Credits

Credits empowers you to retain customer value by offering credit for refunds, customer support resolutions, and more. Credits can be applied to customers' accounts for their next recurring subscription order. This article provides an overview of the Credits, details on how it works, and limitations. 

Before you start

• All customer portal themes are compatible with Credits though it is recommended to use the Affinity customer portal theme because it has more features and provides a better customer experience when using Credits. 
• Stores using SEPA/iDeal are not eligible to use this product at this time.
• Your store must have Account Permissions enabled and assign which Recharge account users can provide your customers credits or rewards.
• Note the following limitations when using Recharge Credits:
  • Multi-currency stores can use Recharge Credits, with limitations. Credits can be issued to any customer, even if they have one or more subscriptions that do not match the store’s default currency. Credits will only apply to charges in your store’s default currency. Charges in a currency other than your store’s default currency will still process but not use the customer’s available credit balance.
  • Credit is automatically applied to customers' next recurring charge across all their active addresses and subscriptions. Credit can be manually applied by a customer to a new checkout order for all purchase types but requires Shopify Plus.
  • Credit can’t be converted to cash. If customers close their accounts, they will forfeit their credit balance or allow their credits to expire. Credits can be manually modified to provide alternative payout methods at your discretion.

How it works

Manually or automatically issue credits with Cash Back Programs. Once credits are issued to a customer’s account, the total credit balance is automatically applied to any eligible upcoming recurring charge of any purchase type. Depending on your purchase-type charges, these can include subscriptions, memberships, and one-time products.

You can track and view the status of credits at any time in the Recharge merchant portal and use the Export Builder to export credit adjustment data for your store. For more information, see Merchant experience overview.

Recharge Checkout on Shopify

Recharge Credits is respected as a “special” payment method and are automatically applied towards the next recurring charge's total price (including taxes, shipping, and discounts).

The following logic applies to the way credit balances work on the Recharge Checkout on Shopify:

• If the available credit balance is less than the value of the customer’s next order, Recharge processes the credits first and then the difference using the payment method tied to the subscription’s address.
• If the available credit balance exceeds the value of the customer’s next order, Recharge processes the credits only, and the customer’s payment method is not charged. Recharge then continues to apply credit on future orders until the available balance is used in full.

Shopify Checkout Integration

Recharge Credits is respected as a “special” payment method and are automatically applied towards the next recurring charge. However, due to a Shopify subscription contract limitation, credits can only be applied to the subtotal price (before shipping and taxes). For example, if an order subtotal is $10.00 with a $5.00 shipping fee, only $10 in credits will be applied.

The following logic applies to the way credit balances work on the Shopify Checkout Integration:

• If the available credit balance is less than the value of the customer’s next order, Recharge processes the difference using the payment method tied to the subscription’s address.
• If the available credit balance exceeds the value of the customer’s next order, Recharge applies credit on future orders until the available balance is used in full.

Customer experience overview

Customers can view their available credit balance in all customer portal themes. The customer’s credit balance appears only after credit is initially added to their account. Once a credit is added to a customer’s account, the credit widget remains in the customer portal regardless of the available balance.

When a customer’s next charge processes, available credits are automatically applied from their credit balance.

Affinity

View credits for an upcoming charge

Customers can view their credit balance by clicking View your next order and scrolling to the Credits section of the order page. The Credits section displays the customer’s total available balance.

View credits on the payment methods page

Customers can view their credit balance by clicking Address & payment methods and selecting Manage payment methods. Their credit balance will display on the payment method page after their initial credit issuance.

View credits applied on previous charges

Customers can view credits applied to previous charges by clicking View previous orders and selecting a recent order. Any credits applied to a charge will display in the charge summary section beneath the Total.

Prima and Novum

Customers using either Prima V5 or Novum can view their credit balances on several different pages of the customer portal:

• Homepage (Prima V5 only)
• Subscriptions and subscription details page
• Delivery schedule and upcoming orders page
• Payment methods page

Purchase history in Prima V5 and Novum will not show credits applied to an order, but when the customer refreshes the page, the available credit balance will update.

Prima V5

Novum

Klaviyo notifications

You can use Klaviyo V2 to send credit adjustment notifications to customers utilizing the Credit Adjustment created on Recharge metric. See Building email flows with Recharge and Klaviyo for more information.

