Coupons can be a great way to bring new customers to your store, reward loyal customers, or move overstocked or discontinued items. Yahoo! Merchant Solutions includes a coupon manager that allows you to set up coupons with a certain value for minimum purchases, specific items, for a specific amount, a percentage off, or even free shipping.

To go to the Coupon Manager:

1. Sign in to your account.
2. Go to the Store Manager.
3. Click the "Coupon Manager" link under the "Promote" column.

To create a coupon:

1. Select the type of coupon to create - a standard coupon, or single-use coupon series. Learn about standard and single-use coupons.
   
   If you're creating a standard coupon, enter a coupon code beginning with a letter or number. You may wish to make the codes easy to remember for visitors and for you to read (such as "freeship" for free shipping or "Percent10" for ten percent off. If you're creating a single-use coupon series, enter a coupon code prefix.



2. Select the type of coupon option:
   • Amount—enter an amount to be subtracted from the subtotal.
   • Percent—enter a numerical value representing the percentage off the subtotal.
   • Free shipping—select a shipping method to correspond to the coupon (such as free ground shipping for a Christmas promotion)
3. Select a minimum purchase option:
   • Not required—coupon will apply to any subtotal amount.
   • Amount—enter an amount (for example 50.00) at which the coupon can be applied.
4. Set an expiration option:
   • Does not expire (standard coupons only)—select this option to not have an end date for this coupon. This option is useful for running ongoing promotions.
   • Valid through—use the drop down menus to select a date as the final date at which the coupon can be used. If you're creating a single-use coupon series, the expiration date can be up to a maximum of six months from the date of coupon creation.
5. Apply the coupon offer to all items in your store (default option), or choose to include or exclude target items. To specify target items, you may enter item codes separated by commas, or choose items using the Target Items Selector.
   
   

   Note: Item codes are case-sensitive. If you enter hundreds of item codes to the target items text field (to exclude certain items from applying to a certain coupon), note that the text field may not show the codes you entered. This is a known limitation of web browsers. The correct target items will be associated with the coupon however. You can place a test order, entering an excluded item and the coupon code to confirm that excluded items are not associated with the coupon you created.

6. Attach Trackable Links:
   • Enter the Trackable link code or …
   • Use the drop down menu to select a Trackable link. If selected, the coupon will be applied automatically to the order when applicable. If no link selected then the customer can enter the coupon on the Shipping page of the Checkout process.
7. Click "Update" when finished.
8. Publish your order settings by clicking "Publish Order Settings" from the Store Manager.

You'll see statistics in the "Coupon Manager" that allow you to track the effectiveness of coupon promotions. You can see how many times a coupon has been used, how much revenue has been generated, and view a graph of its performance over time. This information can help you understand what types of promotion work best for your store.

Learn more about creating a Coupon Program.

See Also

• Can I use a coupon as a gift certificate?
• What can I include in the coupon code?
• How do coupons work in my store?
• Creating a coupon program