Credits

Credit is an account balance held in the currency of your panel. A customer can spend it on an order, on an invoice, or on a plan upgrade.

Turn credits on

1. Go to Admin > Settings > Features.
2. In the Billing System group, turn on Enable Account Credits.
3. Click Save Changes.
4. Go to Admin > Billing > Settings.
5. Tick Enable account credits.
6. Click Save Settings.

If you turn credits off, the balances stay on the accounts. The panel stops offering them at checkout. Turn credits back on and the balances work again.

The Billing System group has one more switch: Allow Credit Overspend. With it on, a customer can order more than their balance covers, and the panel raises an invoice for the rest.

How a customer spends credit

At checkout the customer sees three payment tiles. The third reads Credits and shows their balance. The tile is greyed out when the balance is zero.

If they pick card or PayPal instead, a checkbox appears under the tiles:

Use my {amount} account credit first.

With that ticked, the panel takes the credit first and charges the card for the rest. The order summary then shows Account credit applied and Due today.

If the customer picks Credits but the balance is short, an amber message appears and the order button is greyed out:

Your credit does not cover this order. You are {amount} short, so choose card or PayPal and tick the box above to use the credit as well.

The same choices appear in the Pay Invoice dialog and in the plan change dialog.

How a customer adds credit

Customers top up by card or by PayPal.

1. The customer goes to Billing > Credits.
2. They click Add Credits.
3. They pick one of four preset amounts, or type their own in Or enter your own amount.
4. They pick Card or PayPal.
5. They click Continue to pay, which shows the amount.
6. For a card, the dialog changes to a card form headed Pay for your credits. They enter their card and click Pay Now.
7. For PayPal, the panel sends them to the PayPal site. They approve the payment there, and PayPal returns them to the panel.
8. The dialog reads Credits added. They click Done.

Card details are entered on the panel. The panel does not send the customer to the Stripe website.

The minimum top-up is 5 in the currency of your panel. Below that, the dialog reads Enter 5.00 or more. and the continue button stays greyed out. There is no maximum.

The panel adds no fee. The summary box confirms it: the figure next to You pay matches the figure next to Credit added to your balance.

A top-up needs the gateway behind it. Set Stripe up for card top-ups, and PayPal for PayPal top-ups. Read Payment Gateways.

What the customer is told

The About Account Credits box on the credits page of the customer states four things:

• Credits can be used to pay for services and invoices
• Credits are applied automatically during checkout
• Unused credits never expire
• Credits cannot be refunded or transferred

Adjust the balance of a customer

Go to Admin > Billing > Credits. The page is headed Manage Credits.

1. Type a username, an email address, or a name into Find User.
2. Click Search.
3. Click the account in the results. The page shows their Current balance.
4. Click Add Credits or Remove Credits.
5. Enter an Amount.
6. Pick a Type: Adjustment or Promotional.
7. Write a Description. This step is required.
8. Click the button, which reads Add or Remove with the amount.
9. Read the dialog and confirm.

TIP

The customer reads your description in their own credit history. Write something that makes sense to them.

The confirmation dialogs

Adding credit asks:

Add {amount} to {name}? Their balance goes from {old} to {new}. They can spend it on any order.

Click Add credits.

Removing credit asks:

Take {amount} from {name}? Their balance goes from {old} to {new}.

Click Remove credits.

Limits

You cannot take more than the customer holds. If you try, the form stops you:

They only hold {amount}. Taking more would put the balance below zero.

The amount must be more than zero. A blank or zero amount gives Enter an amount above zero.

Transaction history

The lower part of the Manage Credits page lists every movement on the account of the selected customer. Each row shows the description, a type badge, the admin who made the change, the date, the signed amount, and the balance after it.

The type badges are Deposit, Payment, Refund, Adjustment, and Promotional.

Customers see the same list on their own Billing > Credits page.

Refunds and credit

When you refund an order or an invoice that the customer paid with credit, the money goes back to their credit balance. Read Orders and Invoices.

Next steps

• Coupons - discount codes
• Orders and Invoices - credit on an invoice
• User Billing - the customer view