Translations

You can also adjust translations to control the text customers see in the credits section of the customer portal. The following translation fields are available for Credits:

• Credit balance
• Credit information text
• Charged to Credit (Affinity only)
• Refunded to Credit (Affinity + Recharge Checkout on Shopify/Custom only)
• Credit Name (examples: Loyalty Rewards, Referral Rewards, Returns Credit)

For more information on adjusting translations, see Translations.

Shopify order confirmation email

You can edit your Shopify order confirmation email template to display credits using the Shopify admin: 

1. From your Shopify admin, click Settings and select Notifications. 
2. Select Order confirmation and click Edit code.
3. Search for and delete the following line of code. The default line is 494: 

   {% else %}
     {% capture transaction_name %}{{ transaction.gateway_display_name }}{% endcapture %}
   {% endif %}

4. Replace the line of code with the following: 

   {% else %}
     {% capture transaction_name %}
       {% if transaction.gateway_display_name == "Recharge credits" %}
         Charged to Store Credit
       {% elsif transaction.gateway_display_name == "Stripe" %} 
         Charged to Card 
       {% else %}
         {{ transaction.gateway_display_name }}
       {% endif %}
     {% endcapture %}
   {% endif %}

5. To update the customer information section, search for the following line of code. The default line is 612: 

   &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Gift card balance - <b>{{ transaction.payment_details.gift_card.balance | money }}</b>

6. Create a new line and paste the following: 

   {% elsif transaction.gateway_display_name == "Recharge credits" %}
     Store Credit<br>
   {% elsif transaction.gateway_display_name == "Stripe" %}
     Primary Credit Card<br>

7. Click Save.

Payment details, including credits if used, will now appear on order confirmation emails. Credits will only appear on the order confirmation email if they are used. 

Merchant experience overview

By default, store owners can adjust credit balances and view credit history using the merchant portal and exports. Additional staff accounts can adjust credit balances and view credit history if they can access their user account's credentials permissions. For more information on enabling and updating staff permissions, see Managing Recharge user and account permissions.

Credits Summary API

The Credit Summary API is available to Pro and Enterprise Plan merchants to allow you to build custom customer experiences using Recharge Credits. For more information, see Retrieve a customer's credit summary.

Issue manual credits

Users with Credits permissions can use the following steps to adjust credit balance:

1. From the merchant portal, click Customers and select a customer's name.
2. In the Credits modal, click Issue Credit.
   
   
3. Enter the Amount of credits you want to give the customer.
   
4. Optional - Add a note. This note will appear in the credit history in the merchant portal and is not visible to the customer.
5. Click Issue to complete the Credit adjustment.

After issuing credit, the available credit will be displayed as Available Balance until the expiration date if the expiration date is set.

View credits

Credit history displays the customer’s transaction history, Credit usage, and any applied notes. You can also use the credit history page to adjust credits.

Use the following steps to view credits issued for your store in the merchant portal:

1. From the merchant portal, click Credits.
   • You can also view credits from a specific customer’s profile using the Credits modal and clicking View credit history.
2. To view credit adjustment history, click a Credit ID or use the ellipsis to select View history.

Adjust credit balance

There may be times when you need to adjust a customer’s credit balance. Use the following steps to adjust a customer's credit balance in the merchant portal:

1. Use the steps from View credits to open credit history.
2. Click Adjust credit balance.
3. Select Add or Subtract from the drop-down menu. The ending balance cannot be negative.
4. Enter the amount of credit to be added or subtracted.
   
5. Optional - Add a note for credit adjustment. This note will appear in the credit history in the merchant portal.
6. Select Issue.

Bulk import credits

If you need to add credit to multiple customer accounts in bulk, use the Bulk Import tool in the merchant portal.

In the CSV file, column A provides examples of the correct formatting and explanations of the data types required to import Credits. This column must be deleted before attempting to upload the CSV file in the Bulk Update tool. Failure to remove column A will prevent the tool from accepting the file. 

To bulk import credits: 

1. In the merchant portal, click Data then select Bulk Updates. 
2. Click Import Updates.
   
3. Click the Select your update type dropdown and select Issue credits.             
4. Upload your CSV file or use the Credits Bulk Import template by selecting upload template. Select Next to preview your data.
5. Preview your data and confirm all headings are correct, then select Prepare update.
   
6. Now that your file has been imported into the Bulk Updates tool, you will be redirected to the Bulk Updates page within the merchant portal. Click Process update to complete the credits bulk import process.