Account credit acts as a business-specific currency that customers can use to make purchases with your business. Retailers can offer a loyalty program that allows customers to earn credit for purchases they make, and gift card recipients can convert their gift card to account credit to add it to an existing balance.
Retailers also have the option to add and remove customer account credit manually and can view a customer's account credit history.
Types of Account Credit
Customers can have two types of Account Credit: Payment Credit and Discount Credit. These are tracked separately to ensure sales tax is calculated and reported correctly.
Payment Credit
Payment Credit represents cash-related sources such as:
- Refunds for returned items
- Gift card redemptions
This credit is applied toward the taxable total of an order. You can think of it as credit for money the customer has already paid.
Discount Credit
Discount Credit represents non-cash-related sources such as:
- Loyalty rewards
- Referral bonuses
When redeemed, this credit is applied before tax as a discount on the order total. You can think of it as a credit gifted to the customer at no cost.
How Credit is Applied
Customer Experience
Customers will only see one combined account credit balance in their account, even if they have both types of credit.
When a customer checks out using Account Credit:
- Discount Credit is applied first.
- Payment Credit is applied next to cover any remaining balance.
Purchases with Account Credit
- Customers cannot purchase gift cards using account credit.
- Customers will not earn loyalty rewards on purchases made with account credit.
Adding or Removing Credit
Discount Credit
- You can add Discount Credit anytime using the Add Discount Credit button on a customer’s account.
- This credit should only be issued as a gift, reward, or bonus and not in place of a refund.
- Since it is a gifted credit, you can remove it at any time.
Payment Credit
- You can only add Payment Credit when payment has been received (through an order or gift card redemption).
- Because this credit reflects actual money paid by the customer, it cannot be removed.
View Account Credit Balance
- Select Customers in the side menu of your CommentSold dashboard.
- Locate the customer whose account credit you wish to view and select their name.
- Select Customer Details from the drop-down list.
- Here you can view the amounts earned, added, and subtracted as well as the timestamp and any internal notes.
Add Account Credit
- Select Customers in the side menu of your CommentSold dashboard.
- Locate the customer to whom you wish to add account credit and select the three-dot icon to the right of their name.
- Select Customer Details from the drop-down list.
- Select the Add Discount Credit button at the top of the page.
- On the pop-up, complete the following fields:
- Store Credit. Enter the amount of account credit you wish to add (e.g., 5.00 or $5, 7.00 or $7.50, etc.).
- Notes. Add a note that gives your team more context about why the credit was added (e.g., live sale bonus, contest winner, delayed shipping, etc.).
- Include notes in the customer notification email. Select this checkbox if you wish to include the note in the account credit increase notification email that CommentSold will send the customer.
- Select Add Credit.
Subtract Account Credit
- Select Customers in the side menu of your CommentSold dashboard.
- Locate the customer from whom you wish to subtract account credit and select the three-dot icon to the right of their name.
- Select Customer Details from the drop-down list.
- Select the Subtract Discount Credit button at the top of the page.
- On the pop-up, complete the following fields:
- Balance. Select which balance CommentSold should subtract the account credit from. Since most credit is earned through loyalty purchases, we recommend Discount as the option you choose.
- Store Credit. Enter the amount of account credit you wish to subtract (e.g., 5.00 or $5, 7.00 or $7.50, etc.).
- Notes. Include an internal note that gives your team more context as to why the credit was subtracted.
- Select Subtract Credit.
Learn More
- Enable Your Loyalty Program. Learn how to set up a loyalty program for your business so customers can earn account credit on purchases.
- How Shoppers Can Earn and Use Loyalty Credit on a Purchase. Learn how shoppers can redeem their account credit during checkout.
- How Shoppers Can Apply a Gift Card to a Purchase. Learn how shoppers can convert the gift card amount to account credit.