See which of your discount codes customers can use right now, find out why a code is refused at checkout, and switch a code off, back on or delete it.
Discount codes are on Starter and up; see Plans and what each includes. To see the list, your role needs View discount codes and gift cards; to switch codes on and off or delete them, it needs Manage discount codes and gift cards. The Store owner and Store manager roles have both. See Staff roles: what each one can see and do.
The discount codes list
In the sidebar, under Selling, open Discount codes. The newest code comes first.
At the top, three counters:
- Total codes: every code in the list.
- Active: codes a customer can use right now.
- Expired: codes whose expiry day has passed.
Each code has its own card:
| On the card | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| The code and its status | What customers type, and whether they can use it now. See the statuses. |
| The discount | 20%, an amount such as JOD 5.000, or Free shipping, with your description under it. |
| Minimum order | Shown only when the code has one. |
| Maximum discount | Shown only when the code has one. |
| Used | How many orders have used the code, against its limit when it has one: 4 / 4 means four uses out of four. (1 pending) after the number means one of those uses is held by an order you have not confirmed yet. See Uses held by orders you have not confirmed. |
| Valid | The first and last day, shown only when the code has a date. Any time means no start date, No expiry means no end date, and a past expiry day is red. |
| The switch | Active or Inactive: whether you have the code switched on. See Deactivate and activate a code. |
| The bin | Deletes the code. See Delete a code. |
Active, Scheduled, Inactive, Expired and Used up
The coloured label next to the code gives the reason a customer would be refused, or says the code works:
| Status | What it means | What changes it |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Switched on, inside its dates, with uses left. Customers can use it now. | — |
| Scheduled | Switched on, but its start day has not come yet. | It becomes Active on its own at midnight on the start day, in your store’s time zone. |
| Inactive | You switched it off. | Switch it back on. |
| Expired | Its last day has passed. | Nothing: dates cannot be edited. Add a new code if you want to run the offer again. To keep the same name, delete the expired code first; see Delete a code. |
| Used up | Every use in its Usage limit is taken. | A use comes back when an order that used the code is cancelled, its card payment fails, it is refunded in full before it ships, or you change it from Returned to Refunded. Otherwise, add a new code, or delete this one first to use the same name again. |
When more than one applies, the card shows the most decisive: Expired first, then Inactive, then Used up, then Scheduled. So SUMMER20 shows Expired even though its switch still reads Active.
The tabs above the cards narrow the list to one state. Scheduled, Expired and Used up show a number when any code is in that state. The number at the end of the row counts the codes on screen. A tab picks every code in its state, so a code can sit under two tabs: an expired code you also switched off is under Inactive and Expired.
Why is a discount code not working?
Customers enter codes in their cart. When the cart refuses one, it tells them why, and the message points you to the cause:
| The customer reads | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| That discount code is no longer valid. | No code in your store matches what they typed, or the code is switched off, or it was deleted. | Check the spelling in Discount codes. If the card shows Inactive, switch it on. |
| That code has expired. | Its last day has passed. | Add a new code with new dates. |
| That code is not active yet. | Its start day has not come. | Wait for the start day, or add a new code that starts today. |
| That code has been fully used. | Its Usage limit is reached. | Look for pending uses (below), or add a new code. |
| Your order is below the minimum for that code. | The products in the cart add up to less than its Minimum order. | The customer adds more to the cart. Shipping does not count towards the minimum. |
Checkout checks the code once more when the customer places the order. If the code stopped working after it went into the cart, for example because you switched it off, its expiry day ended, or the customer removed products and fell below the minimum, checkout shows That discount code is no longer valid. If someone else took the last use in the meantime, checkout shows That code was just used up — your total has been updated. Review it and place your order again. The customer can still place the order, at the full price.
If customers see no discount code box at all, your plan does not include discount codes. See On the Free plan.
Tip
Customers can type a code in capitals or small letters, and spaces before or after it are ignored. A code that “does not work” is most often a typing slip, such as the letter O for the number 0.
Uses held by orders you have not confirmed
A use is counted the moment a customer places an order with the code, not when you confirm the order. (1 pending) next to Used means one of the counted uses belongs to an order still Awaiting payment or Awaiting confirmation. Point at it to read Uses held by orders you have not confirmed yet. Cancelling such an order gives its use back.
This matters most on a code with a Usage limit. A code can show Used up while some of its uses are held by cash-on-delivery orders nobody has confirmed. If you cancel one of those orders, its use comes back and the code works again. A use also comes back when an order’s card payment fails, when you refund an order in full before it ships, and when you change an order’s status from Returned to Refunded. Confirming an order keeps the use counted.
On a code you deleted and then added again under the same name, (N pending) counts only orders placed after the new code was created. Orders placed with the deleted code hold their uses on the deleted code: cancelling or refunding one of them gives no use back to the new code, and confirming one takes none from it.
Find a code
Type in the search box, Search by code or description…. The list narrows as you type, to codes whose code or description contains what you typed, in capitals or small letters. Search works together with the tab you have selected.
When nothing matches, the page says No matching discount codes and Try a different code or filter. Check the spelling, select All, or empty the search box.
Deactivate and activate a code
Switching a code off stops customers using it at once, without losing its history. Use it to pause an offer, or to stop a code that has spread further than you meant.
- In the sidebar, open Discount codes.
- Find the code’s card.
- Select the switch at the bottom of the card.
The switch turns grey, its label changes to Inactive, the status becomes Inactive, and Discount code deactivated. appears.
To switch it back on, select the switch again. The label returns to Active and Discount code activated. appears.
- Orders already placed with the code keep their discount.
- A customer who applied the code in their cart before you switched it off is refused at checkout with That discount code is no longer valid.
- Switching on an Expired code leaves it Expired. Switching on a code whose uses are all taken changes it from Inactive to Used up, not Active. Neither works at checkout.
- On the Free plan you can switch codes off but not on. The console says Discount codes are not included in this plan. and the switch goes back.
- If the switch cannot save, for example because the connection dropped, it goes back to where it was and a message at the bottom of the screen says what went wrong.
Delete a code
Delete a code you will never need again. If you might want it back, switch it off instead.
- In the sidebar, open Discount codes.
- Select the bin at the bottom right of the code’s card.
The console asks Delete discount code? and explains: Customers can no longer use this code. This cannot be undone.
- Select Delete.
The card disappears, the counters drop, and Discount code deleted. appears. If the deletion fails, a message at the bottom of the screen says so, usually Could not delete., and the code stays.
Warning
A deleted code cannot be brought back. Its uses, its pending count and its history go with it. If you might run the same code again, switch it off instead of deleting it.
Orders placed with a deleted code keep their discount and still show the code.
Deleting a code gives its name back. You can add a new code with the same name, for example delete STAFF30 and add STAFF30 again, and the form accepts it. The new code is a different code: its Used count starts at 0, and the uses held by orders placed with the deleted code stay with the deleted code. See A code cannot be edited once it is created.
A long list, or one that does not load
The page loads your 100 most recent codes. If your store has more, a note under the cards says Showing the most recent with the count, for example 100 / 124. The counters, the tabs and the search cover only those 100. Older codes do not appear on the page, so delete codes you no longer need to keep the list short.
If the list cannot load, the page says Could not load discount codes and Try again. Select Try again. While this message shows, the counters read 0: that does not mean your codes are gone. A role that cannot view discount codes, such as Sales staff, does not see Discount codes in its sidebar at all; ask the store owner if you need it.
Next, add a new discount code, or see what happens to a code’s use when you cancel an order.