How to make a discount/coupon code for ONE item, not one use

[arlen_fan]

So let's say I make a coupon or discount

100% off ITEM_X
For everyone
Limit of 1 use, one per customer
Active from today
I set it to one use, one per customer, which is effectively which customer gets to the coupon code first will claim the free ITEM_X.

However, I went into the system and tested an order... A customer can order 10 or 100 ITEM_X and get them all for free, which is not what I intend to do. I am trying to only give away ONE free item at a time. Is there a workaround?

[Bo · Accepted solution]

Hy there, @arlen_fan 

Bo here from Shopify Support! 

Thank you for reaching out regarding this - it is a really interesting question. One workaround for this would be to set the discount code for a fixed price. 

1. Go to Discounts and click into the discount you have already created.
2. Change it from Percentage to Fixed Amount.
3. Put in the price of the item as the Discount Value.
4. Select "Specific Products" and add the desired product from the list. 
5. Make sure "Only apply discount once per order" is checked. If unchecked, the fixed amount will be taken off each eligible product in an order.
6. Click Save

The only limitation of this workaround is that it will not work for all variants of the one product if the variants are priced differently. Let me know how this goes and if there is anything else I can assist you with, I'm happy to help!

All the Best,

Bo

[arlen_fan]

Thanks, this is a working solution.

-Arlen

[mlaw512]

What about this...

I'm trying to set up a birthday coupon discount. It is 25% off a SINGLE item, but ANY item. Also, cannot apply to discounted items, or it cancels out that discount. 25% off MSRP is what I'm getting at.

Is there any way to set that up? Moreso, can you create a unique generated code for individual customers with this format?

[Bestblanksshop]

I'm also looking for this solution. 

[alpinesisters]

I'm also looking to configure a discount code for 1 item only 🙂

[Kristen221]

I'm also looking for this solution. 

[shopwithsharip]

I am looking for this solution to this as well. 

[AlexaGJemima]

Also looking for this. Kind of thought it would be standard but obviously not. Why can you only apply this "make sure "Only apply discount once per order" is checked. If unchecked, the fixed amount will be taken off each eligible product in an order." for a fixed amount? Why not percentage?

[rdonk]

need this solution as well

[copelandcoins]

This is not a working solution for 95% of the cases. This issue has been documented here for TWO YEARS! I have been dealing with it for 5. These are simple issues and Shopify refuses to fix them. This is unacceptable. Shopify is full of smart people, why can't you get it done!?!?!

[KatDog]

I wouldn't blame Shopify. The price rules API can't accommodate a request to limit a percentage product discount to one use per order. There is no way to build that calculation into the API at all. That's why it hasn't been solved after all of these years. There won't even be an app that can do that without creating a new throwaway discount code on the fly, messing up your discount code list. The reason it works for fixed price only is because the system doesn't need to pick a product, calculate the percentage off, and then apply it. It's literally taking the fixed amount off the entire order and then dumping the discount code against the first eligible product. No calculation needed, which would honestly slow down the checkout, run the risk of endless loops, and ultimately lower conversions. There is a reason the API doesn't allow it. It's not their fault.

[jacksos101]

Come on, really?

If Shopify built an API that can't handle a simple feature such as this, they can certainly be blamed.

[gregg1226]

This isn't really true, as Ultimate Special Offers app can handle this without issue. It's frustrating that Shopify's native discount dashboard can't allow for discounting of a single item - that's a pretty basic function. Being able to discount a single item, even if 2, 3 or 4 are added to the transaction, is not a foreign concept. 

[roehamptonorchi]

How is it other platforms can implement this but shopify one of the largest platforms cannot. Clearly many people are looking for this solution.

[anothersphere]

Perfect solution for us.

We wanted to offer staff a one time, free bottle of a specific wine SKU.

We made the discount a dollar amount equal to the value of the product and set to use once per user. User has to quote code. Worked perfectly for our scenario. Using a 100% was problematic as it allowed multiple of the same SKU to be sold for free.

[gregg1226]

Of course, it works fine for a single SKU. But I believe the solution being requested here is the same we are having issues with -- discounting a single item from a collection of items. It shouldn't be difficult to be able to discount ONE item in a customer's transaction, regardless of how many of that item is added to the transaction. 

For instance, if I have a code for 10% off any item in the Black Sock Collection, and my customer wants to buy 2 of the Super Black Socks, my code (if 'limit to one use per customer' is selected) should discount just one of the 2 Super Black Socks she bought. This is a common sale parameter; I have no idea why Shopify can't offer this option in their discount dashboard. 

[Lux_Lyra]

I am looking for a similar solution but all my variants are priced differently. Is there any way around it?

[WendyMB]

We also need help on being able to give customers a discount on ONE item in their basket.

How can we do that?

[Apodicoco]

I'm also looking for a solution for this. Has anyone found one?

[AdamRetale]

I'm not sure that this is a solution, now that functions has the ability to extend this functionality for apps, why not use it for your own promotions API?

I have the same issue as most here, that a $ discount without line priced products in that collection don't work, of course using scripts we could have restricted a coupon code to be used a max of one time in a cart, but with that now sunsetting, perhaps Shopify could share a better working solution after 3 years.

[LukeGiant]

This is not a good solution! It's 2024 and I still can't do this!

All I want to do is provide a code that offers 100% off the order and limit it to one product of their choice! The code would be single-use.

I have a t-shirt shop and I am trying to run a contest where one person wins a shirt. The winner would choose any t-shirt from my shop and add it to their cart. They then use the discount code at checkout to make it 100% free. It would be good if I could include free shipping in the same code!

[chumbadiscs]

We are looking to give discount for a collection but only to be used once for one item. And we want the discount to be 100%. Not possible it seems. 

[Yoav2233]

Me too!

is there any solution to this? or workaround?

that doesn't mean creating separate codes.

so frustrating! Back in Magento, this was so simple...

[bbryan84]

An idea for Shopify...why not add a maximum $ discount setting to the discount configuration screen to resolve this? That way, store owners can limit the amount applied without significant changes to the backend configuration of the discounts feature.

[marcoconti]

I am also gob smacked that this simple feature is not available. That to give out a free product I essentially have to police all orders for people stuffing their cart with free products instead of just the one we set up at 100% off.

I did find this post:

https://community.shopify.com/c/customers-discounts-and-orders/maximum-number-of-items-a-discount-ca...

Where someone seems to have gotten very close to what we all want in this thread, but writing code for the API is way out of our capabilities.

Maybe there is already an API script that can do this, but if it was an individual effort, we may never find it.