Promo Code Success Rate 2026: We Tested 12,266 Codes
On this page
We put 12,266 promo codes shared online for 782 stores into real carts and pressed Apply. Only 39% worked. 41% were rejected outright, and 20% worked only under a condition, such as certain products or a minimum spend.
12,266 codes, one cart each
- Worked 39%
- Only with conditions 19.9%
- Rejected 41%
Key findings
- 39%of promo codes worked when we applied them at checkout.
- 41%were rejected: expired, invalid, or no discount on a normal cart.
- 81%of stores had at least one code that worked, so trying a few is worth it.
- 15%was the typical saving on a working percentage code. Dollar-off codes typically took $20 off.
Put simply, if you find a code online, the odds are worse than a coin toss that it will work as written. About 81% of stores still had at least one working code, so it pays to try more than one, and to try them in the right order.
What a cart check looks like
Each check is a real cart on the store's own site: products go in, the code goes into the promo field, and we read what the checkout does with it. Here is one from the study. At Kopari Beauty the code ATOMIC10 took $25 off a $250 cart.
Which codes work best
The kind of code made a big difference. Welcome codes, the ones stores hand to new customers, worked most often. Codes named after a holiday or carrying a year worked only about one time in four.
Welcome codes: 678 codes. Holiday and seasonal codes: 389. Codes with a year: 107. Our test carts were new-customer carts, which suits welcome codes.
Success rate by category
Beauty and health stores had the best odds: about half of their codes worked. Jewelry, kids' and clothing stores had the worst, with roughly one in three.
| Category | Worked | Only with conditions | Rejected | Codes | Stores |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty | 49% | 19% | 31% | 1,779 | 122 |
| Health & Wellness | 48% | 13% | 39% | 1,355 | 105 |
| Pet Supplies | 45% | 19% | 36% | 290 | 22 |
| Entertainment & Gifts | 40% | 22% | 38% | 498 | 49 |
| Food & Grocery | 39% | 26% | 35% | 697 | 57 |
| Home & Garden | 36% | 19% | 44% | 1,742 | 162 |
| Electronics & Tech | 35% | 17% | 47% | 746 | 74 |
| Sporting Goods | 34% | 20% | 47% | 905 | 87 |
| Clothing & Fashion | 33% | 22% | 44% | 2,461 | 207 |
| Kids & Baby | 32% | 27% | 41% | 556 | 43 |
| Jewelry & Accessories | 30% | 22% | 48% | 740 | 52 |
Categories with at least 250 codes that gave a clear result. Percentages may not add to 100 because of rounding.
Why a code is accepted but gives you nothing
One code in five was accepted by the store but gave no discount on our cart, because of a condition in the fine print. Three quarters of the time, the code covered only certain products.
Share of the 2,444 codes that applied only with a condition.
What this means when you shop
- Try the welcome code first. If you're new to a store, its sign-up or first-order code is the most likely to work.
- Skip codes named after a past sale. A code with last season's name or an old year in it works only about one time in four.
- Read what the code covers. Most "it didn't work" moments are product limits or a minimum spend, not a broken code. Our guide on why promo codes don't work goes through each case.
- Check the date before you paste. On Offertium every offer shows when it was last seen or checked, and codes that fail our cart check come off the page.
How we ran the test
- Codes: we tried 17,312 promo codes shared publicly online for 1,114 online stores, mostly in the US, plus the UK, Canada and Australia.
- The check: for each code, our software filled a fresh cart on the store's own site with up to 10 products, typed the code into the promo field, pressed Apply and recorded what the checkout returned. Nothing was bought.
- Results: "worked" means the store took money off the cart; "only with conditions" means the store recognized the code but required something the cart didn't meet; "rejected" means the code was invalid, expired or gave no discount.
- Clear results only: 12,266 codes at 782 stores gave a clear result. 5,046 checks where the checkout couldn't be completed automatically are left out of every percentage. Most stores in the study run on Shopify.
- Dates: checks ran Oct 19 to Oct 27, 2026. When a code was checked more than once, its latest result counts.
Using this data
You're welcome to quote, chart or republish these figures. Please credit Offertium and link to this page. The full table is in the CSV download. For interviews or more detail, see our press page.
Questions shoppers ask
What share of promo codes work?
In our test of 12,266 codes in real carts, 39% worked as written, 41% were rejected and 20% worked only under a condition such as certain products or a minimum spend.
Which promo codes are most likely to work?
Welcome and first-order codes: 58% of them worked in our new-customer carts. Codes named after a holiday or carrying a year worked only about one time in four.
Why does a code get accepted but give no discount?
Usually because of a condition. In our study, three quarters of these codes covered only certain products, and most of the rest needed a minimum spend or a first order.
Can I use these figures in an article?
Yes. Please credit Offertium and link to this page. The full table is available as a CSV download, and our press page has contact details for interviews.
