Discount Rules for WooCommerce vs European VAT Compliance Assistant for WooCommerce

Discount Rules for WooCommerce is a dynamic pricing and discounts plugin for WooCommerce that helps you create any type of bulk discounts, quantity discounts, product specific discounts, dynamic pricing, advanced discounts based on conditions, percentage discounts, tiered pricing discounts and more. With the PRO version, you can create advanced discount offers such as buy one and get one free (BOGO) deals, auto-apply coupons, free shipping discounts, bundle offers, discounts based on products, categories, attributes, tags, SKUs, user roles, cart items, purchase history and much more. The plugin offers a number of features that make it easy for customers to discover discounts and offers in your store: Show a bulk discount table on your product pages. This helps customers buy more in order to save more. Show the discounted price on product, cart & checkout pages with the original price crossed-out (with a line-through) Display “You saved” message on the cart & checkout pages Show a discount bar with your offers on the product pages Display a Sale badge on your shop & product pages View Demo | Documentation with examples | Ask Questions | PRO version | Examples DISCOUNT TYPES AND FEATURES WITH EXAMPLE SCENARIOS Free version features Create percentage discounts. Offer a storewide sale Example: A storewide 10% discount on all products Create bulk discounts. Example: Use quantity breaks to offer higher discounts on bulk purchases. Order total based discounts (Example: Spend more than $1000, get 10% discount) Set product specific percentage discounts (Example: Product A gets 10%, Product B gets 20%) Cart based discounts using the line items (Example: Purchase 4 different products or variants and get 10% discount) Exclude selected products from discount rules (product pricing discounts) Run special offers / sale for specific periods – Example: 10% discount only on BlackFriday Show bulk discount table on product pages Get the PRO version to create advanced discounts and grow sales PRO features All features of the free version, plus: Percentage discounts with advanced discount conditions. Fixed product discounts. Example: Get $9 discount for purchasing more than 6 items Category discounts – Get 25 % off on all items under Summer Collection Buy One Get One free offers – Buy a cap and get another cap for free Buy 2 and get 1 free offers – Buy 2 get 1 cheapest product free or Buy 2 and get 1 at 50% discount Buy one get one half off – Buy 2 get 1 at 50% off or buy one get the second product free or at 50% discount BOGO deals based on categories. Examples: Buy any product from Category A and get a product free from Category B. Buy Product A and Product B from Category Electronics and get a free product from category Accessories. Buy any product from Category Mobile and choose a free product from Category Hard Cases Volume discounts & tiered quantity discounts with conditions – Buy 6, get 10%, Buy 12, get 15% User role based discounts – Discounts for wholesale customers First order discount Product discounts with variant specific offers – Buy Product A with Variant X and get 10% discount Bundle discount – Buy 3 for $10, 6 for $20 Conditional discounts – Buy Product A and B and get discount on Product C Offer one or more free products. Multiple products could be offered free using a rule Apply discounts for multiple items using one coupon code Discount for product variants Attributes based discounts – Buy green color T-shirts and get 10% discount Discount for customers with specific domains – 10% discount for all emails ending with @example.com Customer specific discounts – 10% discount for selected customers Free shipping discount Shipping / Delivery location based discount Example: If shipping destination is California, get 15% discount Purchase history based discounts Example: Customers who spent at least $100 in previous purchases get 10% discount Discount based on the number of orders placed earlier. Example: 10% discount for customers with 5 or more orders Discount based on previously purchased products. Example: Customers who previously purchased Shoes get 10% discount Discounts based on sum of item quantities in cart – Order more than 10 items from any category and get 15 % discount Discount for the cheapest item in the cart – Add 3 products to the cart and get the Cheapest Item free Option to offer free products only from certain category Exclude products on SALE from discount rules SALE Badge for discounted products Highlight savings on the cart & checkout with “You saved” label Use a discount banner to highlight offers on product pages Option to show or hide the discounted price Priority support Discount Examples using PRO Features Category Discount The category discount feature allows you to offer discounts on all products in one or more categories. Simply choose one or more categories, set your discount offers, and the plugin will apply them automatically to every product in those categories. Here are some examples: Buy T-shirts from Apparel category and save 10% Get 30% off on Category A & Category B Purchase any 6 items from Category A and get a 25% discount on total cart value. Purchase 3 products from Category A or B or C or from all of them and get 20% discount valid from dd/mm/yyyy to dd/mm/yyyy Bulk Discount / Quantity Discount / Tiered Pricing Discounts Bulk Discount, also known as quantity discounts, tiered pricing discounts or volume discounts, allows you to reward customers for buying in bulk. As customers purchase more, they receive better pricing, encouraging bulk purchases. Here are some bulk discount examples: Buy 5 to 10 quantities, get 5% discount, 11-20 quantities, get 10% discount, 21-30, get 20% discount Buy 1 to 5 quantities, get $2 discount, Buy 6 or more, get $3 discount Storewide Sale Discount A Storewide Sale discount allows you to apply discounts on all products in your store, offering a simple yet powerful way to drive sales. Whether you’re running a seasonal sale, clearing out inventory, or rewarding loyal customers, a storewide discount makes it easy for shoppers to save on everything in your store. 