Overview
By default, discounts may affect the reward progress bar in Upcart, depending on how your tiers are set up. This guide explains how Upcart handles discounts and how to configure your settings to prevent them from interfering with reward unlocking logic.
If you want to ignore discounts when calculating progress, there's a setting that makes this easy, no code required.
How to ignore discounts in reward calculations
Go to:
Upcart > Cart Editor > Rewards > General Settings
Enable the checkbox labeled:
“Use pre-discounted prices for cart total”
When this is turned on:
The rewards bar will base progress on the original cart total
Applied discounts (manual or automatic) will be ignored
Customers won’t lose reward progress after applying a discount
Use this if you want customers to still unlock rewards even when they apply a coupon.
Default behavior without this setting enabled
When “Use pre-discounted prices for cart total” is off, the way discounts are calculated depends on your Tier 1 reward type.
If Tier 1 is free shipping or product
Discounts will affect reward progress.
Example:
Tier 1 = Free shipping at $100
Cart = $100 before a $20 discount → now $80
Result = Reward progress will reset based on the discounted total
This is done to prevent false positives. Without it, a customer could see "You unlocked free shipping!" when they haven’t truly reached the threshold after discounts are applied.
If Tier 1 is a discount
Discounts are ignored when calculating progress.
Example:
Tier 1 = 10% off at $100
Cart = $80 after a $20 discount
Result = Rewards bar still shows progress as if the cart were $100
This prevents double-discounting, customers don't get penalized by their own discount affecting the unlock conditions for another one.
Why Upcart uses this logic
Upcart’s reward system is designed to balance fairness and clarity. Here's why it behaves differently based on the reward type:
Avoiding confusion for free shipping
If discounts were always ignored, customers might think they unlocked free shipping when they haven’t.Preventing discount stacking
If discounts were always counted, customers might be blocked from unlocking a discount reward due to a discount they already applied—despite receiving no actual benefit.
Because of this, the logic dynamically adapts to your reward setup to create the cleanest experience possible.
Quick summary
Tier 1 Type | Do discounts affect progress? |
Free Shipping | Yes (by default) |
Product Reward | Yes (by default) |
Discount Reward | No |
To override this logic globally, enable Use pre-discounted prices for cart total under Reward General Settings.