Setting up Discounts and Coupons with Square

Helen — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 17:14:27 GMT

Hi everyone 👋! In this post we’re sharing some common questions around setting up and using discounts and coupons with Square. If you have any additional questions about these features, please reply below.

What’s the difference between a discount and a coupon?

A discount can be created and managed on your Square Dashboard and your Square Point of Sales app. A discount can be applied by you or a team member to a sale from your Point of Sale (POS).

A coupon can only be created and managed from your Square Online site. A coupon can only be redeemed by a customer when they place an order from your Square Online site.

Do discounts and coupons sync between my Square POS and the Square Online site?

At this time, discounts and coupons do not sync between Square POS and the Square Online site. Discounts setup on your Square Dashboard will not apply on your website, and coupons setup on your Square Online site will not work when you are processing a payment through the Square Point of Sale app or through the Virtual Terminal. Learn more about what information syncs automatically between Square and Online sites.

What are the different types of discounts?

You can create either a manual discount or an automatic discount.

With manual discount, you will need to apply this at checkout. The discount will also apply to the entire sale amount rather than a specific item.
With automatic discount, it’ll apply automatically when the rules are met. These can be based on item, category or quantity (like a Buy One Get One free discount). You can also schedule your discount for holiday seasons or other special occasions. Automatic discounts will only apply to the items you have specified.

You can learn more about creating discounts here. It might be easier to do this from your Dashboard since you’ll have a lot more room to play with!

What is a variable discount?

A variable discount can be useful if you don’t have a specific value in mind and you wish to enter an amount yourself at checkout. To do so, you just have to leave the Amount field blank when creating your discount. All variable discounts will be manual discounts.

Can I apply a discount after tax?

Yes, you can enable the option to Apply discount after taxes when creating your discount.

And what does coupon do? How can I create a coupon?

Coupons allow you to offer discounts or special deals to your customers when they are purchasing through your website. You can specify the amount or percentage and how the discount will work.

This article gives a step-by-step guide on how to create a coupon and you can start creating them from your Square Online site.

How can I share coupon codes with my customers?

There are a few ways you can share the codes with your customers:

You can send them an email with the coupon code

You can create a pop-up/announcement so customers know they can avail of the discount.

How do customers redeem their coupon?

Customers will see the option to Add a coupon code in their Shopping Cart and also at checkout. They will just need to enter the code they’ve been given here and the discount will be applied automatically.

Can I create individualised or one-time coupons for customers?

At the moment, it isn’t possible to create an individualised coupon or limit them to one-time use only. Our Product team is aware of the feature request so do keep an eye out for updates here in the Seller Community!

Additional resources:

How do I add a percentage discount to clients at check out?

SandraDonovan — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 17:04:13 GMT

How do I issue a percentage discount to client when checking them out?

Re: How do I add a percentage discount to clients at check out?

ryanwanner — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 00:48:37 GMT

Hello @SandraDonovan

To add a discount, you'll first need to set up the discount. Once it's in place, it's just the matter of finding the discount in your item library and adding it to the sale. Any discount added this way will be applied to the whole sale. If you want to discount a specific item, just tap on the item in the "tape" on the right side of the screen. In the screen that appears, scroll down to the discounts and enable the one you want.

Percentage discounts can be applied on individual items, while dollar-based discounts can only be applied to the sale.

Re: How do I add a percentage discount to clients at check out?

SandraDonovan — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 13:04:15 GMT

Thanks Ryan, I’ll try that. I have certain co-workers & family I like to extend a discount to but want to track it accordingly. I set up the percentage amount by their names but can’t always figure out how to apply it

Re: Setting up Discounts and Coupons with Square

lmva — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 21:13:39 GMT

Hello,

I am using Wix as website.
I have many items and can easily create discounts with rules on square. But I can't find the coupons option under items.
Is that because I don't have a Online Square store?
Is it possible to create coupons on squareup without creating a Square Online store, please?

Thanks

thread Re: How do I add a percentage discount to clients at check out? in Payments Troubleshooting

Setting up Discounts and Coupons with Square

What’s the difference between a discount and a coupon?

Do discounts and coupons sync between my Square POS and the Square Online site?

What are the different types of discounts?

What is a variable discount?

Can I apply a discount after tax?

And what does coupon do? How can I create a coupon?

How can I share coupon codes with my customers?

How do customers redeem their coupon?

Can I create individualised or one-time coupons for customers?

Additional resources:

How do I add a percentage discount to clients at check out?

Re: How do I add a percentage discount to clients at check out?

Re: How do I add a percentage discount to clients at check out?

Re: Setting up Discounts and Coupons with Square