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Discount not applying

A discount that does not apply is nearly always one of the checks below. Work down the list in order — the early ones are the common ones.

Two things to know before you start:

  • Shopify checks the cart, and it checks it when the cart changes. A cart that is already open does not re-evaluate on its own. Change a quantity, or add and remove an item, then look again.
  • Shopify enforces eligibility, combinations and usage limits, not the app. The app tells Shopify the rules; Shopify decides what an order gets.

The checklist

Section titled “The checklist”

  1. Check the discount’s status badge.

    Open Manage discounts. Every row carries a badge: Active, Scheduled or Expired, and the list has a tab for each. A scheduled discount has not started yet; an expired one has ended or been turned off. Only an Active discount can apply.

  2. Check the cart against the discount’s rules.

    Open the discount and read its Discount Rules with the test cart in front of you. Every condition in a group has to pass when Between conditions is set to AND; one is enough on OR. Groups are joined by Match All Rule Groups or Match Any Rule Group. Money conditions like Cart subtotal are measured before discounts.

  3. Check the code was entered, for a code discount.

    A discount code does nothing until the shopper enters it — spelling and all. The method is fixed when the discount is created, so a discount you meant to be automatic cannot become one later; duplicate it and pick the other method on the copy.

  4. Check what the discount is allowed to combine with.

    The Discount can be combined with card has three ticks: Product discounts, Order discounts, Shipping discounts. With none ticked, this discount runs alone. Ticking a box tells Shopify it may run alongside that kind — Shopify still decides what an order actually gets.

  5. Check the markets the discount runs in.

    With Apply to specific markets, a shopper browsing in any other market gets nothing. Check which market the test session is in before blaming the rules.

  6. Check customer eligibility, on a Product, Order, Shipping or Price List discount.

    Those four types carry the Customer eligibility card. With Limit to customer segments, Shopify checks the customer’s segments before the discount applies, in the cart as well. Points to check:

    • Shopify has to be able to identify the customer — signed in, or otherwise recognised by Shopify. Without that, a gated discount cannot run.
    • The customer really is in that segment. Segments live in Shopify — Shopify decides membership, and it can change as the customer’s data changes.
    • A brand-new gate can take a while to be honoured. We have measured roughly an hour between setting a segment on an app discount and Shopify honouring it on the cart, with no change to the discount in between. A native Shopify discount honoured the same segment within seconds.
    • A segment deleted in Shopify stops being enforced, and the discount becomes available to all customers on Shopify’s side. The app shows the missing segment and refuses the save until you remove it or pick another.

  7. Check the purchase type, on a type that has the card.

    Purchase type is on Product, Order, Shipping, Price List, Buy X Get Y, Multi-offer and Gift with Purchase. It is One-time purchases, Subscription products, or both. A discount set to one-time purchases only does nothing for a subscription line, and the other way around. With subscriptions ticked, the choice of First payment only, Limited number of payments or All recurring payments decides which payments are discounted.

  8. Check the usage limits.

    On a discount code, Limit number of times this discount can be used in total stops the code once the count is reached, and Limit to one use per customer stops it for a shopper who has already used it. Both are counted by Shopify.

  9. Check whether another discount took the order.

    When two discounts that do not combine both fit the cart, Shopify applies one of them — so a discount can be perfectly correct and still be invisible because another discount that does not combine with it applied instead; Shopify decides which. Turn the other one off and re-test, or set both to combine.

  10. Check the delivery option, for a shipping discount.

    A percentage off a free delivery option shows nothing: a share of nothing is nothing. Test on a paid delivery option before treating it as a fault.

  11. Check the currency conversion switch, on a type that has it.

    Convert to customer’s currency is on Order, Price List, Multi-offer, Bundle and Spend More Save More. It decides whether the amounts you typed are converted for a shopper paying in another currency, and it moves your money conditions with them. Off, your number is used as typed in every currency — so a Cart subtotal ≥ 50 rule is 50 of whatever the shopper is paying in. On a single-currency store this makes no difference.

Still nothing?

Section titled “Still nothing?”
  • Re-check with a cart change. Add and remove an item so Shopify re-evaluates.
  • Re-read the summary. The discount pages carry a Summary card beside the form, restating the type, method, title, what it gives, markets, customers, conditions, combinations and dates — quicker to scan than the whole form.
  • Try the discount on its own. Turn off the other discounts that could cover the same cart, confirm this one applies, then bring them back one at a time.
Section titled “Related”