• There are rules for setting up coupons. The rules supersede the coupon setup and will in fact cause the discount to not be accurate until all the rules are completely meet.
• There is a hierarchy to Coupon codes; Artamatik > VIP > Free. If Artamatik makes a coupon, it is available for users to use on any (and every) shop under them. If Artamatik.com makes a Coupon available, All stores open under VIPs can use it.
• Only the one coupon code is valid per purchase.

Rule #1 : Discounts can only be given on the markup of the product. If the markup is only $1 on a keychain, a $2 coupon code cannot be used for that purchase. Technically it can (the user can enter it in), but the discount will only show $1 (your markup). Now if they also added a mousepad to the cart (with a markup of $1) then the discount would be $2.

Rule #2 : When a discount is given you will not receive the money that was discounted in the order. So understand, if you markup all your products by $1 and then give a $1 coupon code for the customer to use, and they only purchase one product, you will not make any money on that sale (not including the shipping markup, if you have one).

Rule #3 : The shipping markup is NEVER considered when giving a discount (even when giving a shipping discount).

Example: Say you want to setup a coupon code for $3 off. You set your product markup at $1 each and have your shipping markup set at $5, so you figure... even if someone only buys one product, you are covered (minimum you should make on the order is $6, $3 is less than that, so your OK)... you would be wrong. Artamatik has setup the system to not even look at the $5 shipping markup, so all it sees is the $1 markup and therefore will only give a $1 discount.

You may think that if your coupon code is for free or discounted shipping, surely, the system would then look at the shipping markup to figure out if it would allow the discount or not, but it does NOT. If you are going to put a coupon code for free or discounted shipping, the markup from all the products in the cart MUST be greater than (or equal to) the discount you wish to give. You can do this two ways. Make sure each product markup is at least the same amount as the shipping markup ($3 for each product, $3 for shipping) or make the coupon require a minimum total that would cause the individual to put enough products in the cart to cover the discount.

Remember, that no matter how you setup the coupon codes, they will not work properly if the rules are not followed.

The "Coupon Code Form" is broken up into different sections.

Coupon Code :
The custom code you want to use for this coupon. You can include spaces, some symbols, over 60 characters, and is case Insensitive.

Description :
A description of the coupon code you are creating. For your eye only, to help identify your coupons in the manager. Nothing you place in here is program related.

Condition :
This is what HAS to happen in order for the coupon to be applied. So far there are 3 variables that can be used...

•  ItemPrice
  In order to restrict the use of this coupon code to order of a minimum price, you can use the following in this field ... ItemPrice>25 ... this states that the order total (prior to shipping) must be greater that $25. Do not include spaces or the dollar sign.
• In()
  Now this is a nifty little bit of a snippet. If you are looking to restrict this coupon code to only be used for people that have a particular item in their cart, this is the code to do it.
  
  First, I will show you an example of what you would type in if you wanted to give a discount to anyone that purchased a keychain, then explain it a little.
  
  Example
  In(ProductId,176,179,185,186,187,188,304,305) ...
  
  Explanation
   In() ... is the function; ProductId ... is what the program uses to compare the proceeding numbers to; 176,179,185,186,187,188,304,305 ... the product numbers of the products that you want to require for the discount, separated by commas (no spaces).
  
  Caution , this coupon code would give multiple discounts if the purchaser places more than one of these products in their cart. Also, only a flat rate discount can be used with this method.
   
• 1
  The '1' is a program staple (like 0). 1 means yes, always, is available, etc. 0 means no, never, is not available. If you want to setup a coupon to be used regardless of order total or products purchased, use ... 1 ... in this field.

Condition Message :
The message is shown to the purchaser if the he/she tries to use this coupon code, but cannot because the conditions have not been met.

Display Message :
The message shown to the purchaser if the he/she uses this coupon code successfully.

Discount :
The discount given when this coupon code is used successfully. You can enter in either a flat amount, a percentage, or a shipping discount.

• Flat Amount : Simply enter the dollar amount as a number (can include cents if a decimal is used). No spaces, no symbols, no dollar signs.
• Percentage : To give a percentage discount enter the following ... ItemPrice*(.1) ... this will discount each item in the cart by 10%. Use (.2) for 20%, (.25) for 25%, etc.
• Shipping Discount : To give a shipping discount, use the following ...
  ShippingPrice*(2-ShippingMethod) ... to give a full shipping discount and ... ShippingPrice*(2-ShippingMethod)*(.5) ... to give a 50% shipping discount (again, use (.2) for 20%, (.25) for 25%, etc).

Remember, if you want to give a $3 discount off shipping, you have to use the flat amount method. Also, this will only give a discount on regular shipping, not FedEx. Be sure to mention that where ever you post your coupon code.

Start Time :
When the coupon code will start to be valid.
Based on artamatik server time:

Expire Time :
When the coupon code will expire
Based on artamatik server time:

Total Count :
 How many times this coupon code can be used.

Count/User :
How many times a user could use the code.

Don't forget to TEST out your coupon codes prior to posting them.