Combining discounts

Discounts never combine by default. Shopify is explicit: "No, discounts don't automatically combine. You must manually configure each discount's combination settings" (Discount combinations). Every discount has a Combinations section where you tick which classes of other discount it is allowed to stack with.

Combining is mutual

The setting lives on each discount, so both sides have to agree. If discount A allows combining with product discounts, but discount B does not allow combining with order discounts, the two will not stack. Check both discounts, not just the one that isn't showing up.

A Hype Upsell campaign sets its own Combinations the same way, so a campaign and a Shopify discount stack only when the campaign allows the Shopify discount's class and the Shopify discount allows the campaign's class.

Which classes can combine

Only one shipping discount can apply to an order: "Multiple shipping discounts can't apply to the same order."

Two more rules worth knowing:

• Buy X get Y "get" items can't take another product discount — except on Shopify Plus, where the customer-gets items can take one.
• Custom discounts applied manually to an order, and discounts added by the Scripts API, always apply, whatever the other discounts' combination settings say.

Eligibility restrictions

To combine product + order or order + order, your store must meet two conditions:

• Your store must not use any checkout.liquid customizations or features.
• You're not using the Licensify app.

Every store can combine order + free shipping, product + free shipping, and product + product on different items, with no restriction.

Combinations also work only on the Online Store, Storefront API, and Shopify POS. On any other surface, they do not apply at all.

Percentages don't compound

When two or more percentage order discounts apply to the same order, "both percentages are calculated on the original subtotal." So 10% plus 20% is 30% off the original subtotal, not 28%. This surprises merchants who expect the second discount to work on the already-reduced number.

The order of application still matters for what each class sees: product discounts apply first to individual items, order discounts apply to the revised subtotal after them, and shipping discounts apply last.

Codes and automatic discounts together

Yes, a customer can enter a code while an automatic discount is already on the cart: "You can apply both automatic discounts and discount codes to the same cart, as long as each discount is configured to combine with the other discount's class."

If they aren't configured to combine, they don't stack — you get one of them, not both.

The 5 + 1 code cap

A single order accepts at most 5 product or order discount codes plus 1 shipping discount code. Codes that arrive from a shareable link or QR code count toward that total: "The 5 discount code limit per order still applies to the total number of discounts, including those from shareable links" (Managing discounts).

App discounts and combining

An app discount's output "can be combined with the candidate from another discount, in alignment with the combination and stacking rules set on the discount node" (Discount Function API) — the same rules as any other discount.

One extra rule applies to app discounts that carry several savings in one discount, such as a percentage off plus free shipping. Such a discount "can combine only with other discounts that allow combinations with all of the included discount classes" (Discounts with apps). If a Shopify discount permits product discounts but not shipping discounts, it will not stack with a Hype Upsell discount that includes both.

Check it with a test order

Shopify's recommended way to verify a combination is to place a test order and look at the totals before completing checkout. That is faster than reasoning about it, and it is the only way to see what the customer will actually see.

Related

• How Shopify discounts work
• Why a discount didn't apply
• Discount codes and their limits