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Discounts and coupons

A reduction on the whole sale, before tax, spread across the lines. Entered by hand or with a code you manage.

This feature is new and may not be enabled on your account yet. If you don’t see it, write to us.

What it is

Cord has two ways to lower the price of a sale, and both can live on the same document:

  • Negotiated price per line. You lower the price of one specific line. It’s the difference between the list price and the negotiated price, and the panel shows it as Discount given. See Products and pricing.
  • Document discount. A reduction on the whole quote or invoice: a percentage or an amount in the document’s currency. Cord applies it before tax and spreads it across the lines in proportion to their amount. You can enter it by hand or with a coupon.

A coupon is a reusable code (for example, WELCOME10) that you create under Settings › Discounts › Coupons, with its value, its validity dates, and how many times it can be used. Your team applies it in the editor, and your buyers can enter it when they quote from your website through the API or Cord Elements.

Review and send summary of a new quote, at two moments. First, the discount control open on Coupon, with the code WELCOME10 typed in and the Apply button; the summary doesn’t include it yet: subtotal $169,370.00 MXN, discount given $5,130.00 MXN in negotiated line prices, IVA 16% $27,099.20 MXN and total $196,469.20 MXN. Then, already applied: the Discount (WELCOME10) row, with Remove, takes off $16,937.00 MXN before tax; the IVA is calculated on $152,433.00 MXN and comes to $24,389.28 MXN, and the total drops to $176,822.28 MXN.

Requirements

Details
Plan All plans.
Permission to apply Quotes: apply a discount or validate a coupon in the quote or invoice editor.
Permission to manage coupons Settings: create, edit, deactivate, and delete coupons.
Country All 12 markets. Each tax rail declares the discount the way its authority requires (see On your tax invoice).

Apply a discount

The control lives in the editor’s Review and send panel, between the subtotal and the taxes. It’s in the new-quote editor, when editing a quote, and in the invoice editor.

  1. In Review and send, click + Add discount or coupon.
  2. Choose the type: Percent (0 to 100), Amount (in the document’s currency), or Coupon.
  3. Type the value or the code and click Apply. A coupon is validated right then: if it doesn’t apply, the panel tells you why (see Coupon messages).
  4. The summary shows the row Discount (10%) or Discount (WELCOME10) with the amount in green, and the taxes and total already calculated on the discounted base. To take it off, click Remove next to the label.

A document carries one document discount at a time. If you send a coupon and a manual discount together (for example, from the API), the coupon wins.

How it’s calculated

  1. Gross subtotal: the sum of the lines at their negotiated price, before tax.
  2. Discount: the percentage of that subtotal, or the amount you entered. An amount larger than the subtotal is capped at the subtotal: the discount never makes the sale negative.
  3. Spread per line: each line gets a share proportional to its gross amount. The spread is done in the currency’s smallest unit (cents in MXN, cents in EUR, whole units in CLP or JPY), so the shares add up to exactly the discount and no line goes negative.
  4. Taxes: each line calculates its tax on its already-discounted base, with its own rate. That’s why an exempt line and a taxed line each get their share of the discount and the tax only drops where it should.
  5. Withholdings: if your catalog has withholdings (for example, ISR or IRPF), they’re calculated on the discounted bases.
Example (Mexico, 16% VAT) No discount With 10%
Subtotal 169,370.00 MXN 169,370.00 MXN
Discount (WELCOME10) — −16,937.00 MXN
IVA 16% 27,099.20 MXN 24,389.28 MXN
Total 196,469.20 MXN 176,822.28 MXN

Tax-inclusive prices. If you turned on Prices include IVA (or your country’s tax), an amount discount lowers what your client pays, and the pre-tax base is broken out afterwards. A percentage works the same with or without tax-inclusive prices.

The browser and the API never send the discount amount: they send the definition (percentage or amount) or the coupon code. Cord recalculates on the server with the same engine the editor uses, so what you see is what’s saved, charged, and invoiced.

Create and manage coupons

Settings › Discounts › Coupons with four coupons: WELCOME10 for 10% with no end date, with 14 of 100 uses and 1 per client; OBRA2026 for $2,500.00 MXN from Oct 1, 2026 to Dec 31, 2026 with 3 uses; DISTRIB5 for 5% with 27 uses, and SUMMER15 for 15%, expired on Aug 31, 2026 and deactivated. Each row has its Active toggle and the Edit and Delete buttons.
  1. Open Settings › Discounts › Coupons with the Settings permission.
  2. Click New coupon.
  3. Type the Code: 3 to 32 letters, numbers, hyphens, or underscores. Cord turns it into uppercase and doesn’t allow two coupons with the same code on your account.
  4. Optional: an internal Name (for example, “New client promotion”).
  5. Choose the Discount: Percentage or Fixed amount, and its Value. A fixed amount also asks for its Currency, among the ones your account offers when quoting.
  6. Optional: Valid from and Valid until. The dates are read in your business’s time zone.
  7. Optional: Total uses and Uses per client. Empty means unlimited.
  8. Click Create coupon.
Rule Details
Currency A percentage coupon works in any currency. A fixed-amount coupon only applies to documents in its currency: a 2,500 MXN coupon can’t be applied to a quote in USD.
What you can edit The name, the validity dates, the usage limits, and whether it’s active. The code, type, value, and currency don’t change once it’s created: a document that already carries it keeps what it discounted. For a different value, create another coupon.
Deactivate The toggle on each row. A deactivated coupon can no longer be applied to new documents; documents that already carry it keep it.
Delete Only a coupon that was never used. One with uses is deactivated instead, to keep its history.
Per-client limit A coupon with Uses per client requires choosing the client before applying it.

