The quick answer
Go to Lists > Accounting > Items > New and click Discount. Give it a name, and type the Rate with a percent sign, like 12%, so it's a percentage rather than a fixed amount. On the Accounting subtab, keep Account selected and pick your sales discount account, then save. On a sales order, where you put the item decides what it discounts. Pick it in Discount Item above the item lines and it discounts the whole order, shown as its own Discount Item amount in the Summary. Add it as an item line instead and it discounts only the line directly above it, inside the Subtotal.
The screenshots show sample data. Person and operating-company names are fictional. Use your own items, rate and account when you follow the steps.
Before you start
You need:
- A role that can create items and enter sales orders. This example uses Administrator.
- An income account for sales discounts. This example uses 4950 Sales Discounts, a contra-revenue account. Use whatever account your accounting policy sets for discounts. Expense accounts are for purchase discounts.
- A sales order form that shows Discount Item and Rate on the Items subtab. The standard form does. A custom form, the role's permissions or your promotions setup can hide or move them. The discount item also has to be active and available to the order's subsidiary before you can pick it.
The example order is for Lindqvist Dental Group: 3 ER-200 Ergonomic Task Chair at 340.00 and 2 SD-60 Sit-Stand Desk at 615.00, 2,250.00 in all. Both lines use the -Not Taxable- tax code, so tax stays out of the math. On taxable orders, the discount item's Tax Schedule and Apply Before Sales Tax decide whether the discount reduces the taxable amount, so test that on an order of your own before you rely on it.
01. Start a new discount item
Go to Lists > Accounting > Items > New. The page lists the item types. Discount is its own type, so click Discount.
02. Enter the name, rate and subsidiary
Type Contract Volume Discount in Item Name/Number, and the same text in Display Name/Code and Description. In Rate, type 12%. The percent sign is what makes it a percentage. Type 12 without it and you get a fixed 12.00 off. (That's the form. CSV imports and scripts have their own format for the rate.)
Under Classification, select your parent subsidiary, here Example Supply Co., and check Include Children so the subsidiaries under it can use the item too. Include Children only shows up in OneWorld accounts. Leave Department, Class and Location blank unless you report discounts by them.
03. Choose the account and save
Open the Accounting subtab. Leave Account selected rather than Non-posting, and choose 4950 Sales Discounts. With an account, the discount amount posts to that account and the item lines keep their full amounts. With Non-posting, no separate discount posts and the discounted line posts at its net amount, which also changes what reports show. Leave Tax Schedule and Apply Before Sales Tax alone for an order with no tax.
Click Save. The confirmation reads Item successfully Saved, and the record's title is Discount for Sale. Rate shows 12.0%. Check that yours shows as a percentage too.
Its Accounting subtab shows the account the discount posts to.
04. Enter the sales order lines
Go to Transactions > Sales > Enter Sales Orders and pick the customer, Lindqvist Dental Group. On the Items subtab, add ER-200 Ergonomic Task Chair with Quantity 3 and click Add. Then add SD-60 Sit-Stand Desk with Quantity 2 and click Add. The chairs come to 1,020.00 at 340.00 each, and the desks to 1,230.00 at 615.00.
Scroll up to the Summary. It shows Subtotal 2,250.00, Discount Item 0.00 and Total 2,250.00.
05. Discount the whole order
Above the item lines, pick Contract Volume Discount in Discount Item. Rate fills in as -12.0%. The exact format can vary with the form. If there's no Discount Item field, switch to a form that has it.
The Summary now shows Discount Item -270.00 and Total 1,980.00. 12% of 2,250.00 is 270.00, so both lines got the discount. Subtotal stays at 2,250.00 because this discount sits outside it.
06. Discount one line instead
Say the contract price only covers the desks. Clear Discount Item by picking the blank entry at the top of its list. In this example Rate cleared with it. If yours stays filled, clear it too before you go on. The Summary goes back to Discount Item 0.00 and Total 2,250.00.
Now, in the new line under SD-60 Sit-Stand Desk, pick Contract Volume Discount in Item and click Add. The discount line shows Rate -12.0% and Amount -147.60. That's 12% of the desk line's 1,230.00, and the chair line keeps its full 1,020.00.
The Summary shows Subtotal 2,102.40, Discount Item 0.00 and Total 2,102.40. This time the discount is inside the Subtotal as a line, so Discount Item stays at 0.00.
Check the result
- Contract Volume Discount is saved as a Discount for Sale with Rate 12.0% and Account 4950 Sales Discounts.
- As the order-level Discount Item, it gives Discount Item -270.00 and Total 1,980.00.
- As a line under the desks, it shows Amount -147.60, and the Summary reads Subtotal 2,102.40, Discount Item 0.00 and Total 2,102.40.
To discount a group of lines but not the whole order, add a Subtotal item after the group and put the discount line directly under it. The discount then applies to that subtotal. If you use a line discount and an order-level discount together, the line discount comes off first and the order-level discount applies to what's left. Check the result again when shipping, tax or promotions are on the order.
Common questions
What's the difference between a percentage and a fixed-amount discount item?
It comes down to the percent sign in Rate. Type 12% and the item takes 12% off whatever it discounts, so 270.00 off a 2,250.00 order. Type 12 and it takes a flat 12.00 off.
Should a discount item be posting or non-posting?
A posting discount item has an Account, and the discount amount posts there, like 4950 Sales Discounts in this example. A non-posting item has no account, so nothing separate posts and the discounted line posts at its net amount. Pick posting if you want to report on how much you gave away.
Which account should a sales discount item use?
An income account your accounting team uses for discounts, usually a contra-revenue account like Sales Discounts. Saved with 4950 Sales Discounts, the item in this example is titled Discount for Sale. Expense accounts are for purchase discounts.
Why did my discount line only discount the line above it?
That's how discount lines work. A discount item entered as an item line applies to the line directly above it and nothing else. Here it sat under the desks, so it took 147.60 off the 1,230.00 desk line and left the chairs alone.
How do I discount a group of lines on a sales order?
Add a Subtotal item after the group, then put the discount line directly under the subtotal. The discount applies to the subtotal, which covers every line in the group. If you want the whole order discounted, use the Discount Item field above the lines instead.
Why doesn't my line discount show in the Discount Item total?
The Summary's Discount Item row only shows the order-level discount. A discount line is part of the item lines, so it lowers Subtotal instead. In this example the Summary read Subtotal 2,102.40, Discount Item 0.00 and Total 2,102.40, and the discount was there all along.
Does a discount item reduce sales tax in NetSuite?
It depends on your tax setup and the discount item's tax settings, including Apply Before Sales Tax with legacy tax. The order in this guide only has non-taxable lines, so it doesn't show either way. Test a taxable order with your own tax codes before you rely on it.
Why can't I find the Discount Item field or my discount item?
Check the sales order form first, since a custom form or the role's permissions can hide the field. Then check the item: it has to be active and available to the order's subsidiary, which is what Subsidiary and Include Children on the item control.