20% discount on all products in the store on Black Friday or Christmas Auto apply coupon of 10% for all products 10% discount on all products for specific user role like Wholesale customers Buy One Get One Free Discount Offers BOGO is a popular discount strategy that allows you to create offers like buy one get one free, buy 2 get 1 free, buy one get one at half price, buy x and get y product free and more. Here are some examples: Buy one and get one free of the same product Buy 2 get one cheapest free Buy X get Y product free Eg: Buy 3 product and get a pendrive free (or with 50% discount) Buy Any 2 items from Category X, and get a Product free from Category B Buy X products and get X number of products free Buy 3 products from any category, get 1 free. Buy 6 products, get 2 products free…. Buy 12 products (any or category specific), get X number of cheapest among them free Free products can be a few selected products, cheapest products in the entire store or from selected categories. Products can be offered either free (100% discount) or at a percentage discount (50%) Spending based discounts Boost sales by offering discounts based on the customer spend. Here are some examples: Spend $500 or more and get 15% discount, spend $1000, get 20% discount Add two to six products in cart and get flat $30 discount. 10% discount for all retailers (User Role specific discount) All orders above $500 will get 15% discount Free shipping for orders above $100 Bundle Discount Encourage customers to buy multiple items together. For example, you can create deals like “Buy 3 for $10” or “Buy 6 for $20,” providing clear savings for bulk purchases. Create offers like Buy 3 items for $10. 4th item will be charged full price. Buy more, save more offers. Example: Buy 3 for $10, 6 for $20 Product Specific Discounts Shoes get 20% discount, T-Shirts get 5% discount Special Edition Shoe (A specific product) gets 15% discount for 10 days Buy 10 or more Mugs and get 5% off Buy 3 for $10, Buy 6 for $20 Fixed Product Pricing discounts $5 off on all products in Category A Set a fixed price per unit for bulk purchases (Product A cost is $20. Buy 5 to 10 quantity for $15 per unit, 11 and above for $10 each) User Role based discounts Useful when you have different types of customers in your store. For example, wholesale customers, retail customers Bulk discount based on user role for specific product or product categories. Example: Members of Wholesale customers group gets 40% discount, while Retail customers get 5% discount Discount for Product Variants Get 50% off on T-shirts Small and Large Sizes only Buy a Small Size Tee and get a small Size shorts free Conditional Discount Offers Buy Product A at full price and get 20% discount in Product B Buy 2 quantities of Product A, 2 quantities of Product and get 30% discount in Product C Buy 3 quantities of Product A and get flat $10 off in product B Buy a Mobile and get 20% off on headphone Attribute specific discount offers Useful when you want to offer discount when a product has a specific attribute. Example: 10% discount for purchase of T-Shirt with Small sizes. Shipping Address Based Discounts Flat 25% discount for customers from New York Customers from California get 10% discount while those from Texas get 5% Purchase history based discount Discount based on the total amount spent by the customer in previous orders. Example: Customers who spent $1000 get 10% on future orders. Discount based on the total number of orders placed by the customer – Customers who ordered 50 products get 15% on all future purchases Based on product purchase history (Example: Provide 10% discount to all customers who purchased Shoes earlier) Purchase history for a specific period (10% discount for those who spent $500 in the last 3 months) Discount Conditions The following conditions help you tailor your discount offers depending on certain criteria. Products Categories Attributes SKU Tags Cart Line Items & Properties Customers User Roles Shipping locations – ZipCode, City, State/Region, Country Subtotal Coupons Date & Time Purchase History – Last Order, First Order, Orders with X Items, Number of Orders Need help? Reach out to us Whether you want to double-check your setup or need help with a unique discount promo, we’re here to assist you. Feel free to reach out via the Live Chat on our website or through our support request form. We’re happy to guide you through the setup and ensure everything is running smoothly. Don’t worry—we’re here to help! Quick Links: PRO Version Documentation Helpdesk & Support External services Flycart CDN & documentation: The CDN is used to fetch static assets including images and contentand hosted at static.flycart.net, while the documentation for the plugin is hosted at docs.flycart.org and linked at various sections in the plugin to help merchants. Terms, privacy policy Google Charts: The library is used to display discount reports in a chart format. The service is provided by Google. Terms, privacy policy Credits Dutch Translation – @mvdburg1971 – Michael van der Burg