When a use is counted

A coupon is applied to the document when you validate it, but its use is counted when the document becomes binding:

Document The use is counted The use is returned
Quote When it’s approved: the client clicks Approve quote on the link, or you use Mark approved. If the quote is rejected or expires.
Invoice When it’s issued, before it gets its number. If the invoice is voided, or if you delete a draft whose issuance had failed.
Invoice from a quote Not counted again: it reuses the quote’s use. Along with the quote.
  • The validity dates and whether the coupon is active are checked when it’s applied. A document built while the coupon was valid keeps it even if the coupon later expires or you deactivate it.
  • The usage limits are checked when applying and again when approving or issuing, because they’re the coupon’s budget. If the uses ran out between the draft and that moment:
    • Invoice: it isn’t issued and no number is used up. Cord tells you the coupon has no uses left and to remove it from the draft to issue the invoice.
    • Quote approved by the client: the approval doesn’t go through. Your client reads that the quote needs an update from you, and the activity shows that they tried to approve with an exhausted coupon. Remove the coupon and send the quote again.

Coupon messages

Message What to do
That coupon does not exist. Check the code; spaces and lowercase don’t matter.
That coupon is deactivated. Turn it back on in Settings › Discounts › Coupons if you want to keep using it.
That coupon is not valid yet. / That coupon has expired. Check Valid from and Valid until.
That coupon is in a different currency than this document. Use a percentage coupon or a fixed-amount one in the document’s currency.
That coupon has no uses left. Raise Total uses or create another coupon.
This client has already used that coupon as many times as allowed. The per-client limit was reached.
That coupon is limited per client: choose a client first. Choose the client in Who are you quoting? and apply it again.

Where the discount shows up

  • Quote link and PDF: the row Discount (WELCOME10) or Discount (10%) between the subtotal and the taxes. Each line keeps its amount before the discount.
  • Quote and invoice detail, and the invoice link: the same row.
  • Google Sheets and Excel: the discount column of the quotes sheet, with the subtotal before the discount.
  • QuickBooks Online and Xero: each line arrives with its already-discounted price.

On your tax invoice

The discount travels, spread per line, to every tax document, in the shape each authority requires:

Document How it’s declared
CFDI 4.0 (Mexico) Each line carries its unit value before the discount and its share of the discount in the Descuento attribute; the VAT base is the amount minus the discount. A line that the discount brings to zero can’t be stamped (the SAT requires a base greater than zero for a transferred tax): Cord rejects it before stamping and tells you which one. In the global invoice, each sale carries its share of the discount.
Verifactu (Spain) Each line declares its already-discounted base.
Factur-X, XRechnung, and Peppol Each line with its amount before the discount, and the discount as a document allowance, one per VAT category and rate, so that each group in the breakdown matches the invoice to the cent.
Facturae (Spain) Each line with its own discount.
Authorized invoices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru Each line with its share of the discount, in the field each country’s authority requires.

A credit note spreads its amount in the same proportion, discount included.

Copies, recurring invoices, and partial approval

Case What happens to the discount
Partial approval Cord reapplies the definition to the approved lines: a percentage is recalculated; an amount is capped at the new subtotal.
Invoice from a quote Inherits the definition and applies it to what’s invoiced.
Duplicate or repeat an invoice Copies each line’s gross price and the discount separately.
Recurring invoices Only carry a manual discount: a coupon isn’t repeated every month.
Duplicate a quote The copy doesn’t carry the document discount: add it again if it applies.
Replace a CFDI (Mexico) The replacement inherits the original’s discount, with its coupon, without counting another use.
Shopify order The order Cord creates in your store carries each line’s negotiated price, but not yet the document discount. Check the order total in Shopify.

Discounts and internal approvals

If your organization uses internal approvals:

  • A manual document discount counts as a discount on each line for the maximum discount threshold and the minimum margin threshold. Moving the reduction to the footer doesn’t get around the rule.
  • A coupon doesn’t count toward those thresholds: it was created by whoever manages Settings and is already an authorized reduction.

From the API and Cord Elements

  • POST /api/v1/cotizaciones and POST /api/v1/facturas accept descuento ({ "tipo": "porcentaje" | "monto", "valor": 10 }) or cupon ("WELCOME10"). See the Quotes API and the Invoices API.
  • With a publishable key (your website’s), the only discount accepted is a cupon: a buyer can’t set a percentage for themselves.
  • A coupon that doesn’t exist responds 404 with code: "coupon_no_existe"; an expired, exhausted, or wrong-currency one responds 409 with coupon_vencido, coupon_agotado, coupon_moneda, and so on.

Limits

  • One document discount per document.
  • Percentage from 0 to 100; an amount is capped at the gross subtotal.
  • Coupon codes of 3 to 32 characters (A-Z, 0-9, -, _), unique on your account.
  • Uses are counted per binding document: approving and then invoicing the same sale counts a single use.

Troubleshooting

The coupon says it’s exhausted, but there are documents that weren’t approved. A use is counted when approving or issuing. Check which approved quotes or issued invoices carry it; when an invoice is voided or a quote is rejected, the use comes back.

I can’t change a coupon’s value. The value isn’t editable so it doesn’t change what it already discounted on existing documents. Deactivate it and create another.

The CFDI is rejected because of a line at zero. The discount left a line without a base. Lower the discount or remove that line before stamping.

The coupon isn’t on the duplicated quote. Duplicating doesn’t copy the document discount: apply it again.