Create Discounts and Coupons for Square Online Items
Discounts are a great way to incentivise your customers to buy the items on your website. With Square, you can create and customise discounts and coupons your customers can use to purchase items from Square Online.
To create items for your website first, check out how to create items and categories in Square Online.
Create Discounts from Square Item Library
You can access and apply automatic discounts you create from your online Square Dashboard to the items you offer on your Square Online website. To do so:
From your Square Item Library, go to Discounts.
Select Create a Discount to enter discount details including a discount name, amount (either a percentage or whole amount), and applicable locations.
From the “Automatic discount” section, toggle on Discount rules and select a discount type. Note: Customer group discounts and Square category discounts won’t apply to Square Online sites.
In the “Apply automatic discount” section, check the Square Online option to automatically apply the discount to all Square Online sites.
Save to apply the changes.
The discounts you create will be available on your live Square Online website. Learn more about how to create and manage discounts.
Item Library Discounts for Square Online FAQ
Not at this time. Due to Square Online item sync, Square Online categories can’t be selected in category-based discounts in the Item Library. Item Library categories are meant for Square Point of Sale, while Square Online categories are meant for your website.
Yes. However, the discount will be applied to the promotional price of the item. It isn’t currently possible to apply discounts to the full sale price. For example, if your item costs $100 and you’re offering a 20% discount, the item price in your Square Item Library will be $80. If you create a 50% discount for Square Online, it will be calculated as 50% of $80 and the final price will be $40.
On Square Online, coupons can’t be used with discounts. If your customer adds a discounted item to their cart, they won’t be able to add a coupon at checkout. However, on your Square Point of Sale, coupons can be combined with discounts in the order that gives your customer the best value.
While your customers can use Loyalty rewards for discounted items on Square Point of Sale, it isn’t possible on Square Online. If your customer adds a discounted item to their cart, they won’t be able to add a loyalty reward to the cart at checkout. They will still be able to accrue loyalty points from that purchase.
Create Coupons from Square Marketing
Note: As of March 25, 2024, the ability to create coupons to use with your Square Online website is moving to Square Marketing. Creating coupons is a free feature and doesn’t require a Square Marketing subscription.
With Square Marketing, you can create coupons for your Square Online site and share them with customers in multiple ways. To start:
From your Square Marketing Overview page, go to Coupons.
Select Create Coupon.
Enter details like a coupon name (code), type, the items it applies to, and active dates.
Select Activate.
Share the code with customers by selecting ••• and choosing your share option.
From your Square Online site, customers will enter the coupon code at checkout, so choose a code that makes sense with the kind of discount you’re offering. You can use any combination of letters, numbers, and special characters. Codes aren’t case-sensitive, which means the coupon codes of “SAVE10” and “save10” will both apply the same discount.
Note: Square Marketing coupons that are redeemed online won't appear in reporting until the corresponding order is marked Complete. Customers can only use one online coupon code at a time during checkout.
Learn more about getting started with Square Marketing for details on signing up, campaigns, scheduling, reports, and more.
Marketing Coupons for Square Online FAQ
Here are a few details about transitioning from Square Online coupons to Square Marketing coupons. Check out the Square Marketing FAQ for other details on sending campaigns, understanding payments, and more.
We may have recently notified you that online coupons are moving from Square Online to Square Marketing. This change lets you manage and edit your coupons in one central location for use across your Square Online website, Square Marketing campaigns, and Square Point of Sale.
Here are some things to note with this change:
- Any existing coupons created within Square Online will no longer be active as of June 2024. You’ll need to recreate those as new coupons within Square Marketing using the custom coupon feature.
- Any new coupons will need to be created in Square Marketing and not within Square Online.
- Creating and managing coupons in Square Marketing is free and doesn’t require a subscription. For enhanced features, such as creating buyer-personalized coupons and sending coupons in Square Marketing email campaigns, upgrade to a paid subscription or start a free 30-day trial.
Square Marketing coupons support the following features:
- Entire sale coupons
- Item-based coupons
- Category-based coupons (for new Square Online sellers only at this time)
- Fixed amount discounts
- Percentage off discounts
- Free shipping coupons (available by June 2024)
- Free local delivery coupons (available by June 2024)
- Ability to reuse coupon codes
- Set coupon start date
- Generate link for coupon sharing
- Set coupon end date to Never
- Ability for Square Online to read active Marketing coupons to display on the personalized order screen or pop-ups
Square Marketing coupons do not currently support the following features (but will come at a later time):
- Editing coupons after creation
- Minimum order coupons
- Advanced coupons reporting
- Limit total number of coupons
- Limit number of coupon usage per customer
- Free shipping coupons that only apply to certain shipping methods
Take a look at getting started with Square Marketing or check out the Square Marketing FAQ.
Disclaimer: Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) prohibits misleading “former price comparisons.” If you advertise or promote item(s) at a discounted price, it’s your responsibility to ensure you’re meeting the FTC’s guidelines. We recommend you reach out to a legal expert if you have questions about the FTC’s guidelines.