Creating discount codes

A coupon is a code your customers can type in at checkout to get a discount, either a percentage off or a flat dollar amount off.

Where to find it

Open Pricing in the sidebar, then Coupons. It opens the Coupons tab of the pricing page (the tab bar is also there if you start from Price rules). The tab only shows for staff who are allowed to view coupons.

How it works

The Coupons tab lists every code with these columns:

• Code — what the customer types in.
• Discount — a percentage (for example 10%) or a dollar amount.
• Uses — how many times it has been used. If you set a limit, it reads like "12 / 100".
• Valid — the date range, or "Always valid" if you didn't set one.
• Status — Available, Expired (its end date has passed), or Retired (you switched it off).

All / Active / Expired buttons above the list filter it.

To make a code, click + New Coupon. The form asks for:

• Code and Type (Percentage or Fixed Amount), then the Discount (%) or Amount ($).
• Limit to a date range (Valid From and Valid To). Left off, the code is valid immediately and never expires.
• Limit total uses (Max uses for the whole coupon). Left off, total uses are unlimited.
• Limit uses per customer (Max uses per customer). Left off, there is no per-customer limit.

Click any code in the list to change it. The edit form also has an Active switch (turn it off to retire the code without deleting it) and a Delete button. Delete asks you to confirm and cannot be undone.

Picking a coupon on the booking desk

When you build a booking for a customer, click the coupon field in the order summary. A list of your active coupons that have already started slides out under the field, so you don't have to remember codes. Typing filters the list, and clicking one fills in the code and applies it in one step.

Can a customer use more than one coupon or discount?

Short answer: one coupon code per booking. That one code can combine with your automatic discounts (depending on a setting you control), and a gift card is paid on top of everything else. Here is each case.

More than one coupon code

Not possible. A booking carries a single coupon code.

• On your storefront, the cart on the booking page has one Have a code? box. Typing a second code and pressing Apply replaces the first one. Clearing the box and pressing Apply removes the coupon.
• On the booking desk, once a coupon is applied the code box is replaced by "Coupon (CODE) applied" with the percent or dollar amount off and a Remove button. Remove it first if you want to try a different code.
• A discount line you type in by hand on the booking desk (the Manual discount line, described as an ad-hoc adjustment, not a coupon code, with a name and an amount or percent) is not a coupon. It is a separate line, so it can sit alongside one coupon code.

A coupon plus your automatic discounts

Renta applies four kinds of automatic discount on its own, with no code: Duration discount (multi-day or multi-hour), Seasonal discount, Time-based discount, and Bundle discount. Different kinds all apply to the same booking, each on its own line.

Whether a coupon code adds to them is controlled by the Coupons + discounts switch at the top of the Coupons tab, with two buttons, Stack and Exclusive. It is business-wide, not set per coupon. A new business starts on Stack.

• Stack — the coupon comes off the price after the automatic discounts have already been taken. Both apply.
• Exclusive — the customer gets whichever saves them more, never both. The coupon is worked out on the price before automatic discounts and compared with the total automatic discount. If the coupon saves the same or more, the coupon wins and the automatic discount lines are dropped. If the automatic discount saves more, the coupon is not applied at all. A surcharge (a seasonal or time-based markup) always applies in either mode.

A coupon plus a gift card

A gift card is not a discount. It counts as a payment toward the booking. The coupon (and any automatic discounts) set what the booking costs, and the gift card then pays part or all of that amount. The booking total, tax and Renta's fee are not reduced by a gift card. At checkout the Have a gift card? box lists each card applied, for example "Gift card ABC123 applied −$75.00", and shows the Remaining balance to pay. See Selling and redeeming gift cards.

What the customer sees

• In the cart, a working code shows a green line such as "Coupon SUMMER10 applied, saved $50.00". A code that cannot be used shows a red message instead: "Code not valid", "This coupon is not valid yet", "This coupon has expired", "Coupon has reached maximum uses", "This coupon is not valid for the selected items", or, for a returning customer who is signed in, "This customer has already used this coupon the maximum number of times".
• In the order summary, each automatic discount is its own line (Duration discount, Seasonal discount, Time-based discount, Bundle discount), followed by one Coupon discount (CODE) line.
• In Exclusive mode, when the automatic discount is the bigger saving, the customer sees no coupon line and no error. The code simply does not change the price, so tell customers this if they ask why their code "did nothing". If you would rather a code always take effect, use Stack.

Example

A $500 booking already qualifies for a $50 automatic multi-day discount. A customer also enters a 10% coupon.

• In Stack mode: both apply. $50 off, then 10% off the remaining $450, for a total discount of $95.
• In Exclusive mode: only the better one applies. The coupon (10% of $500 = $50) ties the automatic discount here, so the customer gets $50 off either way, not both combined.

Good to know

• A coupon comes off the rental price plus add-ons, any delivery fee and other taxable charges, before tax. A percentage coupon is taken from that whole amount, and a dollar coupon can never take the price below zero. See How a price is calculated.
• Renta's platform fee is calculated after the coupon is applied, so a coupon also lowers the fee slightly. See Renta's 2.5% platform fee.
• Gift cards live on the next tab over. See Selling and redeeming gift cards.