Understand discounts when collecting payments

When creating an invoice, payment link, quote, or subscription, you can include certain discounts. The discounts that can be applied, depend on the object you are creating.

Discount types

The discounts that can be applied are:

Learn more about each discount type below.

Unit discount

One-time discount

A discount that applies to the order total.

• • If the payment link, or quote includes recurring payments, the discount will first be applied to the one-time line item total, then to the recurring line item total. See an example of this below.
  • If adding a recurring line item from your product library to an invoice, the billing frequency will automatically be changed to one-time. If you want to send recurring invoices, create a subscription.
  • For recurring line items, this discount only adjusts the price of the first payment of the subscription. If you want to provide a discount on all payments of recurring line items, add the discount as a unit discount instead.

• • Discount information will appear in payment properties such as Total discounts amount. To view these properties, add them as columns to the payment index page. These properties do not appear in the payment record sidebar.
  • Discounts do not impact subscription MRR and ARR. However, discounts applied to subscriptions will impact the Last payment amount and Total amount collected subscription properties. Learn more about discount properties, and view examples of how discounts can impact them.
    
    

Discount codes

A discount that can be applied across payment links that are enabled for discount codes. You can enable discount codes for payment links that include unit discounts, but not for payment links that include a one-time discount.

For the buyer, discounts appear throughout the checkout process as well as on their receipt.

Checkout	Buyer receipt

The merchant notification that you receive after payment will also contain discount information.

Please note: up to six decimal places are supported when setting a line item's unit price in any currency and discounts are rounded based on the currency's precision at checkout. For example, if a line item has a price of $11.90 USD, and a 15% discount is applied, the discounted amount of $1.785 will be rounded to $1.79, and the total that the buyer pays will be $10.12.

Discount information in HubSpot

In HubSpot, you can view discount information in properties on the payments index page and on subscription records. You can also use payment properties in other HubSpot tools, such as workflows and reports.

View discounts in properties

• On the payments index page, include the Total discounts amount property column to view the total applied discounts, including line item discounts and one-time order discounts.
  
  
• When a one-time order discount is applied to recurring line items, the subscription record will reflect the discount in the Last payment amount and Total amount collected properties. View examples of this below.
  
  
  

Use discounts in other HubSpot tools

HubSpot provides a set of payment properties that populate based on the discounts you include in your invoices, payment links, and quotes. Below are examples of how to use these properties in other HubSpot tools such as lists, workflows, and reporting.

• In a list, use the Order discount code property as a filter to keep a running list of contacts who have applied a specific discount code to their order. This type of list can be useful when planning outreach for future sales events.
  
  
  
• If you have a Professional or Enterprise account, you can create a workflow that enrolls contacts using the Order discount percentage property as an enrollment trigger. This type of workflow can be useful for automating email sending to purchasers who received a specific discount amount.
  
  
• If you have a Professional or Enterprise account, you can create a report using the custom report builder to report on monthly Gross amount of payments broken down by Total discounts amount. This type of report can be useful for tracking sales during promotions.
  
  

Discount examples

View the examples below to better understand how discounts can affect subscriptions.

Mixed one-time and recurring line items

A payment link or quote has two line items:

• One-time line item: $150
• Recurring line item: $100 per month

With a one time discount of $175, the buyer's first payment amount is $75. After the buyer's first payment, the following properties on the subscription record will be updated:

• Last payment amount: $75
• Total amount collected: $75

Because the order has both a one-time and a recurring line item, the discount is first applied to the one-time line item total ($150), then to the recurring line item total ($100). During the next billing cycle, the recurring line item subscription will return to its original price of $100.

One recurring line item

A payment link or quote has a recurring line item of $100 per month. With an order discount of $20, the buyer's first payment is for $80. After the buyer's first payment, the following properties on the subscription record will be updated:

• Last payment amount: $80
• Total amount collected: $80

Because there are no one-time line items on this order, the discount is applied in full to the recurring line item total ($100). During the next billing cycle, the subscription will return to its original price of $100.

Multiple recurring line items

A payment link or quote has three line items:

• One-time line item: $50
• Recurring line item: $50 per month
• Recurring line item: $100 per month

With an order discount of $125, the buyer's first payment is $75. After the buyer's first payment, the following properties on the subscription record will be updated as follows:

• Last payment amount: $75
• Total amount collected: $75

Because the order contains both one-time and recurring line items, the discount is first applied to the one-time line item total ($50), then to the recurring line item total ($150). During the next billing cycle, the recurring line items return to their original price, which is $50 per month and $100 per month respectively.