In this article:
Refunding a product
If a customer in your store returns a purchase or receives a refund, the points they earned will automatically be removed.
If a customer returns the order partially (and they didn't use the voucher with said order), points will be removed partially as well.
Example:
Customer A has a starting points balance of 0
Customer A makes a cart total of two items that cost $10. They check out and pay their $20. They gain $20 (total) * 1 point / dollar = 20 points for making the purchase. Balance: 20 points
Customer A refunds one of the two items. LoyaltyLion deducts ($10 * 1 point / dollar) = 10 points for refunding that item. Their voucher is not refunded. Balance: 10 points
Customer A returns the remaining items in their order. Balance: 0 points
Please note that this will happen regardless of the customer having points in their account or not. If the customer earned points and then redeemed them, but then later returned their order, the points will be taken from the account. You can read more about this here.
How refunds work behind the scenes
The store automatically sends our system a message via callback (also known as webhooks) for the returned order. We then remove any points that were accumulated for that particular purchase.
This all happens in the background without any need for action on your part.
If for any reason you believe the points have not been adjusted, please contact us via support@loyaltylion.com and we will be happy to check for you.
Voucher refund
So what happens if a customer used a rewards voucher with their refunded order?
When an order is fully refunded, we automatically give the customer back points for any rewards they used with the order (this does not apply to Shopify gift cards). Refunding an order in full voids the used LoyaltyLion voucher and returns the points to the customer's account.
If an order is partially refunded, the points the customer spent on the voucher will not be returned to their account. Please bear in mind that this applies across all orders no matter the value of the refund - if the customer spent $100 and $99.99 was refunded to the account, this is still recognized as a partial refund and the points for the customer's voucher will not be refunded.
Important: If you do not refund shipping to your customers, this will not be considered a full refund, but a partial one.
Please note that vouchers can't be used more than one time. Once used, each voucher is assigned to only one order and it is not possible to use the same voucher again. This helps us keep track of all the vouchers and minimizes the number of potential bugs.
A reward that was refunded will look as below in the customer admin view:
History:
Example:
Customer A has a starting balance of 1000 approved points
Customer A claims a $5 off reward for 500 points. Balance: 500 points
Customer A makes a cart total of two items that cost $10. They checkout with their $20 order and use their $5 reward voucher. They gain $20 (total) - $5 (reward) * 1 point / dollar = 15 points for making the purchase. Balance: 515 points
Customer A refunds one of the two items. LoyaltyLion deducts ($10 * 1 point / dollar) = 10 points for refunding that item. Their voucher is not refunded. Balance: 505 points
Customer A returns the remaining items in their order. They lose $5 (remaining net spend) * 1 point / dollar = 5 points for refunding the purchase. They gain 500 points because their $5 voucher is refunded. Balance: 1000 points
If you don't want to see customers lose out on their vouchers when they make returns, we recommend;
Refunding shipping when a customer makes a return
Returning customer points for a voucher manually if they partially return their order [click here to learn how]
[Shopify only] Gift card refund
When an order is returned that a customer redeemed a gift card against, the points for the gift card are not returned to the customer.
Instead, LoyaltyLion will fully refund the order in Shopify and the gift card used. The funds return to the gift card and become available for the customer to use again.
FAQ:
Q. What happens if the customer has already spent their points when their order is refunded?
We suggest setting an "approval period" on points earned by purchases, equal to the return period your store policy allows. Until the approval period is up, your customer will see their points in their account but will not be able to spend them on rewards.
The approval period starts at the moment the order is marked as paid. You can read more about the approval period here.
Q. What happens when a customer partially refunds an order paid in full using the point slider?
Please bear in mind that if your customer makes a partial refund of an order that was paid in full with points, they will not receive a partial points refund. The voucher created by the point slider is treated as a whole, and it does not allow partial refunds. However, you can manually give points to your customer as a partial refund. Click here to learn how to do it.
Q. When a customer has used a voucher on a purchase then partially returns their order, do they get any points returned for the voucher they used?
LoyaltyLion will not refund points when an order has been refunded partially. LoyaltyLion only returns voucher points when a customer returns an order in full.