Creating Promo Codes for GamesTally

GamesTally uses Stripe's built-in coupon system for promo codes. That means you create codes in the Stripe dashboard, and they work at checkout automatically — no code changes needed on our side. This guide walks through the exact fields to fill for the most common promotions.

Prerequisites

• Access to the Stripe dashboard for the GamesTally account
• Admin access to /admin/promo-codes if you want to see redemption counts (optional)

Concept: Coupons vs Promotion Codes

Stripe splits this into two objects — this trips everyone up the first time:

• Coupon — the discount itself (e.g. "100% off for 3 months"). Machine-readable, no memorable name.
• Promotion code — the human-facing string customers type at checkout (e.g. LAUNCH2026). One coupon can have multiple promotion codes attached.

In practice you create both together from the same page in the Stripe dashboard.

Step 1: Create the coupon

1. Open dashboard.stripe.com/coupons/create
2. Fill in the coupon fields as shown in the recipes below.
3. Tick "Add a promotion code" at the bottom before saving — otherwise nobody can redeem it at checkout.
4. Enter the customer-facing code (e.g. LAUNCH2026). Make it short and memorable.
5. Click Create coupon.

Recipe: 1 month free

Recipe: 3 months free

Same as above, but set Number of months to 3.

Recipe: 6 months free

Same as above, but set Number of months to 6.

Recipe: 50% off for N months

Optional restrictions

• Max redemptions — cap total uses of the code (e.g. first 50 signups only).
• Expires at — set a deadline. After this the code stops working at checkout automatically.
• First-time transaction only — code only works for a customer's first payment.

Non-stacking is automatic

Stripe only allows one coupon per subscription at any given time. If a customer already has a coupon active, they can't apply a second one. This is enforced by Stripe server-side — you don't need to configure anything.

Checking who redeemed

1. Open /admin/promo-codes — this lists every code with its redemption count.
2. Click any code to open its detail page in the Stripe dashboard, where you can see the specific customer records.

Deactivating a code

In the Stripe dashboard, open the promotion code and toggle Active off. Existing subscriptions already using the coupon keep their discount for its remaining duration; new customers get an error at checkout.