FAQ & troubleshooting

Quick answers to the questions merchants ask most about coupons and discount rules. If you're new, start with the Coupons guide or the Discount rules walkthrough first.

Why didn't my discount apply? (coupon or discount code not working)

Run through this checklist, which covers almost every case:

1. Status. The coupon or rule must not be Disabled or Expired. Scheduled is fine, because a scheduled coupon works from its Start Date onward; the date gates it, not the status.
2. Dates. "Now" has to fall inside the Start/End window. (A coupon's dates are whole days on your store clock and its End Date itself is included, see Create a coupon; a discount rule's dates carry a time of day on the same clock.) This is the real gate: a coupon whose Start Date is still in the future returns "Coupon is not yet active", and one past its End Date returns "Coupon has expired".
3. Minimum order. The cart subtotal must meet the coupon's Min Order.
4. Code. For a coupon, the customer must type it exactly (it's case-insensitive but must match).
5. Targeting / Filters. If you set Include Products/Categories on a coupon, or Filters on a rule, the cart has to contain a matching item. This includes a Shipping Discount rule: filters on one restrict the delivery saving to carts holding a matching item, so an unrelated cart correctly pays full delivery.
6. Usage caps. The Total Uses or Per Customer limit may already be reached.
7. Conditions (rules) must all pass (or any one, in "Any condition" mode).
8. Stacking. Another exclusive discount may be blocking this one (see below).
9. Published to that sales channel. For a coupon on a sales channel storefront this is the one people miss. A coupon that isn't published to the channel the shopper is on is rejected there outright with "Coupon is not available for this store", however valid it is everywhere else. Set it in the coupon's Publish to Platforms footer. If your discount stopped working around the time you added a second sales channel, check this first.

At checkout, every rejection carries a human-readable message and a machine-readable error code. The ones a storefront most often shows:

• COUPON_NOT_FOUND: an unknown code, or a coupon not published to that sales channel ("Invalid coupon code" or "Coupon is not available for this store")
• COUPON_NOT_ACTIVE: a coupon that has not started yet ("Coupon is not yet active")
• COUPON_EXPIRED: "Coupon has expired"
• COUPON_USAGE_LIMIT_REACHED: the total-usage cap ("Coupon usage limit reached")
• COUPON_PER_CUSTOMER_LIMIT_REACHED: "You have already used this coupon the maximum number of times."
• COUPON_MINIMUM_NOT_MET: a minimum-order failure; the message names the amount required
• COUPON_REGION_RESTRICTED: "This coupon is not available in your region"
• COUPON_NO_ELIGIBLE_ITEMS: "This coupon does not apply to any items in your cart."
• COUPON_NOT_REDEEMABLE_BY_CUSTOMER: a loyalty reward code used by a different customer ("This reward can only be redeemed by the customer it was issued to."), or a newsletter welcome code typed with a different email ("This code was issued to a different email address.")
• COUPON_FIRST_ORDER_ONLY: a newsletter welcome code set to first order only, used by someone who has ordered before ("This code is valid on a first order only.")

If you are building a storefront, branch on the code and show your own translated text; the message is English only. See What customers see at checkout.

Can a coupon and a discount rule both apply to the same order?

Yes, but not by default. The rule needs Combines with coupon codes switched on, which is off on every new rule, and the coupon needs Can combine with other discounts left on.

What the customer actually pays. Take a $100 item, a 10% rule and a 20% coupon:

• Default setup: $80. The coupon applies, the rule does not, because Combines with coupon codes is off on a new rule.
• Rule opted in: $70. Both apply. Each discount is calculated from the original $100 and the amounts are added, so $10 + $20 = $30 off. It is not $72; discounts are never applied one after the other, so the 20% is never taken off an already-reduced $90.
• No coupon: $90. Only the rule applies.

Because discounts are summed rather than compounded, two 50% discounts make an item free rather than leaving 25%, and the combined total is capped at the cart subtotal so an order can never go negative.

