Discounts FAQs
Find answers to common questions about creating discounts and applying discounts to sales with Square.
Can I create automatic discounts that are applied by item, time, or time period?
Yes. You can create automatic discounts from your online Square Dashboard based on items, categories, time of day, and period of time — so you can create discounts for happy hour specials and seasonal sales.
Can I create a quantity-based discount?
Yes. You can create a quantity-based discount at any time from your online Square Dashboard. Choose to have discount trigger when either a) an exact number, or b) a minimum number of items are added to the cart.
Learn more about setting up automatic discounts.
Can I create a discount for a specific combination of items, like a Combo Meal?
No. Conditional discounts, where a discount is automatically applied after adding specific items to a sale, are not available at this time.
How do discounts work with item modifiers?
Item modifiers are included in the amount discounted. For example, if you charge for an additional topping on a pizza, the discount will also apply to the modifier’s cost.
How will automatic discounts be applied?
Only one automatic discount will apply to each item. The Square app will apply the discount most favorable to your customer. When applying Buy One, Get One discounts, the discount will be applied to the lower priced matched item(s). In other words, if a Buy One, Get One discount applies to three items priced at $20, $15, and $10, then the discount would qualify with the $20 item and apply to the $15 item.
Additional discounts can be manually added if needed. Learn about applying discounts to sales.
What if I need to apply an automatic discount manually?
Automatic discounts are available in your Items List and can be added to a sale manually or by tapping the item in the cart and toggling on the applicable discount.
What happens if I select “Passcode Required” when creating an automatic discount?
When a discount is applied manually outside of your specified rules, a passcode is required. For example, If you are running a flash sale and a customer was in line to check out when the sale expired, the discount can be manually applied by an employee with the appropriate employee permission enabled.
Can I use automatic discounts in the online store?
Not at this time. Discounts will continue to be available as promo codes in the online store and will not apply automatically based on discount rules.
How many items can I include in a discount?
After toggling on Auto Apply to Items and Categories, you can apply automatic discounts to all items by selecting the checkbox next to Items. If you want to select a subset of items to include, you can select up to 100 categories or individual items.