Guide
Why is my Shopify automatic discount or code not working?
Whether it is an automatic discount or a discount code, check two things first: the discount's own conditions and Shopify's rules for how discounts work together. These are combinations, minimum purchase requirements, customer eligibility, active dates and the limit of 25 active automatic discounts. Go through the points in order, then check the result with a test order.
The discount is there, the checkout shows nothing
A discount in Shopify is made of several conditions: what it applies to, minimum purchase requirements, customer eligibility, active dates, usage limits and combinations. Each of them can exclude a cart silently. The customer simply sees the full price, and you often notice it when someone asks.
On top of that come rules that are not part of the discount itself: how many discounts may be active at the same time, how many codes a customer can redeem, and which discount wins when two are not allowed to apply together.
With discounts from apps there is a third layer: the app's own settings. Examples: Volume tiers that count items the wrong way, a gift whose app embed is not turned on in the theme, or a discount that is still inactive, such as one from the AI assistant that you haven't switched on yet. All of them look right in the admin and still do not apply.
The checklist for every Shopify discount
These points come from Shopify's help. They hold for native discounts and just as much for discounts from apps.
- Combinations: When two discounts are not allowed to apply together, Shopify applies the one that brings the larger benefit for the cart. Your discount is not broken then, it just loses. Combinations do not happen by themselves, you set them in each discount.
- Minimum purchase requirements: If the discount applies to specific products or collections, just those items count towards the minimum quantity of items or the minimum purchase amount.
- Items in the cart: An automatic discount only applies when the items it covers are in the cart. With Buy X get Y, the item the customer gets is never added to the cart automatically.
- Customer eligibility: If the discount is limited to specific customers, customer segments or markets, everyone else drops out.
- Active dates: Start and end follow the time zone of your store.
- Limits: at most 25 active automatic discounts, app discounts included, and per order at most five product or order discount codes plus one shipping discount code.
- Usage limits: Once the total number of uses is reached, or the customer has already used a code that is limited to one use per customer, it stops applying. The customer is recognized by email address or phone number.
- Purchase type and post-purchase: A discount can be limited to one-time purchases, subscriptions or both. Discount codes do not apply on the post-purchase page. That is the upsell page some stores show right after payment.
How to check a Hand-E AI Discounts discount before it goes live
Before a customer misses the discount, the app's cart preview tells you the reason for each line. A test purchase covers what the preview cannot know.
- Open the Volume tiers or the Bundle discount and put a test cart together from real products in the cart preview.
- Read the reason on each line, such as Not in scope, 2 more to reach the discount, or Tier from 5 on. The preview calculates with the same logic as the checkout.
- If the AI assistant created the discount, it starts out inactive, so nothing goes live unchecked. If it shows under My discounts as “Not active yet”, click Switch on and then Switch on now. The same goes for a simple discount or free shipping from the assistant.
- For Gift above cart value: check under App embeds in the theme editor that the Hand-E AI Discounts block is turned on.
- Check on Shopify's Combinations card whether the discount may apply alongside your other discounts.
- Place a test order through Shopify's test payment gateway or the test mode of Shopify Payments. Active dates, customer groups, markets, taxes and shipping all take effect there as well.
Example: what the preview says on each line
Volume tiers, 10% off from 5 items, applied to two selected snowboards. Counting mode: all variants of a product together, so all variants of one board count as one quantity. The test cart holds three products. One of them gets a discount, and the preview says on every line why.
| Line | Quantity | Line total | Reason in the preview | Discount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snowboard Liquid at $749.95 | 5 | $3,749.75 | Tier from 5 on | $374.95 |
| Snowboard Ice at $699.95 | 3 | $2,099.85 | 2 more to reach the discount | $0.00 |
| Snowboard Videographer at $885.95 | 1 | $885.95 | Not in scope | $0.00 |
| Total | 9 | $6,735.55 | $374.95 |
What the preview does not know
- Other discounts in your store are unknown to the preview. Whether your tiers lose against another discount shows up in the checkout.
- The preview checks neither active dates nor customer groups nor markets. A discount that starts tomorrow already calculates in the preview today.
- The preview leaves out taxes and shipping.
- Cart value tiers, Gift above cart value and Bulk codes have no preview. There, the test order is the way.
- Depending on the theme, a gift can appear on the next page load if the theme sends no cart events. That is not a fault of the discount.
- Shopify allows at most 25 active discount functions per store. A discount function is the app code that calculates a discount at checkout. Once that limit is reached, you can't activate another app discount.
Common questions
Why is my automatic discount replaced by a different one?
Why does the cart preview look right while the checkout does not?
Can I test a Shopify discount without spending real money?
How many discount codes can one customer redeem on a single order?
Related problems
Two discounts should apply together
Shopify puts every discount into a class: product, order or shipping. Two discounts only apply together when each one allows the other's class. Shopify then applies product discounts first, order discounts next and shipping last. When they are not allowed to combine, the better one wins.
Read moreThe free gift doesn't land in the cart by itself
Shopify's Buy X get Y discount makes a gift free, but according to the help center it never adds it to the cart itself. Hand-E AI Discounts adds the gift once the cart value is reached and removes it when the value drops below. For this, you switch on the app once in your theme editor, under App embeds.
Read moreCreating discounts takes too many clicks
On every plan of Hand-E AI Discounts, the free one included, you describe a discount in one sentence. The AI assistant finds the matching products and collections and suggests the complete discount. It creates the discount after your click. The discount stays inactive until you switch it on with a second click on “Switch on now”.
Read more