The European/UK VAT (IVA) laws Since January 1st 2015, all digital goods (including electronic, telecommunications, software, ebook and broadcast services), and from 1st July 2021 physical goods sold across EU and UK borders have been liable under law to variable VAT (a.k.a. IVA) charged in the country of purchase, at the VAT rate of that country (background information: https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2016-09/explanatory_notes_2015_en.pdf). This can apply even if the seller is not based in the EU or UK. It is accompanied by various auditing/recording requirements. How this plugin can take away the pain This WooCommerce plugin provides features to assist with EU, UK, Norwegian and Swiss VAT law compliance. Currently, those features include: Identify your customers’ locations: this plugin will record evidence of your customer’s location, using their billing or shipping address, and their IP address (via a GeoIP lookup). Evidence is recorded, ready for audit: full information that was used to calculate VAT and customer location is displayed in the WooCommerce order screen in the back-end. Display prices including correct VAT from the first page: GeoIP information is also used to show the correct VAT from the first time a customer sees a product. A widget and shortcode are also provided allowing the customer to set their own country. Currency conversions: Most users (if not everyone) will be required to report VAT information in a specific currency. This may be a different currency from their shop currency. This feature causes conversion rate information to be stored together with the order, at order time. Currently, you can choose from official rates from the European Central Bank (ECB), Danish and Czech National Banks, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, and HM Customs & Revenue (UK). You can also over-ride the currency and rate-provider on a per-country basis. Entering and maintaining each country’s VAT rates: this plugin assists with entering EU and/or UK VAT rates accurately by supplying a single button to press in your WooCommerce tax rates settings, to add or update rates for all countries (standard or reduced) with one click. Reporting: Advanced reporting capabilities, allowing you to see all the information needed to make a OSS/MOSS/IOSS (one-stop shop) VAT report. The report is sortable and broken down by country, VAT rate, VAT type (traditional/variable) and order status, and can be exported as a CSV. Forbid vatable sales if any goods have VAT chargeable – for shop owners for whom VAT compliance is too burdensome, this feature will allow you to forbid customers from configured VAT territories to check-out if they have selected any goods which are subject to VAT (whilst still allowing purchase of other goods, unlike the built-in WooCommerce feature which allows you to forbid check-out from some countries entirely). Central control: brings all settings, reports and other information into a single centralised location, so that you don’t have to deal with items spread all over the WordPress dashboard. Mixed shops: You can sell goods subject to your chosen territories’ VAT under the customer-place-of-supply regulations and any other physical goods which are subject to traditional base-country-based VAT regulations. The plugin supports this via allowing you to identify which tax classes in your WooCommerce configuration are used for customer-place-of-supply items. Products are allocated to the correct country according to which country VAT is payable to. Distinguish VAT from other taxes: if you are in a jurisdiction where you have to apply other taxes also, then this plugin can correctly distinguish which taxes are payable to which jurisdictions. Add line to invoices: If VAT was paid on the order, then an extra, configurable line can be added to the footer of the PDF invoice (when using the the free WooCommerce PDF invoices and packing slips plugin, or its premium counterpart). Refund support: includes information on refunded VAT, on relevant orders. Same prices: Not strictly a VAT compliance issue (different pricing per-country is not illegal), but this plugin adds an option to enable WooCommerce’s hidden support for adjusting pre-tax prices to enable the same post-tax (net) price to apply in all customer locations. Brexit-ready: The plugin has been audited and appropriately adapted to be usable by both “EU 27” and UK (and other) countries after the expiry of the EU and UK’s transitional period (at the end of December 2020), including the ability to report taxes in multiple currencies using different exchange rate providers. Existing users should take the time to go through their existing settings to adapt to their new situation (e.g. remove tax table entries for countries that they are no longer required to remit taxes to; check that they are using the correct exchange rate provider and reporting currency for each tax region that they remit to). WooCommerce high-performance order storage: This plugin is HPOS-compatible (see: https://woocommerce.com/document/high-performance-order-storage/) WooCommerce block cart/checkout: This plugin is compatible with the WooCommerce block cart and checkout (see: https://woocommerce.com/checkout-blocks/), as well as the traditional shortcode cart/checkout. A Premium version is on sale at this link, and currently has these additional features ready: VAT-registered buyers can be exempted, and their numbers validated: a VAT number can be entered at the check-out, and it will be validated (via VIES, HMRC or VatSense). Qualifying customers can then be exempted from VAT on their purchase, and their information recorded. The customer’s VAT number will be appended to the billing address where