# Product Filters and Facets

> Filters narrow a set of products by properties such as size, scent, or availability. Choose filters that match the products and decisions in each category and make selected choices easy to see and remove.

- Type: Merchant guide
- Level: Intermediate
- Reading time: About 4 minutes
- Audience: Written for store owners, builders, and designers refining high-performance ecommerce stores.
- Last updated: 2026-11-04
- Canonical page: https://academy.getzenbasket.com/merchant-questions/product-filters-and-facets/
- Part of: [Merchant Questions](https://academy.getzenbasket.com/merchant-questions/) on ZenBasket Academy

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## What you need to know

### What is a facet?

A facet is a property used to narrow a result set; a filter is the shopper’s chosen value. “Size” is a facet, and “Large” is a filter choice. People often use the words interchangeably.

### Which filters should you offer?

In one category, characteristics such as type, size, and availability may help. In a gift category, recipient or occasion may be more useful than a technical specification. Start with a few accurate options; avoid offering “Size” when products have no size data.

### How should multiple choices behave?

Show all active choices near the results and include a clear-all control. Count the products matching the current choices accurately and avoid allowing a combination that appears selectable but unexpectedly returns nothing.

### A simple check to try

Select two filters, remove one and clear all. Confirm that counts, product results and the page address behave as expected.

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## Frequently asked questions

### Should zero-count options disappear?

Either disable or hide them according to the interface but make it clear which choices remain possible. Test how the result count changes after each choice.

### Where are product filters configured?

Use the current category and filter guide. Check the resulting counts and products rather than assuming the field setup is correct.

## Related articles

- **Category-Specific Filter Choices**
- **Mobile Product Filters**
- [ZenBasket Build Guide](https://help.getzenbasket.com/zenbasket-builder/)