All things Shopify and commerce
Hi everyone,
So this is our situation: We had a discount code for 100% off that was created 5+yrs ago for our own testing purposes, but was accidentally left active by a previous employee. Now a customer somehow found it and placed two orders, several hours apart, to get gift cards for $100 and $75 - free for shipping. What would you do? Because the actual code was "TESTORDER" it was probably clear to him that he slipped through the system, twice.
We were planning on discontinuing the physical gift cards anyway. We'll email him and apologize plus refund $5 shipping costs obviously, but we don't want him to fight us on this, since this was a mistake on our end.
Would you tell him the items are discontinued and the code should have been invalid? Or just talk about the code? Or just talk about the items? Thanks!
Solved! Go to the solution
This is an accepted solution.
Hi, @fabulanebulae.
That is a great question, thanks for posting!
In this situation, as this was most likely not an advertised discount code, you are within your rights to cancel the order. Some customers don't act in good faith and try different coupon codes on multiple websites to see if they get lucky. In this situation it worked.
Moving forward, make sure to cancel the discount code in your Shopify Admin by heading to Discounts > Select Discount Code > Delete. Then, head to the customer's order and refund the order in full by selecting More Actions > Cancel order. Lastly, make sure to correspond with the customer letting them know this discount code is not offered to the general public and the order will be cancelled. Make sure to be polite and courteous in your email as to not garner any hard feelings.
In the meantime, I would love to see your site and see what additional feedback I can provide!
This is an accepted solution.
Hi, @fabulanebulae.
That is a great question, thanks for posting!
In this situation, as this was most likely not an advertised discount code, you are within your rights to cancel the order. Some customers don't act in good faith and try different coupon codes on multiple websites to see if they get lucky. In this situation it worked.
Moving forward, make sure to cancel the discount code in your Shopify Admin by heading to Discounts > Select Discount Code > Delete. Then, head to the customer's order and refund the order in full by selecting More Actions > Cancel order. Lastly, make sure to correspond with the customer letting them know this discount code is not offered to the general public and the order will be cancelled. Make sure to be polite and courteous in your email as to not garner any hard feelings.
In the meantime, I would love to see your site and see what additional feedback I can provide!
Thank you so much for your reply and advice - that's exactly what we did. It's good to know that cancelling the order is within our rights.
2m ago Learn the essential skills to navigate the Shopify admin with confidence. T...
By Shopify Feb 12, 2025Learn how to expand your operations internationally with Shopify Academy’s learning path...
By Shopify Feb 4, 2025Hey Community, happy February! Looking back to January, we kicked off the year with 8....
By JasonH Feb 3, 2025