Exactly. You hit it right on the nose., why is it so complicated? Lol
Topic summary
Core Issue:
Shopify merchants cannot natively combine a product discount (percentage or fixed amount) with free shipping in a single discount code. Customers must enter separate codes, which creates friction and can push orders below free shipping thresholds when discounts are applied.
Business Impact:
- Discount codes often reduce cart totals below free shipping minimums, negating promotional value
- Critical for influencer campaigns, affiliate programs, and first-time customer acquisition
- Merchants report customers abandoning purchases or being confused by shipping charges after applying discount codes
Community Response:
- Thread spans 5+ years with 350+ posts and dozens of vote requests
- Merchants express frustration that this “basic” feature exists on competing platforms (WooCommerce, Ecwid)
- Some users threaten platform migration due to this limitation
Shopify’s Evolution:
- Initially: Feature marked as “in development” with no ETA, votes collected by support staff
- September 2021: Shopify launched “Discount Combinations” allowing customers to stack multiple codes AND introduced automatic free shipping discounts
- Current limitation: Still requires customers to enter multiple codes; no single code can apply both effects natively
Workarounds:
- Set conditional free shipping rates in shipping settings (applies automatically when threshold met)
- Use third-party apps like “Discount Mixer” or “Single Code Discount by Swiftbee” ($0.99-$10/month)
- Shopify Plus merchants can use Discount Functions (requires development)
Status: Partially resolved through discount stacking, but original request for single-code solution remains unmet natively.
1 Like