Flow Promotions vs. Upsell Discounts

EliteCart offers three ways to discount upsell products. This guide helps you choose the right approach.

The Three Options

1. Flow Promotions

Location: Upsells → Manual upsells → [Flow] → Promotion card

A per-flow setting that enables strikethrough pricing on that flow's upsell products. Customers see the original price crossed out directly on the upsell card.

• Percentage discounts only

• Applies to all products in the flow automatically

• Optional per-product override percentages

• Optional custom checkout title (defaults to "Promotion")

• Optional "Buy X Get Y" prerequisite — requires trigger products to be in the cart for the discount to apply (not available for "All products" trigger)

• No minimum purchase requirements

Best for: Simple per-flow percentage promotions where visible strikethrough pricing drives conversions.

2. Promotional Discount Rules

Location: Upsells → Upsell discounts tab → Create discount → Promotional

A global discount rule with strikethrough pricing. Applies across all upsells matching the targeting rules — not limited to a single flow.

• Percentage discounts only

• Targeting: all upsell products or specific products (no collections)

• Minimum requirements: none or minimum item quantity (no minimum purchase amount)

• No Buy X Get Y

• Strikethrough pricing visible on upsell cards before adding to cart

Best for: Store-wide promotional pricing across multiple flows, or when you want strikethrough pricing without configuring it on each individual flow.

3. Advanced Discount Rules

Location: Upsells → Upsell discounts tab → Create discount → Advanced

A global discount rule with the full feature set. Strikethrough pricing is visible once the product is in the cart (not before adding).

• Percentage or fixed amount

• Targeting: all upsell products, specific products, or collections

• All minimum requirements: none, purchase amount, or item quantity

• Buy X Get Y prerequisites

• Strikethrough pricing visible after product is added to cart

Best for: Complex discount rules, fixed-amount discounts, collection-based targeting, conditional "Buy X Get Y" deals.

Comparison Table

How They Work Together

• Flow promotions and discount rules can coexist, but they never stack on the same product

• If a product qualifies for both a flow promotion and a global discount rule, the highest discount wins

• You can use flow promotions on specific high-priority flows while a global discount rule covers the rest

Which Should You Use?

Use Flow Promotions when:

• You want different discount percentages for different flows

• You need per-product override percentages within a flow

• You want a quick, simple setup on a single flow

• You want a simple "Buy X Get Y" setup that automatically uses the flow's trigger products as prerequisites

Use Promotional Discount Rules when:

• You want the same strikethrough pricing across all upsells (or a set of specific products)

• You want to manage the discount from one central place instead of editing each flow

• You want to set a minimum item quantity requirement

Use Advanced Discount Rules when:

• You need fixed-amount discounts (e.g., "$5 off")

• You need collection-based targeting

• You need Buy X Get Y ("Buy a coffee maker, get pods discounted")

• You need a minimum purchase amount threshold

• Strikethrough pricing before adding to cart isn't essential for your strategy

Combine them when:

• You want flow-specific promotions on key flows (e.g., 20% off Summer Accessories)

• Plus a global discount as a fallback for all other upsells (e.g., 10% off everything else)

• The system automatically ensures they don't stack on the same product