What are Discount Codes?

Discount Codes let you offer special pricing to supporters. When a customer enters a code at checkout, the discount is applied to their order based on the rules you’ve set. You can also set a discount to apply automatically, with no code needed, as soon as a customer’s cart qualifies.

You can use them for:

Promotions (10% off spirit wear)
Early bird pricing
Staff or faculty tickets
Free items
Limited-time sales

Discounts can be:

Percentage-based (e.g. 15% off)
Dollar amount-based (e.g. $5 off)
Applied to the entire cart
Applied to specific products
Limited-use or ongoing
Single-use or multi-use
Single code or multiple unique codes
Time-restricted or always active
Buy X, Get Y deals, like buy one get one free

What can Discount Codes NOT do?

Discount Codes:

Cannot be applied through a link
Do not restrict who can see or purchase a product
Do not function as access control
Do not support minimum order requirements
Do not allow stacking multiple codes
Do not limit usage per customer automatically
Do not apply to donation amounts
Do not restore usage if an order is refunded

Only one code can be used per order.

How does the discount amount work?

You can add a discount by going to your Store tab, and clicking on Store Options.

Once you create a discount, you choose either:

Percentage (e.g. enter 10 for 10% off)
Dollar Amount (e.g. enter 5 for $5 off)

A discount will never reduce an item below $0.

If you use a dollar discount that exceeds the item price, the remaining amount does not carry over.

Example:If you create a $20 discount and someone buys a $15 item, the order total becomes $0. The extra $5 is lost.

How do usage limits work?

You control how many times each code can be used.

There is no automatic per-customer limit.

If you want one use per person, each person must have their own unique code (A great unique code for students or faculty is their student ID number)

A single discount can include as many unique codes as needed. Each code has its own redemption limit.

How usage is counted depends on where the discount applies:

Entire Cart discounts count each checkout as one use.
Specific Products discounts count each discounted item as one use.

Example:If you offer $5 off hoodies and someone buys 3 hoodies in one order, that counts as 3 uses.

Important:For product-specific discounts, the "Discounted Items Per Order" value must be less than or equal to the usage limit.

Faculty example:If you want to give all faculty free entry to a football game:

Paste each faculty ID as its own code.
Set the usage limit to control how many times each specific code can be redeemed.

If you want one use per ID, set it to 1.If you want each ID to be usable multiple times (for example, 6 free tickets over the course of a season), set it to 6.

Be intentional. The number you enter is how many times each specific code can be redeemed.

If you instead create one shared code and set usage to 100, anyone who has the code can use it until all 100 uses are gone.

Refunds do not restore usage.

What is "Discounted Items Per Order"?

This only appears when you choose Specific Products.

It controls how many items in a single order can receive the discount.

Example:If you set this to 2 and a customer buys 4 eligible items, only 2 of them will receive the discount.

This field is required for product-specific discounts.

Where does a discount apply?

You can apply a discount to:

The entire cart
Specific products

If you select specific products:

The discount applies to any eligible product in the cart.
If a product has variants (size, color, price range), the discount applies to any selected variant within that product.

How does the date range work?

You can choose:

Always — The discount works anytime while active and until its usage limit is reached.
Date Range — The discount only works between the start and end dates you set.

A discount stops working when either:

Its usage limit is reached, or
Its end date passes

Whichever happens first.

Are discount codes case-sensitive?

No. Codes are automatically converted to uppercase.

If you create a code called save10, it will work whether someone types save10, SAVE10, or Save10.

Can I have multiple codes for the same discount?

Yes.

When creating or editing a discount, you can enter as many codes as you want, one per line. They will all share the same discount settings.

Each code has its own redemption limit and is tracked separately.

Can I add or remove codes later?

Yes.

You can edit a discount to:

Add more codes
Remove individual codes
Update settings
Delete the entire discount

Can multiple discount codes be used on the same order?

No. Only one code can be applied per order, but that single code may apply to multiple eligible products depending on your discount settings.

Can discount codes control who is allowed to buy something?

No. They do not restrict visibility or purchasing access.

Can I require a minimum order amount?

No. Minimum purchase thresholds are not supported.

Do discounts apply to donations?

No. Discounts apply to products only.

What happens if a discount code doesn’t work?

A code will not work if:

It has reached its usage limit
It is outside the scheduled date range
It does not apply to any items in the cart
It has been deleted or deactivated

The customer will see a message explaining why the code didn’t apply.

What happens if I refund an order?

The discount usage is not restored.

Can a discount apply automatically?

Yes. When you create a discount, choose Applies automatically instead of Requires a code. The discount kicks in on its own as soon as the cart qualifies. If a customer enters a code, the code is used instead of the automatic discount.

Can I create bundles or buy one, get one deals?

Yes. Under What kind of discount is this?, choose Buy X, Get Y. You pick the products a customer must buy, how many, and which products get the discount. For example:

Buy one t-shirt, get one free
Buy two, get the third half off
Buy a hoodie, get a beanie free

The deal repeats in the same order, so buying 4 shirts in a buy one, get one deal makes 2 of them free. Donations, auction items, and pledges never count toward a discount.

How can I see how a discount is performing?

On the Discounts page, you can see:

How many times a discount has been used
How many times each individual code has been used
How many uses remain

Regularly review usage to make sure codes are not being shared or abused.

What are best practices when creating a discount?

Be clear about whether the discount applies to the entire cart or specific products.
Understand how usage is counted before setting limits.
Use unique codes when limiting per person. Use a list of student or faculty IDs for quick and easy codes that they already know.
Make sure "Discounted Items Per Order" aligns with your usage limit.
Use date ranges instead of manually deleting active discounts.
Regularly review code usage to ensure codes are not being shared or abused.

Before You Publish a Discount Code

Before sharing a code publicly or sending it to supporters, double-check the following:

Does the discount apply to the correct scope (Entire Cart vs Specific Products)?
If product-specific, is "Discounted Items Per Order" set correctly?
Does the usage limit reflect how many times each code should be redeemed?
If using multiple unique codes, did you confirm each code has the correct redemption limit?
Is the date range correct (or intentionally set to Always)?
Have you considered what happens if someone shares the code publicly?

Taking 60 seconds to review these settings can prevent accidental over-discounting or code abuse.