Each discount that applies shows as its own line in the order summary. The store-wide Discount Stacking Mode (Stack All Discounts, Apply the Biggest Discount or Apply the First Matching Rule) sits above all of it.

Can I schedule a discount to start later?

Coupons: set a Start Date (and optionally Status = Scheduled, which simply labels it as upcoming in your list). The start date is what gates redemption: before it, shoppers are told the coupon is not yet active; from that moment on it works. Discount rules: set a Start Date (and optionally an End Date) in the rule's validity period.

How many times can a coupon be used?

Two independent caps: Total Uses (across all customers) and Per Customer. Leave either blank for unlimited. Use Per Customer = 1 for one-per-shopper deals. It does not make a code first-order only, because a coupon has no first-order setting: a returning customer can still use it once. For a first-order rule use the First order only option of the newsletter welcome code or a discount rule with the First Order condition.

Can I limit a discount to specific products, customers, or regions?

• Products / categories: yes, on both coupons and rules, via Product Targeting (Include/Exclude). On a rule, mind the Type: a Product Discount confines the saving to the filtered items, while an Order Discount uses the filters only to decide whether it fires and then discounts the whole cart subtotal. Filters also work on a Shipping Discount, limiting it to carts holding a matching item.
• Regions: on coupons only, via Region Restriction (shown when your store has more than one region). Discount rules have no region setting; scope them with a sales-channel restriction instead.
• Customer segments (first-time buyers, VIPs by spend, logged-in only) are a Discount rule feature, via Conditions (First Order, Total Spent, Customer Tag, Is Logged In).

Do discounts apply to items already on sale?

Yes: a coupon or rule discounts the item's current price, which is the sale price when one is set, so the two compound. A $100 item on sale at $80 with a 20% coupon sells for $64. There is no toggle to prevent it; you exclude the products or categories instead. See Stopping a coupon from stacking on sale items.

Do my coupons and rules sync to Google, Meta, TikTok, Shopify or WooCommerce?

No. Brainerce does not push coupons to any outside platform. No app you can install today carries coupons to another platform, so a coupon you create stays a Brainerce code, and there are no sync errors or code clashes to resolve.

• Shopify and WooCommerce have no app you can install. They exist only as one-time, read-only import sources inside the Migration Tool. See Import from another platform.
• Google, Meta and TikTok do not receive coupons either. The Google app sends products, not discount codes.

What you do choose is which of your own sales channels accept the code. On a coupon, Publish to Platforms lists your sales channels, and a coupon not published to the channel a shopper is on is refused there. See Create a coupon.

Discount rules do not publish anywhere. They are evaluated by Brainerce at checkout, so they apply on your Brainerce storefronts only.

What's the difference between a coupon and a discount rule?

A coupon is a code the customer types; a discount rule applies automatically when the cart qualifies. Full comparison in the Coupons guide.

Can I sell gift cards (gift vouchers) on my store?

No, not as something a shopper buys. There is no gift-card product type and no storefront page where a customer picks an amount, pays, and gets a code. Listing a product called "Gift Card" mints nothing.

Gift cards themselves do exist, and they are the real thing: a code, a balance, a movement history, and redemption at checkout. You issue every one by hand from Marketing → Gift cards, which fits goodwill, a voucher you sold over the counter, staff credit or a prize. They are still in rollout, so the sidebar entry has not appeared for stores yet. See Gift cards.

Is a gift card the same as a fixed-amount coupon?

No, and treating them the same will misstate your tax and your books. A coupon takes money off the order, so the total drops and tax is charged on the reduced amount. A gift card pays part of the order: the total does not move, tax is charged on the full amount, and anything left over stays on the card for next time. A coupon is a marketing cost; an unspent gift card is a liability, money you already took and still owe. See Gift cards.

A customer can use one of each on the same order. The coupon comes off first, then the gift card pays against what is left.

What's next?

• Coupons create and manage discount codes.
• Discount rules are automatic discounts.
• Stacking & priority controls how discounts combine.