The Settings page controls how expiry dates look on your storefront, what happens to the display once a product expires, and who gets notified. Go to Product Expiry → Settings to find these options. They apply across your whole store, while the date and action for each product are set on the product itself.
The page is split into four sections. Each one is covered below.
- Frontend Display
- Expired Products
- Orders & Emails
- Notifications
Frontend Display
Controls whether and how the expiry date shows up on the storefront, separate from what is set on each product.
Show on Storefront
The master switch for displaying the expiry date on single product pages and the shop or archive pages. Turn this off if you want to track expiry internally without showing it to customers at all.
Expiry Text
The wording shown around the date, using the placeholder {expiry_date} to mark where the date itself appears. For example, Expiry Date: {expiry_date} displays as “Expiry Date: 30/06/2026”.
Date Format
How the date is formatted, using standard PHP date format characters such as d/m/Y or F j, Y. Leave this blank to use your site’s default date format from Settings → General.
Position — Single Product
Where the expiry date appears on the single product page. Choose one of the preset positions from the dropdown, or enter your own custom hook if your theme uses a non standard layout.
Position — Shop / Archive
Where the expiry date appears on shop and archive listing pages. Works the same way as the single product position, with a preset dropdown or a custom hook.
Earliest Variation on Parent
When enabled, a variable product that has no expiry date of its own will show the date of whichever variation is expiring soonest. Helpful when you set expiry dates only on variations and want the parent page to reflect that automatically.
Expired Products
Controls what happens to the expiry date display, and the Expired badge, once a product has actually expired.
After Expiry, Show Date As
What the date display switches to once the expiry date has passed, on both single product and archive pages. Choose from:
- Keep showing: the original expiry date stays visible as is.
- Hide: the date disappears from the storefront once expired.
- Custom text: the date is replaced with your own wording, set in Custom Expired Text below.
Custom Expired Text
The text shown instead of the date when After Expiry, Show Date As is set to Custom text. For example, “No longer available”.
Expired Badge Text
The label shown on the Expired badge for products using the Mark as Expired action. Leave it blank to use the default label, “Expired”.
Expired Badge Color
The background color of the Expired badge, set using a hex color value so it can match your store’s branding.
Badge Position — Single Product
Where the Expired badge renders on the single product page. Choose a preset position from the dropdown, or enter a custom hook.
Badge Position — Shop / Archive
Where the Expired badge renders on shop and archive listing pages. Leave this blank to hide the badge on archive pages while still showing it on the single product page.
Orders & Emails
Controls whether the expiry date appears alongside order information, for both you and your customers.
Show in Order Emails
When enabled, the expiry date for purchased products is included in WooCommerce order emails, so customers have a record of it without needing to revisit the product page.
Show in Order Details
When enabled, the expiry date appears in order details, visible to both the store admin and the customer when viewing an order.
Notifications
Controls the email sent to your store when a product expires, including who receives it and what it says.
Notification Emails
The email addresses that should receive expiry notifications, entered as a comma separated list. Use this to notify a manager, an inventory team, or any other recipient beyond the site admin.
Send Email on Expiry
The master switch for the on expiry notification email. Turn this off if you would rather monitor expiry through the admin Products list instead of by email.
Email Subject
The subject line for the notification email. You can use placeholders here the same way as in the Email Body.
Email Body
The message sent in the notification email. Three placeholders are available:
{product_name}— the name of the product that expired.{expiry_date}— the date the product expired on.{product_url}— a direct link to the product, so you can jump straight to it from the email.
Reminder Before Expiry (Days) (Pro)
The number of days before expiry that an admin reminder email should be sent, so you can act before a product actually expires rather than after. This field is part of Product Expiry Pro and stays locked until you upgrade.
Every email the plugin sends, whether to you or to a custom recipient, is recorded in the Email Log under Product Expiry, where you can see the recipient, subject, type, and whether it sent successfully.