WooCommerce coupons that fail or give too much away
A promotion is the moment you invite the most customers to the checkout, and coupons are where it goes wrong. Either the code does not work and people leave, or it works far too well and you sell at a loss.
Coupons that do not apply
Usage limits already reached, expiry dates in the wrong timezone, minimum spend calculated before or after tax differently than you expected, product or category restrictions that exclude the promoted items, or “individual use only” conflicting with automatic discounts. The coupon management guide explains each setting.
Caching can make it worse: a cached cart page shows an old total after the coupon is applied — see Cloudflare and WooCommerce.
Coupons that give too much
Percentage coupons stacking with sale prices or other plugins’ discounts, coupons that also discount shipping, or a code meant for one product applying to the whole cart. Discount plugins and coupons often interact in ways neither documents.
The result is a correct-looking checkout with the wrong total — the same kind of silent error as wrong tax.
Testing promotions
Before a promotion, test every code with the promoted products, with non-promoted products, with a sale item, and alone versus combined. Check the total, not just the success message — the same list as in the checkout checklist before a sale.
During the promotion, keep a checkout check running every few minutes and watch the average discount per order. A sudden change in either is worth an immediate look.
Check your own store now with the free WooCommerce checkout checker: it walks the checkout in a real browser and shows the step where it stops.
Common questions
Why is my WooCommerce coupon not working?
Usage restrictions (minimum spend, products, categories, email), an expiry date, the usage limit reached, sale items excluded, or a cached cart page.
Why does a coupon give too much discount?
Coupons stack with other coupons or automatic discounts, a percentage applies to shipping or fees, or a restriction was left empty.
How do I test a coupon before a sale?
Apply it in a real cart with qualifying and non-qualifying items, logged in and as a guest, and check the final total at checkout.