AffStackDev Store Credit & Gift Cards / How It Works
From issued value to a resolved order.
Follow the credit—not just the discount shown in a basket. Store Credit separates issuance, preview, reservation, redemption and restoration so each step has a clear meaning.
For WooCommerce · Free AffStackDev Suite included with a supported plugin download or purchase
Explore Store Credit
Open the interactive workspace and try the controls.
01 / Create value
Issue it deliberately or fulfill a paid purchase.
For manual credit, choose the actual customer account or external recipient, define the amount and rules, review, and confirm. Purchased or gifted credit follows the paid order and its frozen unit-by-unit purchase record. Referral rewards follow their own accepted invitation, qualifying payment and release period.
The credit owns a reusable balance and an associated WooCommerce coupon. That coupon supplies the code and native restrictions. Its original amount is not an alternative source for the current available balance.
A successful issuance creates value before its notification is sent. A failed email should lead to delivery recovery or a resend of the same instrument, not a second issuance.
02 / Apply
The customer chooses what to use.
At supported checkout, a signed-in owner can apply an account credit without entering a code. Email-only recipients follow the matching code-and-billing-email path. WooCommerce recalculates the eligible reduction after ownership, currency, expiry, scope and combination checks.
A familiar checkout. A clear remaining total.
Here, the customer chooses to apply $50 of available credit to a $299 order, leaving $249 to pay through the store’s normal checkout. The credit remains removable before the order is placed.
Customers stay in control of when they spend their credit; the order summary shows the reduction alongside the remaining total.
From checkout choice to recorded use.
Apply
The customer chooses available account credit at checkout.
Reserve
The order holds its validated credit allocation.
Record
The accepted order state records the redemption and retains its history.
03 / Reserve and redeem
Keep an in-progress order from spending the same value twice.
| Order state or event | What the credit record means |
|---|---|
| Cart preview | Shows a possible reduction; no ledger reservation yet. |
| Persisted pending or on-hold order | Holds the validated allocation for that order. |
| Retryable failed order | Retains the reservation by default for the same order retry. |
| Accepted Processing or Completed status | Converts the existing reservation into redemption once. |
| Cancellation | Releases held value or restores the eligible consumed amount. |
| Full refund | Restores only what was actually consumed and not already restored. |
The checkout service rechecks the current balance under transactional locks. A second checkout cannot rely on the same already-reserved value. Repeated payment/status callbacks reconcile their original allocation rather than spending again.
There is no general timer that frees every pending or failed order reservation. Resolve the actual order outcome; do not mark an unpaid order as paid simply to clear a balance. Purchased credit and referral rewards add their own paid-date and cash-on-delivery checks.
04 / Resolve exceptions
Different refunds need different decisions.
Order paid using credit
A partial refund needs an explicit Restore original store credit action within the original consumed amount and refund context. Do not overcompensate with cash and credit.
Order that sold credit
Stop further issuance and revoke unused purchased value before a normal Woo refund. This edition applies that preparation to the whole order, including mixed-order partial refunds.
Order that earned referral rewards
A refund, including a partial one, conservatively cancels both reward obligations. Spent or reserved rewards go to review instead of creating negative balances.
Reactivating an order after credit has been restored does not silently spend the old discount again. The old credit allocation is detached and a fresh supported application is required. Advanced tax/shipping allocations have stricter native-admin editing boundaries.
05 / Reconcile
An interrupted response is not the whole financial story.
A purchase, referral reward or integrated payout keeps a permanent reference. When a request stops after the credit committed, recovery finds that original issuance and finishes only the missing work. It does not mint replacement value because the browser timed out.
Use the credit history, linked order and relevant payout or referral receipt together. Dashboard summaries and notification messages are useful, but they do not replace the current ledger. The read-only reconciler flags a bounded set of issues; it does not silently repair your financial history.
Choose the right next step
Explore the product. Decide with the details.
How it works
Follow credit from issuance to checkout, reservation, use and recovery.
Customer guide
Read the operating guide and the integration update before configuring your store.
Product & availability
See current Store Credit & Gift Cards license packages and prices in the store listing. Free AffStackDev Suite included.