How to Shop Ghirardelli Online: Custom Mixes, Bulk Deals, and Shipping Offers

Ghirardelli's direct-to-consumer site sells the company's full line of bars, squares, baking chocolate, and gifts, and the main reasons to shop there rather than a grocery store are the Custom Mix builder, volume pricing (such as buy 12+ bars for 30% off), and multi-address corporate gifting. Shipping and discount offers rotate frequently and carry conditions, so the practical approach is to build your cart around a current promotion, then verify the code and threshold at checkout before paying.

What the Online Shop Sells

The site organizes around a few core categories:

• Chocolate bars — including the Premium line (for example, 72% and 86% cacao dark chocolate bars and a sea salt almond bar), with milk chocolate bars listed at $7.95 each.
• Squares — sold in bags and case packs, and the base unit for the Custom Mix.
• Baking — a Premium Baking collection starting at $8.95.
• Gifts — gift bags, gift boxes, and seasonal collections (fall flavors, holiday items).
• Bulk — larger quantities positioned for stocking up, party favors, and dessert boards.

This is a broader assortment than most retail shelves carry, especially limited-edition and seasonal flavors, which the site notes are also available inside Custom Mix.

Building a Custom Mix

The Custom Mix is the site's signature feature: you choose an assortment of flavors and pair them with custom gift boxes and bags. Two offers appear repeatedly in the site's promotions:

• 100 squares for $70 — the headline Custom Mix deal.
• 15% off Custom Mix chocolate — a recurring percentage discount on the same builder.

When the 100-for-$70 deal is worth it depends on whether you actually want 100 squares. It makes sense for gifting at scale (party favors, office treats, holiday boxes) or for households that will eat through a large assortment. If you only want a small sampler, the 15% discount on a smaller mix is the lower-commitment path. Check which offer is live before you build, since they are promoted as limited-time.

Bulk and Volume Discounts

Two discount structures are visible on the site:

The buy-12 deal is per product, so it suits restocking a favorite bar or assembling identical party favors. For mixed assortments at volume, the Custom Mix or bulk category is the better fit. Corporate gifting is handled as its own flow with multi-address shipping and volume pricing — useful if you're sending the same gift to many recipients rather than one large order to one address.

Promo Codes and Free Shipping

Promotions on the site follow a consistent pattern: a code, a threshold or category, and exclusions.

• Free shipping has appeared as "free shipping on all orders $70+" and, separately, "buy 4 bags, get free shipping." A code such as GETSHIP50 has also been promoted for shipping.
• Sitewide percentage codes (for example, 15% off with a code) typically state "terms apply, excludes sale items."
• Automatic offers — such as a free sauce with any purchase — apply at checkout without a code, while supplies last.

To use a code: add items to the cart, proceed to checkout, and enter the code in the promo field before completing payment. The expected result is a recalculated order total or a waived shipping line. If nothing changes, the most common causes are an expired code, a cart that doesn't meet the minimum, or items excluded from the promotion.

Common Checkout Pitfalls

• Sale items are excluded from most sitewide percentage codes. Mixing a sale item into a 15%-off cart won't discount that item.
• Offers expire. The homepage rotates seasonal sales (fall, holiday, back-to-school, Memorial Day, Fourth of July), so a code you saw last month may no longer work. Confirm the current banner before building a large order.
• Thresholds are order-level. Free shipping at $70 is measured on the order total, so a cart just under the line is worth topping up rather than paying shipping.
• Per-product quantity rules. The 30% bar discount requires 12 of that specific bar; splitting 12 across different bars may not trigger it.
• While-supplies-last gifts can disappear from the cart if stock runs out mid-session.

A Practical Ordering Sequence

1. Check the current homepage banner for the live offer (free shipping threshold, Custom Mix deal, or percentage code).
2. Decide your format: single bars, a Custom Mix, bulk, or corporate multi-address gifting.
3. Build the cart to hit the relevant condition — 12 of one bar, 100 squares, or the $70 shipping threshold.
4. Enter the promo code at checkout and confirm the discount or shipping waiver appears.
5. Remove any sale items if they're blocking a sitewide code, or accept that they won't discount.

Following that order avoids the most common failure: building a cart around an expired or inapplicable promotion and discovering it at payment.