How DollarBack works
DollarBack rewards your customers with store credit for shopping, signing up, referring friends, and more. Customers spend that credit directly at checkout. This page explains the credit lifecycle and the terms you'll see everywhere else in these docs.
The credit lifecycle: earn → hold → spend → expire
Every dollar of store credit moves through the same four stages.
1. Earn
Customers earn credit through cashback configs, the rules you create under DollarBack admin → Cashback. A config can reward purchases (say, 5% back on everything), account signups, newsletter subscriptions, birthdays, social follows, or custom events you trigger through the API. Referrals are a separate engine with its own rewards, and loyalty tiers can multiply what a customer earns.
The amount is calculated per order from the order's real paid value: discounts reduce the cashback base, and portions paid with existing store credit or gift cards are handled according to your global settings.
2. Hold
Credit is issued when the order hits the trigger you choose: created, paid, or fulfilled. If you set a holding period, the credit sits in a pending state for that many days (0–365) before it becomes spendable. Holding is your refund buffer: if the order is refunded before the hold ends, the pending credit is clawed back before it ever reaches the customer's balance.
3. Spend
Once released, credit lands on the customer's Shopify-native store credit balance. Customers spend it two ways:
Directly at checkout: store credit appears as a payment option, and the customer applies as much of their balance as they like.
In the reward marketplace: customers exchange credit for rewards you define, whether that's an order discount, a product discount, or free shipping. Redeeming a reward mints a unique discount code and debits the credit cost immediately.
4. Expire
If you set an expiry window, unspent credit expires after that many days. Reminder emails go out at the thresholds you configure (for example 14 days and 3 days before expiry), so customers get a nudge to come back and spend. Expired credit is removed from the balance automatically.
Store credit vs discount codes
DollarBack can pay rewards in two different currencies, and it matters which one you pick:
What it is
Shopify-native store credit on the customer's account
A unique, single-use Shopify discount code
Where it's spent
At checkout, as a payment option, combinable with any promotion
In the discount code field at checkout
Partial use
Yes, unused balance stays on the account
No, value beyond the cart total is lost
Expiry
Follows your credit expiry settings
Set on the config that issued the code
Stacking
Not a discount, so no combination rules apply
Follows your store-wide discount combination rules
Any cashback config can pay out a discount code instead of credit, and every marketplace reward is delivered as a code. All reward codes hang off one shared Shopify discount whose parent code is RDM-(DO NOT DELETE). Never delete it in your Shopify admin, or every outstanding code stops working.
Glossary
Store credit
Shopify-native credit on a customer's account, spendable at checkout as a payment option. DollarBack issues, debits, and expires it.
Cashback config
A rule under DollarBack admin → Cashback that defines how customers earn: the type (purchase, signup, newsletter, birthday, social, custom), the value, targeting, dates, and limits.
Reward marketplace
The catalog of rewards customers can buy with credit: order discounts, product discounts, and free shipping. Managed under DollarBack admin → Redemption.
Referrer / referee
In a referral, the referrer is the existing customer who shares their code and earns a reward; the referee is the new customer who uses the code and gets a discount on their order.
Tier
A loyalty level (Advanced plan) with entry conditions and a cashback multiplier. Higher tiers earn more from the same configs.
Holding period
The number of days issued credit stays pending before it becomes spendable. Acts as a refund buffer.
Expiry
The window after which unspent credit is removed. Reminder emails fire at your configured thresholds beforehand.
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