Every setting on this page lives in the link's own screen: open Checkout links in Alva Digital Downloads and pick the link. The discount sits in the Discount card, and the dates and order limit sit under Schedule and limits. New to checkout links? Start with Create your first checkout link.
Two ways to add a discount
Type a code you already have. Enter it in Discount code and the link applies it when the buyer reaches checkout. Tell buyers the code as well — a code applied from a link does not always stick. If the app has permission to read your discounts, it checks the code is live; typing one works either way.
Let the app create one. Under Create a discount for this link, choose Percentage off (1 to 100) or Amount off, which comes off the whole line once rather than off each copy. Check the Code buyers will see, then create it. The code only works on the product variant this link sells, and it is deleted when you delete the link.
A link carries one discount at a time, so a created code replaces any code you typed. If the app doesn't have permission to manage discounts on your store, it says so, and you can still type an existing code instead.
Why a created discount locks the link
A created code copies the link's saved start date, end date and order limit, so Shopify enforces them on the code too — save the link before you create it. While the code exists, those three fields and the product can't change: editing only the link would leave the code and the link disagreeing about when the offer ends.
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Remove the discount
In the Discount card, choose Remove discount and confirm. The code is deleted from your store and buyers who already have it can no longer use it. The link stays live at full price.
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Change the dates, limit or product
The fields unlock once the code is gone. Make your changes and save.
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Create a new code
The new code picks up the saved schedule and order limit. If Shopify refuses to delete the old code, nothing is changed — try again in a moment.
Start date, end date and order limit
Starts holds the link back until a date; until then the list shows it as Scheduled. Ends stops it sending buyers to checkout after a date. Order limit stops it after that many orders; leave it blank for unlimited. All times are in UTC, not your store's time zone.
The order limit counts orders, never clicks, so link previews and curious visitors can't use it up. Every order placed through the link counts, including ones you later refund. The limit is checked when a buyer opens the link, so on a busy link the final count can land slightly above it.
What buyers see
Before the start date, after the end date, once the order limit is used up, and while the link is paused, buyers get the same page: your store name, “This link isn’t available right now.” and a Visit the store link. It never says why, so nobody can work out which links you have or what happened to them.
How a link becomes Expired
Buyers are turned away the moment a link passes its end date or order limit. Shortly after, Alva Digital Downloads marks the link Expired in your list on its own. That only ever runs one way: nothing switches an expired link back on automatically.
To reopen one, move the end date or raise the order limit (remove a created discount first), set Status to Active, and save.
Pause a link
Set Status to Draft and save. A draft link is not shared and sends nobody to checkout, and it stays a draft even after its start date passes. If your plan no longer includes checkout links, use the Pause link button on the link instead. A Paused badge with a reason is different — see Why isn't my checkout link working?
Short link or full link
The Short link is a path on your domain, such as
/summer, made with a Shopify URL redirect. You can change it, but anything
already posted or printed with the old path then lands on your 404 page. The
Full link never changes, whatever the short path is.
Frequently asked questions
Not a discount the app created. Use Remove discount to delete the code from your store, change what you need, then create a new code. The link keeps working at full price in between.
Only a code Alva Digital Downloads created for that link. A code you typed in yourself is yours: the link stops applying it, but it stays live in Shopify Discounts.
No. Once a link is marked Expired it stays that way until you change it. Move the end date or raise the order limit, set Status to Active, and save.
No. The order limit counts orders placed through the link. People opening the link, including link-preview fetches by social apps, never use it up.
UTC, not your store's time zone. Convert your local time to UTC before you enter it, or the link will open and close hours early or late.
Not on the link itself, because Shopify only identifies a buyer at checkout. A discount created for the link can be limited to one use per customer, but that limits the code, not the link.