A new customer coupon is rejected for a first-time buyer
Updated September 15, 2026
A New Customer Only coupon rejects anyone the plugin finds a previous purchase for. If a customer says they have never ordered, one of the situations below is usually the cause.
They have a paid or refunded order
Orders with a paid status (Processing or Completed by default) count as a previous purchase. Refunded orders also count, because the customer did buy something. Search WooCommerce › Orders for the customer’s email address to check.
Pending, failed and cancelled orders do not count, so a failed first payment does not block them.
Their email matches an earlier guest order
Guests are checked by the email address entered at checkout. If someone ordered as a guest before and now uses the same email, they are a returning customer, even on a new account.
You are testing while logged in as an admin
When you apply the coupon logged in, your own account’s orders are checked. Test in a private browser window as a guest, or with a customer account that has no orders.
New Customers Only is on globally (PRO)
If New Customers Only is ticked at WooCommerce › Settings › Better Coupon Restrictions, it applies to every coupon, even ones where the coupon’s own box is unticked. Tick Ignore Global Restrictions on coupons that should be open to everyone.
It was not this plugin
If there is no “Shop managers only” line on the error when you test as an admin, the rejection came from WooCommerce or another plugin, such as WooCommerce’s Usage limit per user or Allowed emails fields.