils down to two main things: ensuring your pricing logic is correct (compare-at price > current price) and making sure any page builders or custom code aren't interfering with Dawn's native display. It's a great reminder that sometimes the simplest solutions are the most effective, but it's always worth digging a little deeper if the obvious fixes don't work. If you're looking to start your own online store on a platform that offers this level of community support and flexibility, consider exploring Shopify's powerful features. Happy selling!