How to Give a Discount at the Counter (Pro)
Some discounts do not deserve a coupon. A damaged box, a long-standing regular, a manager waving something through. This is the button for those.
Coupon or discount
Section titled “Coupon or discount”They are different jobs and they land on different rows of the cart.
| Coupon | Discount | |
|---|---|---|
| Needs a code set up first | Yes | No |
| Cashier can invent the amount | No | Yes |
| Rules, limits and expiry | Yes | None |
| Shows on | Applied Coupon(s) | Discount |
| Free version | Yes | No |
Use a coupon for anything you want to control or count. Use a discount for a one-off.
Step 1: Build the cart
Section titled “Step 1: Build the cart”Add the items first. Pressing Discount on an empty cart raises Please add products in the cart to apply discount.
Step 2: Press Discount
Section titled “Step 2: Press Discount”Discount is the middle cart action, between Coupon and Hold Order.
Step 3: Choose Fixed or Percentage
Section titled “Step 3: Choose Fixed or Percentage”Apply Discount opens with Select Discount Type at the top. Fixed is already chosen.
Press Percentage to switch. The chosen one is filled in, so you can see which is active.
Fixed takes money off in your shop currency. Percentage takes a share off the subtotal.
Step 4: Enter the amount and press Add
Section titled “Step 4: Enter the amount and press Add”Type the figure into Enter Discount Amount and press Add.
Add is disabled until the box has a value, so an empty press does nothing.
Two amounts are refused:
- A negative or nonsense figure raises Amount Error, reading Entered amount is invalid.
- A percentage outside 0 to 100 raises Discount Error, reading Discount percentage must be between 0 and 100.
Step 5: Check the Discount row
Section titled “Step 5: Check the Discount row”The figure lands on the Discount row as a negative, and Proceed to Pay falls by the same amount.
In that shot $5 off a $33.00 subtotal takes Proceed to Pay from $36.30 to $31.30.
Read the new total back to the customer before taking payment.
Taking a discount off again
Section titled “Taking a discount off again”The Discount row grows the same small bin icon a coupon gets. Press it and the discount comes off, with a Discount removed successfully. confirmation.
There is one discount per cart, not a list. Applying a second one replaces the first rather than adding to it, so to change an amount you simply apply the new one.
What reaches WooCommerce
Section titled “What reaches WooCommerce”The discount is added to the order as a line called POS Custom Discount.
That matters in two places, and the second one is the one to know about.
- On a refund, the discount is shared across the units in proportion. Refunding one unit of three gives back a third of the discount along with the item, and you do not have to work that out.
- In reports, it does not show as a discount. The Discounted Orders and Gross Discounted charts are built from WooCommerce’s coupon table. A manual discount is not a coupon, so it appears in neither.
It is still in the money. A discounted sale has a lower order total, so revenue and net sales are correct everywhere. What you cannot do is ask the reports how much was given away by hand.
If you need that number, use coupon codes instead. A code your staff know is a discount you can count.
Discounting one line instead of the whole cart
Section titled “Discounting one line instead of the whole cart”There is a second discount, and it is easy to miss because it lives inside a cart line rather than under the totals.
Expand a line in the cart and it grows two more fields beside the quantity stepper.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| QUANTITY | How many, capped at what is in stock |
| DISCOUNT | A percentage off this line only |
| PRICE PER UNIT | The unit price, typed over directly |
Type a percentage into DISCOUNT and press the tick. The line price drops and the line shows as reduced. Out of range raises Discount Error, reading Discount percentage must be between 0 and 100.
PRICE PER UNIT gets to the same place from the other direction: type the price you want and the maths is done for you.
Both are Pro. In the free version an expanded cart line carries the quantity stepper and nothing else.
Use a line discount when the reason belongs to one item, like a damaged box on a three-item sale. Use the cart Discount button when the reason belongs to the whole sale. The cart button is the one that shows on the Discount row; a line discount just makes that line cheaper.
A discount can be stacked on a coupon
Section titled “A discount can be stacked on a coupon”Both can sit on one cart. The coupon shows on Applied Coupon(s), the discount on Discount, and Proceed to Pay is the subtotal less both.
Worth watching. A cashier who applies a code and then a goodwill discount has given away twice, and nothing on the screen warns about it. If that is a risk in your shop, teach staff to read the total back out loud.
Who can give one
Section titled “Who can give one”Anyone who can open the terminal. There is no separate permission for discounting and no approval step, so every cashier with a POS login can take any amount off any sale.
Two ways to keep a lid on it:
Watch the orders, not the reports. Staff Attribution on the orders list names the cashier on every row, and the order itself carries its POS Custom Discount line. That pairing is the only place a manual discount can be traced to a person.
Use coupons instead for anything routine. A code with a usage limit is a rule the software enforces; a discount button is a rule you have to enforce yourself.