Discount Codes
Getting Started
- Go to the "App Store".
- Install the "Discount Codes" App.
- Go to the "Apps" > "Discounts" section of your store's admin area to get started.
Terms
Discount Ineligibility - A product variation marked as being "ineligible for discounts" means the price of that line item in the cart is not included when calculating a discount on the discountable subtotal.
Discountable Subtotal - The "discountable subtotal" is the total of all line items in a cart, where the product variation being ordered is not marked as ineligible for discounts.
How are discounts applied?
There are two ways a discount may be applied: automatically by the cart after meeting certain criteria or manually after the customer enters a unique code corresponding to a valid discount, while also meeting the criteria of that discount.
When creating a discount, you must choose whether the discount is applied automatically or if a code is needed to get the discount.
What kinds of discounts can be applied?
There are three kinds of discounts that may be applied: a fixed amount off the discountable subtotal, a percentage off the discountable subtotal, or free shipping.
When creating a discount, you must choose one of the three kinds of discounts noted above.
Can I use a discount code to make a shipped product completely free?
Yes, there is a "Free Shipping" add-on that may be used in conjunction with a fixed or percentage based discount. So, if you want to give someone an $8.00 record complete free, including shipping, choose the fixed amount discount, put in $8.00 and then enable the miscellaneous option "In addition to the above fixed or percentage discount, apply Free Shipping". This will make the discount be $8.00 + however much it costs to ship the record to that person.
Is there an easy way to send someone a discount code?
Yes, click "Link" next to any enabled discount that requires a code in the Discounts section of your store's admin area. This will bring up the "Discount Link Builder" and will help you to build a link that, when clicked, will automatically apply the specified discount to the cart before redirecting your customer to any page you'd like.
Can I specify how much the order amount should be for the discount to work?
Yes, for any discount, you can require that the discountable subtotal meet a certain amount before the discount may be applied.
What happens when a cart meets the criteria for multiple discounts?
Only a single discount can be applied to a cart at a time. If a cart meets the criteria of multiple enabled discounts, the discount that produces the largest amount off the order will be selected and applied to the cart.
What happens if an automatic discount is applied to a cart but my customer has a code for a manual discount?
If a code for a manual discount is applied to a cart, no automatic discounts will be applied, even if there is an automatic discount that's greater than the specified manual discount. Manual discounts always take precedence over automatic discounts.
How do I mark a product variation as being ineligible for discounts?
To mark a product variation as being ineligible for discounts, go to the Products area of your store's dashboard, find the product and click the "Edit" link. Then find the variation at the bottom of the form and click the gear icon on the right hand side. Check the box labeled "Ineligible For Discounts" and click "Save".
Any product variation marked as being ineligible for discounts will not be factored in when calculating the discountable subtotal of the cart, for every discount.
Will the discount show on PayPal?
Yes, an applied discount will show in PayPal as a line item with the amount of 0.00 (in your currency). The summary of the line item will note how much of a discount was applied to the ordered items. The discount amount will be distributed across the line items where the ordered product variation was eligible for a discount.
Are there any cases where the discount I specify is altered when it's applied to the cart?
Yes, there are two scenarios where a discount you specify won't match what is actually applied.
The first scenario is when you specify a minimum discountable subtotal that is less than a fixed discount amount. For example, if you created a fixed discount of $10.00 with a $5.00 minimum discountable subtotal, the actual discount amount will vary from $5.00 up to a maximum of $10.00 depending on the discountable subtotal of the cart. If the cart's discountable subtotal was $5.00, there would be a $5.00 discount. If the cart's discountable subtotal was $7.50, there would be a $7.50 discount. If the cart's discountable subtotal was $10.00, there would be a $10.00 discount. If the cart's discountable subtotal was $15.00, there would also be a $10.00. The discounted amount will never be above what you specify.
The second scenario is when the discount amount needs to be distributed evenly, but it can't. For example, let's say you had one item in the cart with a unit price of $5.00 and a quantity of 2 and you specified a fixed discount of $1.33. Because PayPal requires the discount to be taken from the line item's unit price, the line item would have to be discounted to a unit price of $4.34 ($5.00 - ($1.33 / 2) = $4.335, rounded to 2 decimals equals $4.34). Here, the line item's total price would equal $8.68 ($4.34 * 2 = $8.68) and the actual discount amount would end up being $1.32. This scenario is rare and if it occurs, the discount amount will only fluctuate by 0.01 in either direction because of the loss of precision when rounding the discounted unit price to two decimal places.
