Shopify discount combinations explained

Every discount has a class, and both sides have to agree

Shopify sorts discounts into three classes. A product discount applies to specific items or collections, an order discount to the cart subtotal, a shipping discount to the shipping cost. In each discount you choose on the Combinations card which classes it may apply together with.

Discounts do not combine by themselves. Two discounts only apply together when the setting on each of them allows it. If just one of them allows the other, that is not enough. This holds for automatic discounts and discount codes alike.

When two discounts are not allowed to apply together, Shopify applies the one that brings the larger benefit for the cart. The other one is not broken then, it just loses. What else can stop a discount is covered in the checklist for discounts that do not apply at checkout.

Two combinations depend on the store itself: product with order discounts and order with order discounts only work when the checkout uses no checkout.liquid customizations and the Licensify app is not in use. If these options are missing on the card, check those two points first.

How to combine discounts from Hand-E AI Discounts

The app calculates the discounts, Shopify decides on the combinations. The app sets no combination on its own. A discount from the app therefore only applies together with others once you allow it on Shopify's card.

1. Create the discounts, for example Volume tiers and Cart value tiers. Volume tiers, Bundle discount and Gift above cart value are product discounts, Cart value tiers is an order discount.
2. Open both in the Shopify admin under Discounts. On the Combinations card, allow order discounts on the Volume tiers and product discounts on the Cart value tiers.
3. If free shipping should apply too, also allow shipping discounts on both, and product and order discounts on the shipping discount.
4. Plan the thresholds of the Cart value tiers with the amount that is left after the Volume tiers. Shopify checks each threshold after product discounts, just like for its own order discount with a minimum purchase amount.
5. Place a test order just above and just below each threshold, once with and once without discounted items in the cart.

What to watch out for

• When you create a new discount, also check the combinations of the existing ones. Allowing it on the new discount alone is not enough.
• Without Shopify Plus, an item gets at most one product discount. If Volume tiers and a Bundle both apply to the same item, the better one wins. An order discount can still be added.
• Without Shopify Plus, items in a Buy X get Y discount get no further product discount. Shopify then applies the better overall offer. An order discount can apply alongside it when the store meets the requirements.
• When a shipping discount and a product or order discount are not allowed to combine, the product or order discount takes priority. Shopify calculates the shipping options from the discounted cart value.
• A discount added to an order by hand, for example in a POS cart or on a draft order, always applies, regardless of the combination settings.
• Some apps build a single discount with several classes, such as 10% off the order plus free shipping. Such a discount only combines with discounts that allow all of its classes. Discounts from Hand-E AI Discounts have exactly one class each.
• The Cart value tiers of Hand-E AI Discounts also check their thresholds after product discounts. Measured in our demo store on 2026-10-08: $104 before and $89.90 after Volume tiers and Bundle gave the 5% from $60 tier, not 10% from $100.