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From the download to a working Store Credit & Gift Cards: install, license, the settings to check, a test credit you spend yourself, and your first gift card.

1. Download and install

On affstackdev.com open My Account → Downloads and download Store Credit & Gift Cards. Keep the ZIP file as it is; do not unpack it.
In your WordPress admin open Plugins, choose Add Plugin (older WordPress versions call it Add New), then Upload Plugin.
Choose the ZIP file and select Install Now, then Activate Plugin.

Plugins → Add Plugin → Upload Plugin: choose the ZIP file, then Install Now

Store Credit & Gift Cards now has its place in the WordPress menu: Store Credit & Gift Cards. With the AffStackDev Suite installed you also find it in the AffStackDev menu. If WordPress refuses the file, or to install a newer version over an older one, see Install a plugin.

2. Activate the license

Open Store Credit & Gift Cards → License (with the Suite: the plugin's License tab). Paste the key from My Account → Licenses on affstackdev.com, check the Environment (Production for your live store, Staging for a test copy) and activate.

A fresh installation works for 72 hours without a license. After that, new credit, new gift card sales and new referrals wait until the license is active. Credit your customers already have keeps working in any case. More: Activate your license.

Store Credit's License screen: the key, the environment, the status and the check and release actions (the top of the screen; select the picture to see all of it)

3. Look at the settings once

Open Settings. It holds three preferences and the downloads of the full guide:

Setting	At the start	Means
Enhanced UI	On	The screens change in place without full page loads. Off uses ordinary page loads; the Suite's basic mode switches it off too.
Allow multiple store credit or gift card codes on the same order	Ticked	A customer may use several credits on one order.
New credits may combine with ordinary coupons by default	Ticked	The starting choice for each new credit; you can still change it per credit when you issue it.

Change what you need and select Save settings.

Tip: The email a customer gets when credit is issued is WooCommerce's Store credit / gift card issued email. Its on/off switch and wording are under WooCommerce → Settings → Emails, like your other store emails.

4. Give a test credit

Use a customer account of your own (or make a test customer), so you can see what a customer sees.

Open Issue Credit.
Search for that registered customer.
Enter an Amount, for example 10, and the Reason Manual.
Select Review credit, read the summary, then Issue store credit.

The credit now appears under Credits with its history. Details on every field: Give and manage credit.

5. Spend it as the customer

Above the cart a panel titled Your Store Credit & Gift Cards lists the credit with the button Apply store credit.
Apply it. After a moment the total is recalculated and the button becomes Remove.
Under My Account → Store Credit & Gift Cards the customer sees the balance and its history.

If you place the test order, the credit is reserved and then used; cancel the order afterwards and the credit comes back. What happens with orders and refunds: At checkout, and after.

6. Your first gift card

Open Gift Cards and select Create draft gift card. You get an unpublished product named Gift Card, already set up the way a gift card must be. Give it your name, description and picture, choose on its Gift card tab what it is worth, then publish it. Everything about selling gift cards: Sell gift cards.

A gift card product page, as a visitor sees it (the top of the screen; select the picture to see all of it)

7. Refer a Friend, when you want it

Refer a Friend is off until you set it up: what the friend gets, what the customer who referred gets, and which offers may be combined. See Refer a Friend.

What else Store Credit & Gift Cards can do

Page	What it covers
Give and manage credit	Give a customer credit in two steps, find any credit later, correct it, stop it, send its email again.
Sell gift cards	A gift card is a normal WooCommerce product with a few extra settings. Create one, decide what it is worth and who it goes to.
At checkout, and after: orders and refunds	What your customer sees and does, what happens to the credit while an order is open, and what to do when an order is cancelled or refunded.
Refer a Friend	Customers invite friends with a personal link. When a friend makes a first purchase, the friend and the customer each get what you promised.