Discounts and shipping rules

[support-BV]

We have two shipping rules: shipping on totals from 0-X is a flat rate, and x+1 and higher is free. We are gearing up for a promotion where we will offer a large discount. However, we don't want the free shipping offer to apply when they use these special coupon codes we're preparing.



How do we load the coupons so they do NOT get free shipping no matter what their purchase total?

[E-junkie_Guru]

If you're creating these discount coupons applicable to All Cart Items (i.e., takes a flat amount or percentage off the order total), then you could do this:



- Delete your flat-rate and free shipping rules;

- Recreate a shipping rule for the flat rate, but without any item qty thresholds (so it applies to all orders regardless of qty.);

- Create a discount for All Cart Items that takes 100% off Shipping when Min. Item Qty. = your X+1 figure;

- For each special coupon code you create, create another discount for All Cart Items, using the same coupon code, that takes 0% off Shipping (if you're creating a series of single-use codes by pasting in a list, just paste the same code list for the special discount and for the shipping-discount override discount) -- since only one discount can be applied to shipping, entering the code in the buyer's cart should override the automatic qty-based discount.

[support-BV]

My current discounts are not for item quantity, but total price. For example, from 0-$30 it's $5 shipping. $30.01 and above it's free. Can you outline how to do it if my current shipping discounts are $$ price based? And yes, I will be pasting in a large list.

[E-junkie_Guru]

Ah, in that case, just substitute "total" in place of "qty" in my directions:



- Delete your flat-rate and free shipping rules;

- Recreate a shipping rule for the flat rate, but without any item item total thresholds (so it applies to all orders regardless of totals);

- Create an automatic (no code) discount for All Cart Items that takes 100% off Shipping when Min. Item Total = 30.01;

- Create another discount for All Cart Items, with the same list of codes you used for for the special coupon, that takes 0% off Shipping -- since only one discount can be applied to Shipping at a time, entering a code in the buyer's cart should override the automatic total-based discount and apply the special coupon discount.

[support-BV]

Having trouble following your last direction. Will I be pasting the coupon codes in twice in the same discount area?



And is there a limit to how many codes can be pasted in? (edit: I just read that there's a 5,000 limit. What can we do if we need more than that? We're having a large promotion, and we need 2,500 codes for each geographic area. Initially I need 5,000 codes, but after that each area won't be run at the same time -- approx every month a new geographic area will get the promotion and I'll need to add in another 2,500 codes.)



So in the scenario you've outlined, someone NOT using a code, should not see any difference in their shipping, correct?



I think I had originally tried to set up our cart as you suggest in Steps 1 and 2, but it didn't work correctly and I had to set up 2 rules, one from $0-30 and one from $30 +.

[E-junkie_Guru]

BVHaving trouble following your last direction. Will I be pasting the coupon codes in twice in the same discount area?

Yes, you'll be creating two discounts using the same list of codes: one for the coupon offer, and one to override free shipping if the buyer's cart total is over $30 and they've applied a coupon code.

And is there a limit to how many codes can be pasted in? (edit: I just read that there's a 5,000 limit. What can we do if we need more than that? We're having a large promotion, and we need 2,500 codes for each geographic area. Initially I need 5,000 codes, but after that each area won't be run at the same time -- approx every month a new geographic area will get the promotion and I'll need to add in another 2,500 codes.)

Hm, that could pose a logistical problem, since you can have only 5000 discounts configured at once, they don't self-delete from Admin once they've been used, and there's no way for you to mass-delete all your discounts from Admin to start over from a clean slate every so often.



Have you considered just offering a single, common coupon code to everyone on your marketing list, rather than issuing each person their own, unique, single-use code? I do a LOT of online shopping, and that's the way almost every online coupon-code mass promotion I've ever personally taken up has been done. In fact, I can't even recall ever using anything that seemed like a personally-unique code. Some buyers might use it more than once or share it with others, but business is business regardless of who's buying, and it sounds like you may be making these time-limited anyway (?), in which case even a coupon that gets out in the wild would only be good for so long anyway before you'd delete it or its expiration date passes.

So in the scenario you've outlined, someone NOT using a code, should not see any difference in their shipping, correct?

Correct, you're granting 100% discount off shipping automatically for orders over $30 by default, but entering a coupon code with a different shipping discount such as 0% should override that.

[support-BV]

The promotion we're running is with Groupon and they insist on a separate coupon code for everyone.



If you'd like to contact me off-board, please do. I need a workable solution. It would be great if the codes self-deleted after use or if there was a way to mass delete a large group of codes. Do you have any ideas how we could do this? We like e-junkie and really don't want to move. Thanks for your help.

[support-BV]

E-junkieGuru

Yes, you'll be creating two discounts using the same list of codes: one for the coupon offer, and one to override free shipping if the buyer's cart total is over $30 and they've applied a coupon code.

If I understand your previous comments, we're even more limited then since every code needs to be entered twice. I can only then use a maximum of 2500 codes entered twice=5,000.

[E-junkie_Guru]

Yes, that's correct. I've asked our Development team to consider the matter and offer suggestions if they can come up with any, but this sort of thing may simply be more sophisticated than what we can readily support in our fundamental design as a "simple, basic service for simple, basic needs".

[support-BV]

It seems all you would need is self-deleting coupons. Or enter coupons by group name, and then have the ability to delete the whole group. Or just a quick way to delete used coupons.

[support-BV]

Here's another idea: Can your coupon codes work in ranges similar to your advanced tax settings or with a wildcard character?



Let say I want 2000 8 digit coupon codes. And lets say they all look like 12*****9. How about an entry that said any combination in between gets a 1 time discount? Then I could simply create 2000 random 5 digit strings and append 12 to the beginning and 9 to the end and send them to groupon. Could something like that be done?