The Shopify best sellers URL is /collections/all?sort_by=best-selling. Add it to the end of any Shopify store’s domain and the catalog page reloads with the best-selling products first. The same ?sort_by=best-selling parameter works on any collection, for example /collections/shoes?sort_by=best-selling. Shopify ranks “best selling” by the all-time number of orders that include a product, not by revenue or units, and a store with no sales yet sorts newest to oldest instead.
Below I explain how the parameter works, how Shopify defines a best seller, how to build a proper Best sellers page for your own store, and what the URL can and can’t tell you about a competitor.
The Shopify best sellers URL, explained
Shopify themes sort collection pages with a URL parameter called sort_by. Shopify’s theme documentation shows the pattern with an example like /collections/frontpage?sort_by=price-descending, and its Liquid reference lists best-selling as one of the accepted values. Put the two together with the catalog page every store has, /collections/all, and you get the best sellers link.
| What you want | URL to add after the domain |
|---|---|
| Whole catalog, best sellers first | /collections/all?sort_by=best-selling |
| One collection, best sellers first | /collections/{collection-handle}?sort_by=best-selling |
| Newest products first | /collections/all?sort_by=created-descending |
| Cheapest first | /collections/all?sort_by=price-ascending |
The full list of sort values Shopify documents for collections:
| Storefront label | sort_by value |
|---|---|
| Featured | manual |
| Most relevant | most-relevant |
| Best selling | best-selling |
| Alphabetically, A-Z | title-ascending |
| Alphabetically, Z-A | title-descending |
| Price, low to high | price-ascending |
| Price, high to low | price-descending |
| Date, old to new | created-ascending |
| Date, new to old | created-descending |
In practice, the sort drop-down on most Shopify themes just rewrites this parameter for you. If you pick “Best selling” from the menu, look at the address bar and you’ll see sort_by=best-selling appear.
How Shopify decides what a “best seller” is
This is the part most guides skip, and it changes how you should read the list. Shopify’s help center says the Best selling sort ranks products “based on the all-time number of orders that include the product”. Three things follow from that wording:
- It counts orders, not units. An order with ten of one item counts once for that product. A cheap add-on that rides along in many carts can outrank a hero product people buy in bulk.
- It isn’t revenue. A $9 accessory in 500 orders beats a $400 item in 200 orders.
- It’s all-time. There’s no 30-day or 90-day window. A product that sold heavily two years ago can still sit near the top long after demand faded.
If a store hasn’t sold anything yet, Shopify says the option falls back to sorting newest to oldest. So on a brand-new store, the “best sellers” view is really a “newest products” view.
Honestly, the all-time rule is the biggest catch. The best-selling sort is a lifetime ranking, so it rewards history, not momentum. I’d never treat it as a trend signal on its own.
A quick worked example
Picture a candle shop with two products. A $6 matchbox appears in 300 orders because shoppers toss it into the cart at checkout. A $48 gift set appears in 120 orders. Sorted by best selling, the matchbox sits first, even though the gift set brings in roughly three times the money. Nothing is broken here; the sort is doing exactly what Shopify says it does. That’s why I’d pin hero products manually on the homepage and keep the automated best-selling view for browsing.
Build a Best sellers page for your own store
Linking straight to /collections/all?sort_by=best-selling works, but a dedicated collection looks cleaner, gives you a readable URL such as /collections/best-sellers, and lets you write a proper title and description for search.
Shopify’s steps for an automated collection:
- In your Shopify admin, go to Products > Collections and click Add collection.
- Title it Best sellers.
- Under the products source, choose automated conditions and click Add condition. Shopify allows up to 60 conditions, matched as “all” or “any”.
- Use a broad condition so every product qualifies, for example Price is greater than 0. Shopify uses the same condition in its own recipe for a custom “All” collection.
- Set the sort order to Best selling.
- Check the URL handle in the search engine listing section, then Save.
Two optional tweaks I’d add. First, if you don’t want sold-out products near the top, add an inventory condition so only in-stock items qualify; Shopify suggests the same idea for its catalog page. Second, if you only want your top 12 or 20 products, note that Shopify has no “sales greater than N” condition. My rule here is simple: sort by best selling, then show a limited number of products in the theme section, or keep a manual collection that you refresh monthly from your sales report.
Add it to your menu
Shopify’s menu editor needs the collection to exist first. Then go to Online Store > Navigation, open your main menu, click Add menu item, name it “Best sellers”, pick the collection in the link field and save. You can also paste a raw link such as /collections/all?sort_by=best-selling into that field if you’d rather not build a collection.