shown (e.g. order summary email, PDF invoices). An extra, configurable line specific to this situation can be added to the footer of the PDF invoice (when using the the free WooCommerce PDF invoices and packing slips plugin). Partial VAT exemption: make VAT-exemption upon supply of a valid VAT number to only apply to products in tax classes specified by the shop owner (rather than to all products) Optionally allow B2B sales only – for shop owners who wish to only make sales that are VAT-exempt (i.e. B2B sales only), you can require that any EU and/or UK customers (optionally including or excluding those in your country) enter a valid VAT number at the check-out. (You can have different policies for different VAT regions). Change taxation rules based upon year-to-date sales thresholds: for shop owners who can or must tax differently based upon their total sales in the year so far (e.g. EU shop owners who can take advantage of a €10,000 threshold for cross-border sales before which they can treat the place of supply as being their own, not the customer’s location), you can dynamically treat products as having a different taxation class until this threshold is met. CSV download: A CSV containing comprehensive information on all orders with VAT data from your configured regions can be downloaded (including full compliance information). Manipulate in your spreadsheet program to make arbitrary calculations. Non-contradictory evidences: require two non-contradictory evidences of location (if the customer address and GeoIP lookup contradict, then the customer will be asked to self-certify his location, by choosing between them). Show multiple currencies for VAT taxes on PDF invoices produced by the free WooCommerce PDF invoices and packing slips plugin (and on credit notes produced by its Premium counterpart). Support for the official WooCommerce subscriptions extension, and for Subscriptio (a RightPress/CodeCanyon alternative), and Subscriben. Value-based exemption: An order can have VAT removed if the order value passes a configured value and is for a specified country. This features was developed to support the UK’s 2021 regulations for handling VAT differently on an order depending on whether or not the order passes a £135 threshold value, and then expanded to support multiple rules for different countries and amounts. Read more about the Premium version of this plugin at this link. It is believed (but not legally guaranteed), that armed with the above capabilities, a WooCommerce shop owner will be in a position to fulfil the requirements of EU or UK VAT laws: identifying the customer’s location and collecting multiple pieces of evidence, applying the correct VAT rate, validating VAT numbers for B2B transactions, and having the data needed to create returns. (If in the EU or UK, then you will also need to make sure that you are issuing your customers with VAT invoices containing the information required in your jurisdiction, via a suitable WooCommerce invoice plugin). Footnotes and legalese This plugin is supported on, and information in this document is for, WooCommerce 4.5 up to the latest release (i.e. current version; you can still download older versions supporting previous WooCommerce release series if you wish). It fetches data on current VAT rates from Amazon S3 (using SSL if possible); or, upon failure to connect to Amazon S3, from https://raw.githubusercontent.com. If your server’s firewall does not permit this, then it will use static data contained in the plugin. Geographical IP lookups are performed via WooCommerce’s built-in geo-location features; or, alternatively, if you use CloudFlare, then you can activate the CloudFlare feature for sending geographical information. In some situations, these lookups may be performed via the public API at https://ipapi.co – if this is undesirable for you, then add define('WC_VAT_COMPLIANCE_DO_REMOTE_IP_LOOKUPS', false); to your wp-config.php file. Please make sure that you review this plugin’s installation instructions and have not missed any important information there. Please note that, just as with WordPress and its plugins generally (including WooCommerce), this plugin comes with no warranty of any kind and you deploy it entirely at your own risk. Furthermore, nothing in this plugin (including its documentation) constitutes legal or financial or any other kind of advice of any sort. In particular, you remain completely and solely liable for your own compliance with all taxation laws and regulations at all times, including research into what you must comply with. Installing any version of this plugin does not absolve you of any legal liabilities, or transfer any liabilities of any kind to us, and we provide no guarantee that use of this plugin will cover everything that your store needs to be able to do. Whether you think the EU’s treaties with other jurisdictions will lead to success in enforcing the collection of taxes in other jurisdictions is a question for lawyers and potential tax-payers, not for software developers! Many thanks to Diego Zanella, for various ideas we have swapped whilst working on these issues. Thanks to Dietrich Ayala and other authors, whose NuSOAP library is included under the LGPLv2 licence. Other information Some other WooCommerce plugins you may be interested in This plugin is ready for translations (English, Dutch, Finnish, French and German are currently available), and we would welcome new translations (please post them in the support forum; the POT file is here, or you can contact us and ask for a web-based login for our translation website). License This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA