Managing discounts

Note: While our most popular guides have been translated into Spanish, some guides are only available in English.

Managing discounts

Last updated August 31, 2023 15:47

Rules and exceptions for combining and offering discounts in your online store.

Manage and edit your store’s discounts in the Discounts panel or the Commerce tab of the Squarespace app.

This guide also covers discount combination rules and exceptions. If you offer multiple discounts, we recommend reviewing this guide to ensure your promotions support your business strategy.

Tip: For an introduction to discounts, visit Creating discounts.

Discount exceptions

These exceptions apply to all discounts. You can also create your own exclusions and exceptions, like minimum order amounts and restrictions by category.

Discounts apply to order subtotals. They don't apply to taxes or shipping (except free shipping discounts).
Discounts won’t exceed the order subtotal.
Customers can’t apply expired discounts. If a customer tries to use an expired discount, an error message appears that says "Unable to redeem coupon: this coupon is no longer available."

Rules for combining discounts

To avoid over-discounting, we have built-in combination rules for discounts.

Tip: While we have these basic rules in place to help, try limiting the number of discounts you offer at a time. Offering only one or two promotions at once ensures that customers can't "stack" them and helps keep your promotions clear and memorable.

You can combine:

Discount types	Example
Single product + Amount off any order	$10 off a specific model of sunglasses, and $10 off any order
Single product + Orders over	$10 off a specific model of sunglasses, and 10% off orders over $200
Product by category + Amount off any order	$10 off summer accessories, and $10 off any order
Product by category + Amount off orders over	$10 off summer accessories, and $10 off orders over $200
Product by category + Product by category (for different items)	$10 off summer accessories, and $10 off winter accessories for an order containing items from each category
Free shipping	You can combine Free shipping with any discount or combination of discounts

You can’t combine:

Discount types	Example
Single product + Product by category	$10 off a specific model of sunglasses, and $25 off summer accessories (including the same pair of sunglasses)
Single product + Single product (for the same item)	$10 off a specific model of sunglasses, and $25 off the same pair of sunglasses
Product by category + Product by category (for the same item)	If a customer is buying a black leather wallet, they can’t take $10 off leather goods and another $10 off wallets
Orders over + Any order, if at least one discount is a percentage discount	$10 off any order, and 20% off orders over $100
Amount off any order (automatic) + Percent off any order (automatic). If both exist, the Amount off discount applies, regardless of which is larger.	$10 off any order and 10% off any order, applied automatically.

Keep in mind:

If multiple automatic discounts of different types can apply to the same order, the Amount off discount will apply at checkout. For example, if an Amount off and Percent off discount could both apply, the Amount off discount is preferred, even if it's smaller.
If two automatic Percent off discounts could apply but can't be combined, the larger discount is preferred.
Free shipping discounts will always apply.
Discounts can't be combined if an order has only one product.
You can only combine Percent off any order discounts with Free shipping, unless the other discounts don't apply to all products in the cart. For example, if you offer 10% off any order and 10% off products in Category 1, and a customer checks out with a product from Category 1and a product from Category 2, they can use both discounts. In this example, the 10% off any order discount will only apply to the value of the product in Category 2.
If customers try to combine incompatible discounts, they'll see an error message.

Discounts and gift cards

Customers can apply gift cards to any order. This includes orders using discounts.

Edit a discount

Only store Owners and Administrators can access discounts. Learn more about permissions in Squarespace permissions explained. You can't currently add or edit discounts in the Android Squarespace app.

To edit a discount:

Computer
Squarespace app

Open the Discounts panel.
Click the tabs to view your discounts by Active, Scheduled, and Expired.
Click any discount in the panel to open it.

Tip: Use menu shortcuts to add links to key panels directly to the Home menu.

From here, you can change:

Discount name
Expiration date. Use this to reactivate expired discounts.
Promo code
Promotion type
Start date. Use this to schedule a discount for later activation.
Subscription discount limits (this applies to new subscribers only)
Total usage limits
What the discount applies to
Permanently delete it

Discounts with the earliest start date and time appear first. If there are identical start times, the most recently created discount appears first.

To permanently delete a discount, scroll down and click Delete discount.

Open the Discounts list:

In the Commerce tab, tap the Discounts panel or the tag icon in the top-right corner.
Scroll to view all active, scheduled, and expired discounts by start date.
Tap any discount to view more details or edit.

From the detail page, you can change:

Discount name
Discount type and amount
Products that the discount applies to
Promo code
Total uses and limits
Trigger type (Commerce Advanced and Premium plans only)
When the discount starts or ends

Tap Done or ✓ to apply your changes.
To permanently delete a discount, scroll down and tap Delete discount (iOS), or tap ... in the top right corner, then tap Delete (Android).

If a customer applies a discount to a subscription product or a membership, the original discount details apply to all future renewals even if you edit the discount.

Keep in mind, if you edit the code for a discount sent in a campaign, the campaign won't automatically update with the new code.

Track discount use

You can view the number of uses for each discount. If customers use a discount to buy a subscription or membership and the discount renews for all purchases, it's counted only once in the discount panel.

Tip: To see if a customer used a discount for a specific order, review the order's summary.

Computer
Squarespace app

Discount use appears in the Discounts panel, to the right of the discount’s start and end date.

12.1.png

Discount use appears in the Discounts list, to the right of the discount’s name.

Invalid discounts

Discounts customers can no longer use have an Invalid tag. You can edit an invalid discount to fix the issue and reactivate it.

A discount is invalid if it’s:

An automatic discount and you’re not on the Commerce Advanced, Premium plan, or a trial site.
A Single product discount for a product you removed.
A Products by category discount for a category/categories you removed.
A Free shipping discount for a shipping option you removed.

Share a discount from the Squarespace app

Use your device’s sharing options to help share your discount via text message, email, social networks, and more.

From the Discounts list, tap the discount you’d like to share.
Tap the share icon in the top-right corner.
Tap the option you’d like to share to.
Send the suggested text, which automatically includes the promo code and store link, or customize your own message.

Troubleshooting

If customers can't use a discount at checkout, try these troubleshooting steps:

Confirm the order is eligible. In addition to double-checking the order and discount details, review our rules for applying multiple discounts.
Confirm that the discount has a unique code. Review active, scheduled, and expired discounts and change any duplicate codes.
If the discount is for shipping, ensure the customer selected a shipping method at checkout.
Delete and recreate the discount.

If you still have trouble, contact us. Include a screenshot of the checkout page, including the billing and shipping addresses, and the discounts the customer is trying to apply.

Was this article helpful?

105 out of 319 found this helpful