When you’re shopping on Etsy you might want to use multiple coupon codes, but it doesn’t work as directly as just putting multiple codes into the checkout.
Etsy’s coupon system is a little tricky, so I hope that this helps you to understand what you can and can’t do as far as stacking coupons goes when you’re shopping.
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Understanding Etsy coupon stacking, and one exception to the rule.
Can you stack coupons on Etsy? The short answer is no, with one major exception. Etsy doesn’t allow the stacking of coupons unless one of them is related to free shipping.
Free shipping coupons and discounts do stack with other kinds of discounts. But, for the most part, when dealing with regular discounts, Etsy takes the highest value coupon and applies it to the order.
For example, I offer a 20% off discount for members of my mailing list. If I have a 10% off sale in my Etsy shop, they can use the mailing list coupon code to override the 10% sale and get 20% off instead.
But if the two discounts are applied together, Etsy will just eliminate the lower-value one and take the higher value discount. they don’t add the two discounts together.
By the same token, if you shop on Etsy and there’s a 25% off sale in the shop and you try to use the 20% off code, Etsy will ignore it and give you the 25% off sale. Higher value wins.
A real-life example.
Recently, an Artisan Shopping Directory member encountered an interesting scenario that added a layer of complexity.
An item in her shop was already on sale, and a customer used a discount coupon at checkout.
However, the coupon was for a value that was less than the sale amount, so Etsy didn’t apply it to the item that was on sale.
There was also something else in the shopping cart that WASN’T on sale, though, and the coupon code was applied to that full-priced item.
So basically, Etsy’s coupon system operated on a per-item level, prioritizing the highest value then applying the lower discount to the item that wasn’t on sale to begin with.
It ended up that both items in the cart were discounted, but for different amounts.
The other exception: Etsy-funded coupons.
Etsy has started to occasionally offer its own coupons, such as “$5 off a $30 purchase.” The difference here is that those Etsy-funded coupons do stack.
That’s because Etsy is paying for those discounts, and that amount isn’t taken out of the seller’s profits. It’s paid for by Etsy through their marketing budget, so the customer can benefit and so does the seller, who doesn’t lose part of their income.
Since it’s not a seller-discount, these Etsy-funded sales do stack with the seller’s discounts, and it’s one exception to the “no-stacking” rule.
To see the full Artisan Shopping Directory sections, including signups for discounts, click here.
Watch out for discounts!
It might seem strange to watch out for discounts, but here’s one example. In my shop I have the free shipping guarantee set up, so orders over $35 ship for free.
In the example above, a 10% off discount has been applied to the cart, and that knocked the total of the order under the $35 limit, so shipping was charged as usual.
But since the shipping is going to be charged, the total for this order would be $37.40.
If you have just left the 10% off coupons out of it, you’d only be paying $36 because the free shipping guarantee would kick in and you wouldn’t need to pay for that!
Sometimes, using a coupon isn’t the best idea, so try a few different combinations to see what gives you the best price.
Which coupon will be accepted?
The higher-value discount, sale, or coupon will be the ones that Etsy applies to the purchase.
If you try to apply two coupon codes when you’re checking out, Etsy will take the higher one and ignore the lower-value one.
It shouldn’t matter what order you put the coupons in, the higher one will be applied.
If there’s a free shipping guarantee on the sale, free shipping will also apply to the shopping cart along with the higher-value discount.
So if you have two discount coupons, or you have one for a listing that’s on sale, the higher discount will be applied to the shopping cart. But if there are individual items that different discounts would apply to, Etsy will do that.
And sometimes it’s better to not use a discount coupon if free shipping is in play!
Watch out for discounts on Etsy, since they’re a little complicated and don’t always work the way that you expect!