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Coupons and Discounts

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A coupon is a code a customer types at checkout to reduce the total. RackHelm coupons can be a fixed amount or a percentage, can be limited by date and by number of uses, and can be restricted to particular groups, products, billing cycles or add-ons. This article is for operators.

Before you start #

Note: Requires the manage_coupons permission, which the built-in Billing Manager role holds by default alongside Super Admin and Administrator. See Roles & Permissions.

The Coupons screen #

Open Billing → Coupons (/admin/coupons). The list shows the coupon name, its code, the discount, whether it is marked recurring, a live validity status and a uses counter in the form 3 / 100 (or 3 / ∞ when unlimited).

The Coupons list showing name, code, discount, recurring flag, status and uses
The Status column is computed live: a coupon reads “Inactive/Expired” if it is switched off, out of uses, or outside its date window.

Creating a coupon #

  1. Click Create Coupon.
  2. Give it a Name (for your reference) and a Code (what the customer types). The code must be unique.
  3. Pick a Discount Type and enter the Discount Value.
  4. Set any limits: Quantity Limit, start date, expiry.
  5. Decide what it applies to — everything, or a restricted set.
  6. Click Create Coupon. New coupons are always created active.
The Create Coupon form showing discount type and value, limits, the global switch and the four restriction multi-selects
Switching Apply to ALL Products & Addons on hides the four restriction selectors; switching Recurring Discount on reveals the duration box.

Field reference #

Field Rules and effect
Name Required, up to 255 characters. Internal label only.
Code Required, up to 50 characters, unique. Typed into the Promo Code box at checkout. The input renders in upper case.
Discount Type Required. Fixed Amount (£) or Percentage (%).
Discount Value Required, numeric, at least 0. When the type is percentage it may not exceed 100.
Quantity Limit (Optional) Optional whole number, minimum 1. Blank means unlimited. Once the use count reaches this figure the coupon stops validating.
Start Date Optional date and time. Before it, the coupon is rejected.
Expiration Date Optional date and time; must be on or after the start date. After it, the coupon is rejected.
Recurring Discount (Subscriptions) See the warning below.
Duration (Months) Only shown when Recurring is on. Optional whole number, minimum 1. See the warning below.
Apply to ALL Products & Addons (Global) When on, the coupon has no restrictions and any existing ones are cleared on save.
Apply discount to Setup Fees Defaults to on. When off, setup fees are excluded from the discountable amount.
Apply discount to Addons Defaults to on. When off, add-on lines are excluded from the discountable amount.
Restrict to Groups / Products / Billing Cycles / Addons Four multi-selects. Leaving one empty means “no restriction on this dimension”.
Coupon Active Only present on the edit form. Untick to switch a coupon off without deleting it.

Warning: Recurring Discount and Duration (Months) are stored and displayed in the coupon list, but no part of the billing pipeline reads them — renewal invoices are generated from the product’s own pricing. A coupon discounts the checkout it is used on, once. Do not promise customers “20% off for six months” on the strength of these two fields.

How a discount is worked out #

Discounting runs line by line over the cart. A line qualifies only if it passes all three restriction checks:

  • Group — either no groups are listed, or the line’s product is in one of them.
  • Billing cycle — either no cycles are listed, or the line’s chosen cycle is one of them. A line with no billing cycle can never match a cycle-restricted coupon.
  • Product — either no products are listed, or the line’s product is one of them.

For a qualifying line, RackHelm then decides what part of it is discountable:

What you restricted Base price discounted? Add-ons discounted?
Nothing (or Global) Yes Yes, if Apply to Addons is on
Products and/or groups Yes Yes, if Apply to Addons is on
Add-ons only No Only the listed add-ons
Products/groups and add-ons Yes Only the listed add-ons

Setup fees are added to the discountable amount for whichever parts qualify, provided Apply discount to Setup Fees is on.

Finally the discount is applied:

  • Percentage — each qualifying line is reduced by that percentage of its discountable amount, capped at the amount itself.
  • Fixed amount — the amount is a single pot spread across qualifying lines in cart order until it is exhausted. A £20 coupon against a £12 line and a £15 line takes £12 from the first and £8 from the second.

The order total is never driven below zero.

Tip: An “add-ons only” coupon deliberately leaves the base product at full price. If you want the whole line discounted and want to name particular add-ons, list the products or groups as well.

How customers redeem a coupon #

The Promo Code box sits at the top of the order summary on the checkout page. Applying a code stores it against the customer’s session and re-prices the cart; an applied code shows an APPLIED badge with a remove button. An invalid or expired code is rejected with “Invalid or expired coupon code.”

The coupon is re-validated when the order is actually placed, and its use count is incremented in a single guarded update. If two customers race for the last use of a limited coupon, one of them is stopped with “Coupon has reached its maximum usage limit.” rather than both succeeding. On a successful order the code is cleared from the session.

Editing and deleting #

Editing works the same as creating, plus the Coupon Active switch. Turning Global on while saving clears every restriction the coupon had. Deleting removes the coupon outright; prefer switching it inactive if it has already been redeemed, so the record survives.

Troubleshooting #

Symptom Cause and fix
“Invalid or expired coupon code.” One of four things: the code does not exist, Coupon Active is off, the use limit is reached, or the current time is outside the start/expiry window.
The code is accepted but the total does not change. No cart line qualified. Check the four restriction selectors — remember that a cycle restriction excludes lines with no billing cycle, and that an add-ons-only restriction never discounts the base product.
A percentage coupon discounts less than expected. Setup fees or add-ons are excluded because Apply discount to Setup Fees or Apply discount to Addons is off.
A fixed-amount coupon is only partly used. Fixed amounts are capped at the discountable value of the qualifying lines. A £50 coupon on a £30 cart discounts £30.
Restrictions disappeared after saving. Apply to ALL Products & Addons (Global) was left on. Saving with it on detaches every restriction.
The discount does not repeat on renewal. Expected. Recurring and duration are stored but not applied — see the warning above. To give an ongoing reduction, price a dedicated product or cycle instead.
“Coupon has reached its maximum usage limit.” during checkout. The last use went to another customer between the code being applied and the order being placed. Raise the uses limit or issue a new code.
Credit top-ups are not discounted. Deliberate — a “Credit Deposit” line is skipped by the discount pass so coupons cannot be used to buy account credit cheaply.
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