Purchase limits are used to determine and enforce the maximum amount of each product category or combination of categories a customer can purchase. Work with your implementation specialist or customer support to ensure your purchase limits are set in compliance with your state’s specific regulations.
Things to know
Purchase limits are not enforced by default, but you can enable a setting that prevents checkout at the point of sale when a customer's cart exceeds the limit(s) you've configured:
- Go to Settings > Location.
- In the Point of Sale section, check the box for Enforce Purchase Limit.
- Check the Enforce Purchase Limits box.
- Click Save.
In some states, purchase limits are based on per-customer allotments that are tracked by the state in Metrc or BioTrack rather than purchase limits configured in Dutchie POS. Work with your implementation specialist or customer support to ensure your purchase limits are set in compliance with your state’s specific regulations.
Configure purchase limits
To create or modify purchase limits:
- Go to Settings > Taxes & compliance and select the Purchase limits tab.
- Click the Add limit button.
- Fill out the following fields as necessary, and click Save.
| Field | Description |
| Customer type | What customer type(s) does this limit apply to? Configure your customer types by going to Customers > Actions > Manage customer types. |
| Category |
What purchase limit category or categories does this limit apply to? Be sure your product categories are also associated with the correct purchase limit category. To view or edit product categories, go to Products > Configure > Categories, select a product category, and confirm or edit the Purchase limit category drop-down menu. |
| Purchase limit | Enter the purchase limit in grams. |
| Limit type | Per Purchase, Per Calendar Day, Per Calendar Month, or Cycle |
| Cycle days | Only applies if the Limit type is Cycle. Number of days in the cycle. Cycle limits will start when a customer makes their first purchase and reset at the end of the period. |
Purchase limit nuances and further reading
Purchase limit rules vary significantly by state, and several states require configuration beyond the basic setup above. This section highlights common patterns. Always confirm your specific state's current requirements with your own compliance advisors before configuring limits, since Dutchie does not provide compliance advice.
Statutory limits vs. grams per concentration
Some states calculate purchase limits using a product's Grams/concentration value rather than its Flower equivalent value. In these states, flower equivalency should typically be left blank so the system falls back to grams per concentration.
Overlapping and combined-category limits
Several states require a product type, such as concentrates, to count against both an overall limit and its own stricter sub-limit, or allow multiple product types to share one combined limit.
- Arizona | Set up overlapping purchase limits in Dutchie POS explains how to configure a multi-category limit (set to All categories) alongside a narrower concentrate-specific limit, so both are enforced independently.
- Montana | Combined Category Purchase Limits - Dutchie POS covers Montana's combined limit, where customers can mix and match flower, edibles, and concentrate up to one shared cap.
- Michigan | Purchase limit troubleshooting - Dutchie POS covers Michigan's overlapping limits, plus two Michigan-specific cautions: avoid overriding individual customer allotments, since this can create compliance risk, and do not configure purchase limits in Dutchie POS at all for medical-only locations. Medical-only locations should instead rely on the Metrc patient allotment.
For either pattern, double-check that each product category is mapped to the correct Purchase limit category under Products > Configure > Categories. A miscategorized product (for example, a vape mapped to the wrong category) will count toward the wrong limit.
Multicategory flower equivalencies for hybrid limits
In hybrid states such as California and Arizona, a single product can be configured to count against more than one purchase limit category at different weights. For example, an infused pre-roll might count as 1g against the flower limit but 2g against the overall limit.
- Multicategory flower equivalencies for hybrid purchase limits in Dutchie POS covers how to configure this at the product level, under Settings > Location > Show category flower equivalencies.
Automatic flower equivalency calculations
Rather than manually calculating and entering flower equivalency values for every product, several states let you define a standard conversion ratio by purchase limit category and customer type, which Dutchie then applies automatically.
- Set up automatic flower equivalency calculations in Dutchie POS covers this feature, available in states including Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Nevada, and Vermont.
Allotment checks
In some states, a customer's purchase limit isn't configured in Dutchie POS at all. Instead, it's tracked centrally by the state's traceability system, most commonly Metrc, based on that patient's dispensed history across all locations. Rather than enforcing a limit you've set yourself, Dutchie POS can query the state system directly before a sale completes and block anything that would exceed the patient's actual remaining allotment.
