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Easy Digital Downloads Documentation
Documentation, Reference Materials, and Tutorials for Easy Digital Downloads

Discount Codes

Discount codes allow you to offer products at a discount through a variety of means.  Exact amounts off, percentages off, during specific times, etc. Unless requirements or exclusions are placed on the discount code, it automatically applies to every product.

Options and Settings

Settings for discounts are configured at Downloads → Discount Codes.

Name

This is for internal use only, and won’t be seen by customers.  Feel free to make it something descriptive and useful to you.

Code

This is a short piece of text that customers can use to apply the discount.  It should be short enough to be easily remembered and used.  Some examples:

10PERCENT
used if you simply want to offer 10 per cent off something
HUMANESOCIETY
used if you wanted to work with your local Humane Society on a marketing campaign.

The possibilities are endless.

Note: keep in mind your audience.  If your code is going to be used often vocally (like on the radio, tv, or from a stage) make it easy to understand when spoken.

Amount

The discount amount as a percentage or flat rate.

Download Requirements

This section has 3 parts.

  • First you may list one or more products that are required to be in the cart before the discount can be applied.
  • Secondly you may choose to either require all required downloads to be in the cart, or only one of the required downloads to be in the cart.
  • Thirdly you may choose to apply the discount to the entire purchase or only the downloads selected for this section.

NOTE: Unless requirements or exclusions are placed on the discount code, it automatically applies to every product.

Here are some scenarios:

  1. You require 3 ebooks, choose Cart needs one or more of the selected downloads, and Apply discount to entire purchase. The customer puts 7 things in the cart, ONE of which is in the required list, and the discount is applied to all 7 items.
  2. You require 1 ebook, choose Cart must contain downloads, and Apply discount to entire purchase. The customer puts 7 things in the cart, ONE of which is in the required list, and the discount is applied to all 7 items.
  3. You require 3 ebooks, choose Cart needs one or more of the selected downloads, and Apply discount only to selected Downloads. The customer puts 7 things in the cart, ONE of which is in the required list, and the discount is applied to ONLY the one from your required list.

Excluded Downloads

Here you choose any items that cannot be discounted, regardless of whatever other settings might match to try to discount it.

Start date

With this tool you can set up a discount for a future start date.  An excellent example is when you need to start a discount on a weekend, but you’ll be away from your computer.

Expiration date

Similar to Start date, but for and ending date.  An example would be when you need it to stop at midnight, but you’ll be in bed.

Minimum Amount

This sets the minimum order total required before the discount can be applied.

Use Once Per Customer

This provides the option to restrict a Discount to one user per customer.

Redeeming Discount Codes

Discount Codes can be applied in two different ways.

During Checkout

In the checkout page the customer will see a link to enter a Discount Code.

When that is click a form appears to enter the code.

Once the customer clicks apply the total will immediately update in the cart.

Passed via URL

Any URL on your site that has ?discount=CODE (where CODE is whatever Discount Code you’ve made up) will store that code in a session variable, so that when the customer gets to the checkout page, the code is automatically placed into the above form, and the discount is automatically applied.

Note: If using this in conjunction with a custom add to cart link, use the & symbol in place of the question mark if the discount code is the last item. Example: http://yoursite.com/?edd_action=add_to_cart&download_id=XXXX&discount=XXXX

More information available in the FAQ section.