How can I omit items from a % discount?

[aliciavr6]

I'd like to be able to omit certain items from the 50% employee discount, is this possible? I can only figure out how to do that with an automatic discount but obviously the employee discount shouldn't be automatic. 

[MudFire_Dex]

We exclude items by applying discounts by item or category under the rules for each discount so that there are categories that the discount just won't work with. We have seven discount rules that we regularly use. An employee can apply a discount to any transaction but that isn't an issue here for us like it might be with some retail stores and people selling stuff to friends at a discount etc. because clay is so specialized. Our employees can get discounts on tools & clay that is higher than the discount level they get on gallery purchases so we've limited each discount by category. That allows us to have some items that aren't discounted at all.

[aliciavr6]

So basically you’ll have “pottery tools” discount of X%, and they apply that specific discount according to what they’re purchasing? 

[MudFire_Dex]

The rules for items and categories are under automatic discounts - but the discount isn't applied unless we select it during the checkout process from the discount drop-down menu. *UPDATE* @aliciavr6 most of the discounts we are using under the drop down are not restricted and could be applied to any ticket - we just review transactions and work mostly on the honor system with the team on those. We have a few restricted discounts that only can be used with a passcode. We have set those up in our Employee Permissions - we have a few different "roles" set with different permissions - so our group accessing the POS have a code that is different from our back office codes that allow more permissions.

You can give your employees access to restricted discounts by managing your Team Permissions:

1. Visit Team section in your online Square Dashboard.
2. Click Permissions in the top left corner.
3. Choose the Role that you would like to edit (in your case Manager).
4. Check the box next to Apply Restricted Discounts and Comps.

From there, every employee assigned the Manager Role will be able to see and apply the restricted discount.

But.....this would require - I believe for them to sign in with a different code to ring themselves out......I didn't think about that when first talking to you and made it sound too easy!

[MudFire_Dex]

*Sorry* @aliciavr6 I reviewed a few of our levels and we did revert them back to manual not automatic because this was an issue with folks not signing in with the manager passcode versus the employee level to ring people out. So, we have a few tiered 'honor system' discounts and a few that under owner permission only and I put my code in - and/or invoice people when this is needed.

[aliciavr6]

So I wonder then if I could apply it to all categories and put the few I don’t want discounted into their own category and omit that one. My problem is that when I set up rules under the automatic discount, the discount applies automatically for all sales. I can’t figure out how to really have it not be automatic.

I tried to set up the discount to have a rule to apply to certain items, I just didn’t check the box of the ones I wanted to omit. But it applies the discount to all sales. At least it did when I tested it. I can’t figure out how to make the discount only added manually.

[aliciavr6]

Thank you very much for all of the help! I only have a few employees and don’t need passcode protection, they can apply themselves. I still don’t know how to make a discount that is not automatically applied though lol. 

[MudFire_Dex]

The regular discounts are just percentages or dollar amounts and I have unchecked the automatic feature for - and then named them with the category in the name - for example:
Regular Clay - 10%
Holiday Marketing Promo - 10%
Special Order Tools - 20%
Deanna Use Only (this one is with a passcode) - 35%

Then they appear on the add discount drop-down - you could set up a level for yourself with a passcode and one for them so discounts can't be applied for customers - I put a link to Square's discount help page too - in hopes that it is a little more clear than I have been 🙂

[MudFire_Dex]

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/3955-create-and-manage-discounts maybe this will be more clear than I have been 🙂 - I'm sorry it has been a minute since we set everything up and when I reviewed my settings I realized we'd had the same issue with the automatic applications and reverted some of them back to a list of possible discounts to apply and have others with a passcode. I also just have a conversation very transparently with my team to let them know why / how I can discount some things moreso than others to them 🙂