I’m using the standard coupons that come with Woocommerce, and I have a few product categories that are excluded from the coupons I have in place. One of those categories applies to a lot of Composite products, so it has always excluded the composite and any components added to the cart with that composite. Now it is bypassing that main composite product and looking at each product (component) one by one and then discounting some items that aren’t also in the same category.
The way I’ve had this setup has worked for 4-5 years now and I can only assume there has been some update lately that has changed the way the coupon checks the contents of the cart.
If I add a regular simple product to the cart that is in the excluded category, the coupon does not discount that part, which is correct. But as soon as I add a composite like the example linked here, the coupon is discounting when it’s not supposed to. You can test it by using the coupon code “wootest” and you’ll see. You can look at each component and see which is or isn’t in the category “exceptions”, as anything in the exceptions category is not eligible with this coupon.
I’m using the latest Woocommerce Version 10.5.2, and WPC Composite Products for WooCommerce Version 7.6.8.
The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]
Thanks for the detailed breakdown, I can see how frustrating it must be when something that has worked reliably for years suddenly behaves differently. Let’s work through this carefully and get clarity on what changed.
First, can you confirm when you first noticed this behavior? Did it start right after updating to WooCommerce 10.5.2, or was there any other recent update, WooCommerce, your theme, or the WPC Composite Products plugin, around the same time?
On my end, the coupon applied a $30 discount to the cart total. Since this is a fixed cart coupon, it applies a flat amount, which makes it a bit tricky to immediately see which specific line items are being included or excluded in the calculation. From the front end alone, I could not clearly determine which components were considered eligible versus excluded.
To narrow this down further, could you please share:
A screenshot of the coupon settings, especially the Usage restriction section where the excluded category is defined. You can upload this via https://snipboard.io and paste the link here.
Confirmation of whether this is a Fixed cart discount or Fixed product discount coupon.
A copy of your System Status Report from WooCommerce → Status → Get system report. Please paste it via https://pastebin.com or https://gist.github.com and share the link here.
This will help us confirm whether the behavior is tied to a recent change in WooCommerce core or how the composite plugin is handling cart item data.
Looking forward to your update so we can pinpoint the cause.
Hello, and thanks for the reply. I only noticed this issue last week, so it must have been after the 10.5.0 update. I also notice the area in between the coupon options says “and” and it didn’t say that in the past.
This coupon is a percentage off discount. When you added that item to the cart, the shock absorbers are also in the exceptions category (excluded from the discount), but the coil springs are not in the exceptions category. The whole kit should have been excluded from the coupon discount like in the past.
The composite plugin hasn’t had an update in over 1 month and it is running the newest version, Version 7.6.8.
Here is another more simple composite page that has fewer parts. By default, the front and rear shocks are selected, but not the 3rd optional item. The composite is in the exceptions category, as well as the front and rear shocks, but the 3rd optional item, “Dobinsons struts top plate pair” is not in the exceptions category, and if you add that to the list, and then add it all to the cart, the coupon discounts 5% off the $130 item. It shouldn’t discount it. Hopefully that helps.
Thanks for sharing the screenshots and the system status report link, that really helps clarify how the coupon is configured and what you are seeing on your end. I can also see from your explanation how the composite parent and its components are categorized differently, and why you would expect the entire composite to remain excluded from the discount.
Since this behavior only started recently, the first thing I would recommend is running a plugin conflict test. Please temporarily deactivate all plugins except WooCommerce and WPC Composite Products for WooCommerce, then test the same composite product again using the coupon code.
If the discount no longer applies incorrectly, that would indicate a conflict with another active plugin. You can then reactivate the other plugins one at a time, testing after each activation, until the issue returns. That will help identify the exact plugin involved.
If the issue still persists with only WooCommerce and the Composite plugin active, then the next step would be to reach out to the Composite plugin developers. Since their plugin has not been updated in over a month, it is possible that a recent change in WooCommerce core affected how composite cart items are evaluated against coupon category exclusions. They would be best placed to review and adjust their cart handling logic if needed.
Please let us know the outcome of the conflict test, and we will take it from there.
Thanks again for your reply. I believe it’s an issue with the component plugin and the new version of WC. In the component plugin, there’s an option under Coupon restrictions to “exclude component products”, and with that turned on, the coupons are now not discounting, which is what I want it to do. I’ll mark this as closed now and wait for a reply from the composite plugin company, as they haven’t replied yet for the past 2 days.
It is great to hear that you were able to pinpoint the behavior to the composite plugin setting and get things working as expected by enabling the exclude component products option. Nice bit of detective work there, and I am glad you now have the setup behaving the way you intended.
Thanks as well for closing the loop on this thread. That will definitely help others who may run into something similar.
Under Composite Products > Settings, scroll down to the Cart & Checkout section, and it’s the first box.
I was mistaken earlier in thinking the problem was fixed, it wasn’t. I was able to exclude composite items, but it wasn’t discounting the actual composite properly still. I’m still waiting for a plugin update from WP Clever to see if that fixes it.
Thank you for the update and for clarifying the situation. I understand that while you were able to exclude composite items, the discount for the actual composite product is still not applying correctly.
Since this issue is specific to the plugin by WP Clever, we recommend continuing to monitor for the next plugin update from their team, as they will be able to address this behavior directly.
If anything changes after the update or you notice additional issues with WooCommerce core functionality, feel free to reach out to us, and we’ll be happy to assist.
Thank you for your patience while this is being resolved!
