Manual Discounts
Manual Discounts keeps the discounts your staff give every day, such as Staff 10% or Loyal customer $5. The cashier applies one from a POS tile; a Cost discount lowers every item in the cart to its cost.
How it works
A discount is a name and a type
You create it once in the Shopify admin: Amount, Percentage or Cost. Its name is what the cart and the receipt show.
Amount and Percentage cover the whole cart
They become the cart discount. POS keeps one cart discount, so applying another one replaces it.
Cost works item by item
Each item gets its own discount down to its Cost per item in Shopify. The tile reads the costs at the moment of the tap.
What Cost leaves alone
Custom sales, gift cards, items with no cost or a cost of 0, items already at or below cost, and items whose cost is in another currency than the POS location.
Two tiles
Apply discounts lists all discounts. Apply your default discount applies the default one in one tap.
Nothing is recorded by the app
The app keeps no history. Applied discounts show in your Shopify orders under the discount's name.
Costs and policy are yours
A Cost discount trusts the Cost per item in Shopify; a wrong cost gives a wrong price. Costs are stored without tax, so where prices include tax an item sells at cost including tax, below its cost before tax. The app has no role lock: anyone who can open the tile can apply any discount. Who gets which discount is your store's policy.
What it does
Three types
Amount off the cart, Percentage off the cart, or Cost: every item down to its cost.
One-tap list
The Apply discounts tile lists your discounts. Tap a card or Apply and the list closes.
Default discount
Tick Use by default? on one discount. Apply your default discount applies it without a list.
Sell at cost
Staff purchases, partner sales or clearance at cost, from the Cost per item you keep in Shopify.
Clear result for Cost
A message tells how many items went to cost and how many kept their price.
Inside POS too
Opened from its app tile, Manual Discounts shows the list with Apply for Amount and Percentage discounts.
English and Spanish
The screens follow your Shopify language.
Price & installation
How to install
- Open the app on the Shopify App StoreUse the button above, signed in to your store.
- Click InstallApprove the permissions the app asks for.
- Choose the planThe 30-day free trial starts at once. Shopify bills the subscription with your Shopify invoice.
- Set the app up in your Shopify adminIt is listed under Apps. The first setup is below.
- Add the app's tile to Shopify POSOn the POS home screen add a tile, choose Apps and pick the app.
How to cancel the subscription
Cancelling means uninstalling the app. There is no separate billing screen.
- In the Shopify admin open Settings → Apps.
- Open the menu on the app's row and choose Uninstall.
- Confirm. The subscription stops when the app is uninstalled.
First setup
Do this once, in this order. The app is then ready for the shift.
-
Open Manual Discounts in the Shopify adminWith no discounts it shows You have no discounts. Opening it once also links your store to the POS tiles.
- Click Create DiscountsThe form is Create New Discount.
- Enter NameUp to 50 characters. The cart shows this name.
-
Choose Type and enter the valueAmount: type the digits with the cents, 5, 0, 0 gives 5.00. Percentage: a whole number up to 100. Cost has no value. A new form starts on Amount.
- OptionalTick Use by default?One default per store. Saving it removes the mark from the other discounts.
- Click SaveCreated confirms it and the list opens.
- In Shopify POS, add the tilesBoth are headed Manual Discounts: Cost & More: Apply discounts and Apply your default discount.
- Test on a saleAdd an item, tap Apply discounts, then Apply on the discount. Check the cart, then clear it.
Setup scenarios
Each scenario is a complete configuration. Follow the steps in order.
1. Staff 10% as the default discount
Staff get 10% off, and the cashier should not type it each time.
- Create Staff 10%Type Percentage, 10. Tick Use by default? and save.
- Add the Apply your default discount tile in POS
- At the register, ring up the items and tap the tileThe cart discount Staff 10% appears and the window closes.
2. $5 off for loyal customers
A fixed amount off the whole cart.
- Create Loyal customer $5 with Type Amount, 5.00, and save
- At the register, tap Apply discounts
- Tap the discount or its Apply
3. Staff buy at cost
Employees buy store items at what the store paid for them.
- Check that your products have a Cost per item in ShopifyItems without a cost keep their price.
- Create Staff at cost with Type Cost and save
- Make sure the user signed in to POS may view product costsWithout the View product costs permission the tile cannot read the costs.
- At the register, add every item first, then tap Apply discounts → Staff at cost
- Read the messageFor example Staff at cost: 3 item(s) at cost. 2 kept their price (no cost, already at or below cost, or a cost in another currency).
4. Change the default discount
The default changes for a promotion week.
- Create the new discount with Use by default? tickedThe previous default loses its mark.
- Check the listUse By Default now shows on the new one.
- OptionalDelete the discount you no longer needRed bin, then confirm.
5. Apply a discount from the app inside POS
A fallback when the tiles are not on the home screen.
