WooCommerce Coupon Not Working? 10 Common Issues and Fixes

Why your WooCommerce coupon isn't working

WooCommerce coupons have many configuration options. A single incorrect setting can silently prevent a coupon from applying. Customers see a generic "coupon is not valid" message, and store owners are left guessing.

This guide covers the 10 most common causes and the exact fix for each one.

1. The coupon has expired

Symptom: "This coupon has expired."

WooCommerce coupons have an optional expiry date. If today's date is past the expiry, the coupon is rejected.

Fix: Go to Marketing → Coupons → Edit coupon → General tab. Check the Coupon expiry date field. Either remove it or set a future date. Remember that the expiry is based on your server's timezone, which you can check in Settings → General → Timezone.

2. Usage limit reached

Symptom: "Coupon usage limit has been reached."

WooCommerce tracks how many times a coupon has been used globally and per customer.

Fix: Edit the coupon → Usage limits tab. Check:

• Usage limit per coupon: total times the coupon can be used across all customers
• Usage limit per user: how many times a single customer can use it
• Limit usage to X items: maximum number of items the discount applies to

Increase or remove these limits as needed.

3. Minimum or maximum spend not met

Symptom: "The minimum spend for this coupon is $X" or "The maximum spend for this coupon is $X."

The cart subtotal (before shipping and taxes) must fall within the coupon's spend range.

Fix: Edit the coupon → Usage restriction tab. Check Minimum spend and Maximum spend. Adjust to match your typical order values, or remove the restriction entirely.

4. Product or category exclusions

Symptom: "Sorry, this coupon is not applicable to selected products."

The coupon may be restricted to specific products or categories, or certain items may be excluded.

Fix: Edit the coupon → Usage restriction tab. Check:

• Products: the coupon only applies to these products
• Exclude products: the coupon does not apply to these products
• Product categories: the coupon only applies to items in these categories
• Exclude categories: items in these categories are excluded

If the customer's cart contains only excluded items, the coupon won't apply.

5. Email restriction

Symptom: "Coupon is not valid" (generic message, no specific reason shown).

The coupon may be limited to specific email addresses. WooCommerce checks the billing email against the allowed list.

Fix: Edit the coupon → Usage restriction tab. Check Allowed emails. This field accepts wildcards: *@company.com allows all emails from that domain. Remove entries to lift the restriction.

6. Individual use conflict

Symptom: "Coupon cannot be used in conjunction with other coupons."

When a coupon has Individual use only checked, it cannot be combined with any other coupon.

Fix: Edit the coupon → General tab. Uncheck Individual use only if you want it to stack with other coupons. Alternatively, remove the other coupon from the cart first.

7. Sale items exclusion

Symptom: Coupon applies but the discount is $0, or it doesn't apply to certain items.

If Exclude sale items is checked, the coupon won't discount products that are already on sale.

Fix: Edit the coupon → Usage restriction tab. Uncheck Exclude sale items if you want the coupon to apply to sale products too.

8. Cart conditions not met (plugin conflicts)

Symptom: Coupon appears to be valid but is silently rejected or removed.

Third-party plugins can add extra validation rules or interfere with WooCommerce's coupon system.

Fix:

1. Temporarily deactivate other plugins and test the coupon
2. Switch to a default theme (Storefront or Twenty Twenty-Five)
3. If the coupon works, reactivate plugins one by one to find the conflict
4. Check for cart condition plugins that may add rules not visible in the coupon editor

9. Coupon code case or spacing issues

Symptom: "Coupon does not exist" even though you can see it in the admin.

WooCommerce coupon codes are case-insensitive, but leading/trailing spaces can cause issues. Some themes add extra whitespace around the input field.

Fix:

• Double-check the code in Marketing → Coupons - copy it exactly
• Trim whitespace from the code in the coupon settings
• Test by typing the code manually (not pasting from email, which may include hidden characters)

10. Caching serving a stale page

Symptom: Coupon works when you're logged in as admin but fails for regular customers.

Aggressive page caching (from hosting, CDN, or caching plugins) can serve a stale cart page that doesn't recognize the coupon.

Fix:

• Exclude the cart and checkout pages from caching
• Most caching plugins have a "WooCommerce" compatibility option - enable it
• Clear all caches after making coupon changes
• Test in an incognito browser window

Bonus: requiring a coupon for checkout

If you want to go the other direction and force customers to apply a coupon before they can check out, GateCoupon does exactly that. It adds server-side validation that requires any valid coupon - or a specific code - before WooCommerce processes the order.

This is useful for invite-only stores, B2B operations, employee discount programs, and pre-launch campaigns.

Conclusion

Most WooCommerce coupon issues come down to misconfigured restrictions. Check expiry dates, usage limits, spend thresholds, product/category exclusions, and email restrictions first. If the coupon settings look correct, test for plugin conflicts and caching issues. Following these steps resolves the problem in 95% of cases.