Make /collections/all sort by best selling
By default, Shopify’s catalog page at /collections/all lists products alphabetically. Shopify’s documented fix is to create a collection titled All with the condition Price is greater than $0, choose your sort order, and keep the URL handle as all. If you set that sort order to Best selling, the plain /collections/all link shows best sellers first with no parameter needed.
Checking a competitor’s best sellers
Because sort_by is a public storefront parameter, the same link usually works on other Shopify stores too. Type the competitor’s domain, add /collections/all?sort_by=best-selling, and you’ll often see their catalog in lifetime order-count order. It’s a quick, free signal when you’re sizing up a niche.
It has real limits, though:
| Limit | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Password-protected stores | Shopify hides every page from visitors in private mode, so nothing loads. |
| Custom “All” collections | A store can override /collections/all with its own conditions, so you may not see the full catalog. |
| Headless or custom storefronts | Stores built outside standard Liquid themes may ignore the parameter. |
| All-time ranking | Old winners can outrank current sellers, so you see history, not trend. |
| Order count, not revenue | A cheap add-on can top the list even if it earns little. |
My take: treat a competitor’s best-selling order as a shortlist, then check each product’s reviews, recent review dates and pricing before you believe it’s selling now. For a fuller method, see our guide to Amazon competitor analysis and how to find a competitor’s product source.
You’ll also see people mention a public products.json feed. Shopify doesn’t document that endpoint for storefronts, it can change or be blocked, and it doesn’t include sales data anyway, so it can’t tell you what sells. I’d stick with the sort parameter.
Best sellers in your own analytics
For your own store, the storefront sort is the wrong tool. Shopify’s reports give you the real numbers:
- Total sales by product shows sales for each product, excluding shipping. By default it charts up to 5 products, and sorting by net sales puts the top sellers first.
- Total sales by product variant breaks the same data down by size, color or other variant.
- Total sales by vendor groups sales by brand or supplier.
These reports rank by money and let you pick a date range, so they answer “what’s selling this quarter?” in a way the all-time storefront sort can’t. In my view, the two lists disagreeing is useful in itself. A product high in the storefront sort but low in recent sales is a fading winner, and it may deserve a promotion or a quiet exit.
How I’d use a Best sellers page to sell more
A Best sellers page is one of the simplest conversion tools a store has, because new visitors don’t know your range yet and social proof helps them decide. Here’s how I’d set it up:
- Link it high. Put “Best sellers” in the main menu and on the homepage, not buried in the footer.
- Write a real description. One or two sentences on why these products are popular, with your main keyword, helps the page rank for searches like “best [brand]”.
- Keep stock in mind. Out-of-stock items at the top waste your best real estate. Either filter them out or pair the page with a sensible inventory policy for variants.
- Review it monthly. Compare the page with your “Total sales by product” report and adjust if an old winner is crowding out new ones.
- Use it in ads and email. A “shop our best sellers” link is an easy first click for cold traffic.
If you’re also working on discoverability, our guide to the best SEO for Shopify covers collection page titles and descriptions, and our Shopify store development service can build these pages for you.
Common mistakes
- Assuming “best selling” means revenue. It’s an all-time order count.
- Linking a brand-new store’s best sellers. With no sales, it’s just newest-first.
- Leaving sold-out items at the top. Filter by inventory or fix your stock settings.
- Reading a competitor’s list as current demand. It includes years of history.
- Hard-coding a sort that the theme ignores. Test the link on your live theme after any theme change.
FAQ
What is the Shopify best sellers URL?
Add /collections/all?sort_by=best-selling to the store’s domain. For one collection, use /collections/{handle}?sort_by=best-selling.
How does Shopify rank best-selling products?
By the all-time number of orders that include the product. It isn’t based on revenue or units, and there’s no time window. With no sales yet, it sorts newest to oldest.
Can I see another Shopify store’s best sellers?
Often, yes, with the same URL on their domain. It won’t work on password-protected stores and may not work on custom or headless storefronts.
How do I create a Best sellers collection in Shopify?
Create an automated collection titled Best sellers, add a broad condition such as Price is greater than 0, set the sort order to Best selling and save.
Where can I see my top-selling products with real numbers?
In Shopify’s reports. “Total sales by product” and “Total sales by product variant” rank by sales for any date range you choose.
Why does my best sellers page show old products?
Because Shopify’s best-selling sort is all-time. Products with a long sales history stay high even if recent sales have slowed.
Last updated: October 11, 2026. Sources: Shopify, collection template and sort_by; Shopify Liquid, collection object; Shopify Help, collection layout and sorting; Shopify Help, creating collections; Shopify Help, automated collections; Shopify Help, change your catalog page; Shopify Help, drop-down menus; Shopify Help, password page; Shopify Help, sales reports.