How allotment checks work
When Enable Allotment Check is turned on, Dutchie queries Metrc for the patient's current allotment before a sale completes and blocks any sale that would exceed it. Metrc's data takes priority over Dutchie's, so once allotment checks are enabled, Dutchie reflects the most up-to-date information from the state. You won't need to separately look up a patient's allotment in Metrc.
Two related settings affect how this works:
- Fetch Allotment Behavior: Use Most Restrictive Allotment is recommended in most cases.
- Prevent Overselling: when set to Yes, the Dutchie Register displays any warning Metrc returns that a sale exceeds purchase limits or allotments, blocks the sale from completing in Dutchie, and automatically voids the sale in Metrc.
Enable allotment checks
- Go to Settings > Integrations.
- Select Metrc.
- Click the Settings tab.
- Scroll to Enable Allotment Check and select Yes.
- In Use Dutchie Purchase Limits for Types, select any customer types that should not be subject to Metrc allotment checks, and should instead use the purchase limits you configure in Dutchie POS.
- Click Save.
Using allotment checks alongside Dutchie-configured purchase limits
Allotment checks and Dutchie-configured purchase limits aren't mutually exclusive. Many hybrid-license states use Metrc allotment checks for medical patients, since medical allotments are tracked by the state, while still using Dutchie-configured purchase limits for recreational customers. The Use Dutchie Purchase Limits for Types setting controls this split: any customer type you select there uses Dutchie's own purchase limits instead of a Metrc allotment check.
State-specific allotment nuances
- Michigan: for medical-only locations, do not configure purchase limits in Dutchie POS at all. Instead, set Mode to Real-time and Enable Allotment Check to Yes so all medical purchases pull the patient's allotment from Metrc directly. This doesn't apply to adult-use locations that also serve patients; those locations still need purchase limits configured in Dutchie POS. See Michigan | Set up overlapping purchase limits - Dutchie POS.
- Maryland: hybrid licensees enable allotment checks for medical customers while using Dutchie-configured purchase limits for recreational customers. Maryland also has a dedicated Maryland-specific allotment check setting to apply the state's own calculation logic, which combines category conversion ratios with THC-based calculations for concentrates. See Maryland | Hybrid Licensee Metrc Setting Configurations - Dutchie POS and Maryland | Allotment calculation: Concentrates and THC Value.
- Colorado: medical sales require Enable Allotment Check, New Cart Allotment Calculation, Report Product THC Content on Receipt, and Maintain Patient Allotment all set to Yes, with Ignore Sales set to No. Once configured, the cart displays a running potency total as products are added and warns (or requires confirmation) if a patient's allotment would be exceeded. See Colorado | Metrc configuration for Medical Sales - Dutchie POS.
- Louisiana: migration to Metrc requires Enable Allotment Check and Maintain Patient Allotment both set to Yes. Once a patient record is created in Metrc, their centralized allotment appears as Current Allotment on their Dutchie customer profile. See Louisiana | Metrc migration guide - Dutchie POS.
- Mississippi: allotments are tracked in MMCEUs (3.5g of flower, or 1,000mg of THC in concentrates or infused products). Enabling Enable Allotment Check depends on accurate potency, per-unit weight, and flower equivalency values being entered for every package. See Mississippi | Understanding flower equivalencies, grams/concentration, and patient allotments.
- Florida: When a patient enters their medical card number and date of birth, Dutchie checks Florida's Medical Marijuana Use Registry (MMUR) and displays their remaining allotment by product category before they place an order. You can optionally choose to block orders that would exceed a patient's limit. See Florida | MMUR allotment check at online checkout.
Troubleshooting allotment discrepancies
If the allotment Dutchie shows doesn't match what the state system shows, common causes include:
- Sync delays: there may be a lag between when a sale is reported to the state system and when Dutchie pulls the updated allotment.
- Purchases at other dispensaries: if a patient purchased elsewhere and that transaction hasn't synced yet, Dutchie may show a higher remaining allotment than is actually available.
- Manual overrides: if an allotment was manually overridden on a customer's profile, it may not reflect the state system's current value.
In Michigan specifically, avoid manually overriding a customer's allotment, since this can create compliance risk. If you see a red trash icon next to Current Allotment on a customer's profile, that indicates someone has overridden it, and clicking the icon resets it back to the standard amount. To audit all overridden allotments at once, go to Customers, enable the Allotment Overridden column, and use Bulk actions > Reset customer allotments to reset multiple profiles at once. See Michigan | Purchase limit troubleshooting - Dutchie POS.