- Open Manual Discounts from its app tile in POS
- Tap Apply on an Amount or Percentage discountThe discount is applied to the cart and the app closes.
- For a Cost discount, use the tilesThe card says Apply it from the "Manual Discounts: Cost & More" tile on the POS home screen.
Screens and settings
Every screen of the app and what each setting does.
Discount list
The main screen in the Shopify admin. In POS the same list adds Apply to each card.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | The discount. Also the name of the discount in the cart and the order. |
| Discount: | 10%, 5.00 (no currency sign), or down to cost. |
| Type: | Percentage, Amount or Cost. |
| Use By Default | The discount the default tile applies. One per store. |
| Red bin | Deletes the discount after Are you sure you want to delete this discount?, then Deleted. |
| Create Discounts | Opens the form. |
| Settings | Miss something?, Contact us and App version. |
| Apply (POS) | Applies an Amount or Percentage discount to the cart and closes the app. A Cost discount has no Apply here. |
Create New Discount
Save and Back are in the title bar. There is no edit screen.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | Up to 50 characters. |
| Type | Amount (default), Percentage or Cost. |
| Amount | Digits fill from the right: 5, 0, 0 gives 5.00. In the store's currency. |
| Percentage | A whole number; anything above 100 becomes 100. |
| Cost | No value. The help reads: Lowers every item in the cart to its cost per item from Shopify. |
| Use by default? | Makes this the default discount and removes the mark from the others. |
| Save | Stores it: Created. |
POS tiles
Both tiles are headed Manual Discounts: Cost & More.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Apply discounts | Opens Discounts: Loading discounts…, then the list. Tap a card or Apply. Empty: No discounts configured. Error: Couldn't load discounts with Try again. |
| Apply your default discount | Opens Default Discounts, applies the default and closes. None set: You don't have default discounts. |
Manual Discounts in POS
Opened from the app tile in POS.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Apply | Amount and Percentage only. Applies the discount and closes the app. |
| Apply it from the "Manual Discounts: Cost & More" tile on the POS home screen. | Shown on a Cost discount instead of Apply. |
| Please open the app on the Shopify Admin page, then try again. | The app could not sign in. Open it once in the Shopify admin. |
Cost discount messages
Shown after a Cost discount is applied from a tile.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Staff at cost: 3 item(s) at cost. | The discount name and the number of items lowered to cost. |
| 2 kept their price (…) | Items with no cost, already at or below cost, or with a cost in another currency. |
| The cart discount still applies on top. | A cart discount was already in the cart and stays. |
| No items in the cart can be sold at cost | The cart holds only custom sales or gift cards. |
| No item can go lower … Nothing changed. | No item has a cost below its price. |
| Couldn't read product costs (…) | Nothing changed. The store must approve the app's product access, and the POS user needs the View product costs permission. |
Settings
Opens from Settings in the title bar, in the Shopify admin or in POS.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Miss something? | Tell us opens a form for a missing feature, with an optional email. Send sends it to us. |
| Contact us | A button with contact@merchbytes.com that opens your email app. |
| App version | The installed version. Quote it when you write to support. |
Screenshots of the running app in Shopify POS and the Shopify admin. Click one to enlarge.
Everyday use
What the cashier does after the app is set up.
- Ring up the items, then tap Apply discounts and the discount.
- For the default discount, tap Apply your default discount.
- A second Amount or Percentage discount replaces the first one.
- With a Cost discount, add every item first. Items added later need another tap.
Troubleshooting
Symptom on the left, what to do on the right.
| Symptom | What to do |
|---|---|
| Couldn't load discounts. | Open Manual Discounts once in the Shopify admin; that links the store. Then tap Try again. If it repeats, check the internet connection. |
| You don't have default discounts. | No discount has Use by default?. Create one with the box ticked. |
| Couldn't read product costs (…). | Approve the app's new permissions in the Shopify admin, and give the user signed in to POS the View product costs permission. Nothing was changed in the cart. |
| No item can go lower, or an item kept its price. | Fill Cost per item on the product in Shopify. Items already at or below cost, and items with a cost in another currency, keep their price. |
| No items in the cart can be sold at cost. | The cart holds only custom sales or gift cards. Cost never changes them. |
| The first discount disappeared. | POS keeps one cart discount. A second Amount or Percentage discount replaces the first. |
| A Cost discount has no Apply button in the app. | Cost is applied from the tiles only. Use Apply discounts or Apply your default discount. |
| Please open the app on the Shopify Admin page, then try again. | Open Manual Discounts once in the Shopify admin, then open it again in POS. |
| The app's tile is not on the POS home screen. | Add it: on the POS home screen add a tile, choose Apps and pick the app. |
| The tile does not react or shows an old screen after an update. | Close and reopen Shopify POS. If that does not help, update Shopify POS on the device. |
| The app asks for new permissions. | A new version needs them. Open the app in the Shopify admin and approve them. |