How do I apply a Discount to only certain items in a transaction?

[PattyD]

Is  there a way to exclude certain items from a discount that's applied to the transaction? Currently a % discount applies to everything in the transaction. Can this be changed?

[VRJRDU]

Any update on the availability of this feature?  Most of my discounts apply to one category but not another, and in crunch times, it's easier if my employees aren't having to remember a lot of minor nuances.  I'd prefer to be able to restrict discounts to particular items or categories similar to how I choose the modifiers.

[Helen]

@VRJRDU Thanks for checking in, I don't have an updates to share at this time. If it's possible to restrict discounts to specific categories or items in future we'll post in this thread to alert you. 

[iciawebmaster]

This reply created from merging an existing thread: "How do I set up a discount for 1 specific item, not for the full amount?" The author has been notified via email.

How do I set up a discount for 1 specific item, not for the full order?

[np39194]

This reply created from merging an existing thread: "Is it possible to run sale for a month for selected items" The author has been notified via email.

Thanks 

[MJP]

The following steps worked using an android phone, presuming discount amount has not been created yet..will still work - you'd obviously skip the create discount part:

1. Go to main menu (top left)

2. Select items

3. Select Discounts

4. Create discount/save

5. a.  Select checkout (from main menu) to start sales process

     b.  Select Keypad or Library to enter product to be sold

      c.  Directly beneath, select drop-down arrow to access discount menu

       d.  Select Discounts from menu.

        e.  Select applicable discount amount....discount will be automatically applied to total price.

          f. Proceed with checkout.

Hope this helps.

[mikesclub]

I have 2 discounts set up. The first is a percent discount, with the amount set to variable so I can choose the exact discount during checkout. 

The second is a dollar discount configured the same way. 

I can apply the percent discount manually to individual items upon checkout, but Square help says the dollar discount can only be applied to the whole purchase. 

Why? Why? Why?

First, why allow me to apply one to individual items but not the other?

Second, when I negotiate a discount on a particular item, it’s almost always discussed in numbers rather than percent. The item is priced at $12, so I’ll sell it to you for $10. Converting to percent is an unnecessary pain in that case. On the other hand, I’m much more likely to knock a percentage off the total purchase. This is exactly opposite to the way Square is set up. 

I've asked for a lot of things on this forum. Please grant me this one!

[AshleyK]

Hey! Thanks for sharing - I have merged your post with an existing thread that has the same feature request so our developers have an easy time gathering all the requests in one place. 

I also really like this feature request, but at the moment, we just don't have it released. As a workaround, you will need to apply your $2 discount (in the example for your $12-$10 item), to the whole sale, and if you have more than one, just add them up. I know that this adds an extra step and is not the answer you were hoping for, but it's the best option we have for you at the time. 

Hang in there! We know this is a popular request and will post any updates in the Seller Community when they happen. ❤️ 

Thanks for your time and let me know if you have any other questions!

[mikesclub]

This is a followup to a question I asked almost a year and a half ago. I never got a direct answer to the question of "why?"

Why can I apply a dollar discount to individual items, but cannot apply a percent discount to individual items? What’s the reason for the distinction? 

I can go to Lowe’s, or Walmart, or McDonalds and get a percent discount applied to a single item in my purchase. Why, why, why does Square not allow this? 

Please don’t say "we understand your pain" again. Please answer specifically why Square works this way.

[Joe]

Hi @mikesclub - We won't have a specific answer for this. We are not privy to why our Engineers and Product Managers land on specific features or lack thereof. We can only speak to our current product offerings and work as liaisons for requests moving forward.

[mikesclub]

That’s unsatisfactory. Being a "liaison" should work in both directions. Square should not only receive input from users and pass it up the chain, they should also pass informative replies back down from "engineers and product managers" to the users. 

I hate, hate, hate Square with a passion for exactly this reason. The product is not terrible, but the company is totally non-responsive to customer requests and feedback. If I hadn’t already spent quite a bit of money buying the hardware, and inestimable time uploading my inventory, I would drop this company in a heartbeat. 

As a "liaison" please pass this message to Square's highest level: A quick look at this forum shows many issues, complaints, and requests that have been pending for years. Literally years. Each request earns one of 3 standard answers: 1) we feel your pain, 2) here’s a workaround hack that other frustrated users have come up with which we offer in place of a proper fix, or 3) we’ve merged your post into another years-old thread where lots of other people are complaining about the same thing. Square is not bad at the product development side. They are horrible at the customer support side. 

I would honestly never recommend Square to any other startup business. 

[Raconteurroom]

I need to be able to discount all drinks by $1 to locals on a certain day. I created a button but it only allows me to use it once. So I can only give them $1 off one time but if they buy two drinks I cant use the button again to give them another dollar off.

[nika]

Hey there @Raconteurroom. At this time, dollar amount discounts can only be applied to an entire sale. I merged your question to this thread so you can read how others accomplish the per item discount by using some workarounds.

Let us know if you have other questions!

[IndyCaterer]

I put almost $2 million in F&B sales for cafe and catering pre-pandemic and I need to exclude alcoholic beverages from discounts.  It's illegal for me in my state to do so, and the notion that I'm going to have 20 non-alcohol items that I will apply % discounts to individually is a joke.  If I have a line of 10 people on busy days, the last thing I need is some poor work around that isn't practical.   It's a simple database issue to make items "eligible for discount" or "ineligible for discount".  Do the programmers actually use their product in the real world?

[TheRealMerchman]

I've read through the entire string for this post. I don't find any update on the application code to provide the "per item" $ discount, even though its now been 6+ years that this thread has been going.

is there any chance that the product will receive this simplistic code update, that would allow a merchant the ability to apply a $ discount on a per item basis as a sale is occurring, without having to manipulate the options that exist today?

[Arie]

Thanks for writing in and adding your voice to this feature request, @TheRealMerchman. We actually recently rolled out an update across Square for Restaurants that enables line item discounts. While we don't have this option for the standard point of sale yet, we keep advocating for the suggestions we receive here with our internal teams. We'll update this thread once we have news to share! 

[Arcnadius]

I don't have Square for Restaurants so what should I do to apply a $$ discount to line items and not the entire bill? It took 6 years to get the feature for Restaurants so I hope I don't have to wait that long. If the fix could be rolled out to one platform, why hasn't it been rolled out to the others? 

[MayaP]

We know this can be frustrating having to wait for features to be built out @Arcnadius. 

Rolling out a feature does take an ample amount of time and effort from our engineers. Also, we want to ensure that our releases are not just surface-level products, but the best all-around resources to help you grow your business. 

Please add your voice to the Ideate Board where we are monitoring and providing updates for feature requests. 

Thank you again for your input!