Cannot use coupon a second time, even though it's allowed to be used twice
There's a coupon SUNNYSAVINGS that's valid till tonight day end. Per the coupon's specs, it can be used up to 2 times. I used it once 2-3 days ago. Today I was trying to use it on another item eligible for this coupon, and I'm getting the error: "You already applied this code to an order".
Why can't I use this coupon a second time on another eligible item, even though the coupon allows using it up to 2 times ?
14 comments
ahmadka2
OP2 years agoeBay messed up in coding up this code, and this is the only issue.
The eBay agent I spoke with over the phone agreed. She tried to apply it on my cart for an eligible item, and it didn't work, even though the coupon was working for others.
lacemaker3
·2 years agoI have not been able to find the link to the eBay coupon details page for this coupon.
I did confirm, from details posted on the affiliate sites that post coupon codes, that it was for a maximum discount of $500, and could be used twice, on eligible items.
The affiliate sites also listed a very short list of categories that were eligible for the coupon, but from viewing some cached pages of search results that highlighted the coupon code, it was apparent that only some sellers in those categories were eligible. The coupon did not apply to all items on eBay, and not even to all items in the eligible categories (this was not mentioned on the affiliate site).
https://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=171854538&postcount=1
If you were not able to use it on your second attempted purchase, it was almost certainly because that particular item, from that seller, was not included in the coupon sale. I have found that it is very easy to stray away from the eligible-items search, while you are looking for items. There is no warning when a new item you view is not eligible.
FYI, eBay doesn't pay for those discounts. The sellers do, by agreeing to accept the discounted price; or more accurately, eBay bills the sellers for the discounts at a later date. For many sellers, they are a losing proposition. There's no point in getting more sales if it means that you lose more money per sale.
ahmadka2
OP2 years ago@lacemaker3 the products I tried to use the coupon on were eligible for it. Here's why:
1) On the product's page where the price is mentioned, eBay mentioned that the price with the coupon is xxx. In other words, eBay itself it guiding my experience and telling me that I can use this coupon to lower to price to xxx, since this item is eligible.
2) When in the checkout page, there's a banner there with a button which again is telling me to lower the price further for this item by clicking here. I didn't even have to type in the coupon. Why would eBay do this if it didn't think I can use that coupon for that product ?
3) Been using eBay for over the decade too (check my account profile), and I know that when I apply a coupon on an ineligible product, then an error indicating that specifically comes. In what world does it make sense to get the error "You already applied this code to an order" when in fact the item isn't eligible for the discount to begin with ?
nenu-5410
·2 years agoEvery promotion has a budget and won't allow any more redemptions after reaching that funding limit, regardless that the promotion period has not yet expired. You'll see this explained in previous posts on the topic.
ahmadka2
OP2 years agoThat is not the reason why it was happening, and I have give two reasons for this:
1) The error I got “You already applied this code to an order†was explicitly saying that I’ve already used the coupon, which I did. If the reason for not working was that the budget ran out, the error message should have been something different. As a programmer, I can certainly say that it’d be real sloppy of eBay devs to use this error message to mention a failure reason which is something completely different.
Even the eBay phone agent agreed that the coupon should have worked.
2) I’m a very active member on an external deals site called Slickdeals. When the coupon failed to work for me during the last two days, there was a very popular deal going on on Slickdeals which meant using this coupon. The deal was in fact an eBay Daily Deal for a 3D printer which I’d say a lot of people bought, judging from the score of that deal. While the coupon wasn’t working for me, it WAS working for many other people. No one in that deal thread complained about getting this issue.
https://slickdeals.net/f/17642991-creality-ender-3-s1-3d-printer-w-direct-drive-extruder-auto-leveling-107-20-free-shipping
So why would the coupon be working for others and not me ? …. Thus I don’t believe the issue was the budget running out. It was most likely some other technical issue which perhaps affected some subset of all eBay accounts, including mine.
ahmadka2
OP2 years agoIn case if anyone comes to this thread in the future, let me just add a few more details:
By Sunday evening (4-5 hours before the code was set to expire) I still hadn’t managed to figure this out, so I called eBay. Luckily they were still taking calls. A spoke to an eBay rep. She confirmed to me that she also saw the same error when she tried to apply that promo code to my cart. She said the only thing she can do is create a ticket for their tech department to take a look at, and that I should receive a response in 24-48 hours. It’s been 3-4 days now, and no one called or emailed. Neither did they send me any replacement code, seeing that I couldn’t use the coupon a second time, which I should have been able to do.
Unavailable member
·2 years agoCan you post a link to that code please so I can see what the terms are?
Nevermind..found it. It says $500.00 max, 2x use.
I could be your purchase met the $500.00 limit. Or you needed to purchase 2 items at the same time.
If I'm incorrect someone will be along to let us know.
ahmadka2
OP2 years ago$500 is the max discount. My first purchase for about $600, so the coupon saved me about $120, which is well below the $500 limit.
Unavailable member
·2 years ago@ahmadka2
The terms of the coupon said "purchases up to $500.00" since the item you purchased was $600.00 you exceeded the limit with the first purchase. That is why you couldn't use the coupon a second time.
wastingtime101
·2 years agoCan you post the link you're looking at @ebooksdiva ? I've never seen a coupon restricted to a max purchase price. (Min purchase price yes - max, no.) Restricted to a max discount up to a certain dollar amount is very common.
In other words, coupons can usually be used on more expensive items, but the savings caps out at the restricted discount amount.
20% off of $3k is $600 however if a 20% off coupon with a $500 cap was applied the savings would be $500 not $600.
Hi @ahmadka2 . The info @nenu-5410 posted about the coupon maxing out is, with info currently available, a plausible theory as we've seen that come up many times before. The fact you were trying to use it on the last day supports that theory.
We have seen a couple of coupons with tech errors the past year or two, so that's also a possibility, especially since you saw a specific error message,“You already applied this code to an order.â€
I did a quick search but didn't find the terms or a cached eBay page for the sunnysavings coupon. The info posted on slickdeals does not include the full eBay terms of use.
Unavailable member
·2 years ago@wastingtime101
That particular coupon expired. It did say up to $500.00
ahmadka2
OP2 years agoWhile I don’t have any explicit evidence to show now that the coupon has expired, the $500 limit was on the discount, not the amount being purchased. This was discussed at the start of this thread too when the coupon was still active.
Secondly, I know other people were able to use the coupon when I was not able to, which was in the last 2 full days, not just the last day. It’s fine to not consider the Slickdeals point that I mentioned since it’s an external site, but I’ve been on that site for 15 years, so I know when shoppers there are able to use coupons and whatnot.
I have zero doubt in my mind that this is an eBay issue, nothing else. Others can believe whatever they see fit.
wastingtime101
·2 years agoCan you confirm if those uses were a first time use or (as in your case) a second time use?
To ebooksdiva: It's just eBay on facebook. eBayforbusiness was folded into the regular eBay account. Buyers/sellers have always been able to DM the regular eBay account from what I can recall so that's not new - it's just the specialized seller page that's now defunct.
Unavailable member
·2 years ago@wastingtime101
I found this link googling I must have looked at it wrong when I first read it. Apparently I need stronger reading glasses. It is $500 max discount. I stand corrected.
https://www.dealnews.com/eBay-Summer-Sale-Coupon-20-off-free-shipping/21602705.html
Whomever programed the code for that coupon goofed it up.
From reading the OPs other posts she never got a call back regarding the issue. I don't know the facebook link for the OP to reach out there since they changed the page they are on. Do you know it?